6 Trek To Yomi Tips To Help You Master The Katana

These Trek to Yomi tips are essential for making the most of your journey through life and death as the samurai Hiroki, in this stylish side-scrolling action game. Trek to Yomi takes a lot of inspiration from classic Japanese cinema in both its presentation and narrative, while blending it with a satisfying combat system built around timing your parries and dodges to deliver death to your foes. So if you need some extra help getting to grips with the gameplay systems, here are six Trek to Yomi tips to help you master the katana and protect your people.

• If you're wondering about the Trek to Yomi length before jumping in, here's our breakdown of how long the game should take you depending on your playstyle. 

Trek To Yomi Tips: Explore For Upgrades And Extra Moves

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While much of the experience in Trek to Yomi is on a 2D track, there are sections where you are allowed to move omnidirectionally, meaning you can explore parts of the environment. During these sections, you can typically find extra rooms hidden out of sight or different paths that allow you to grab upgrades for your health and stamina, collectibles, or extra moves to add to your arsenal.

While some can just be picked up from in the environment - denoted by a flashing white light - others require you to kill a certain enemy or speak to an NPC.

Trek To Yomi Tips: Learn Which Moves Work Best Against The Enemy Types

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There are several types of standard enemies you will come across while playing Trek to Yomi, but not all of them can be dealt with in the same way. For example, while an enemy with no armour can easily be felled with successive light attacks, armoured enemies will take much more, requiring you to stun them first for a finisher or hit them with consistent harder attacks.

This means all enemies have certain attacks or combos they are particularly weak to, or that they are effective at avoiding, and this will become more apparent as you begin to unlock new moves and experiment with your arsenal. 

Trek To Yomi Tips: Try To Form Enemy Conga Lines During Combat

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Positioning and movement is a central aspect of the game's combat system, and you can easily get overwhelmed if you let too many enemies surround you from behind and in front. This is where the pass-by technique is incredibly useful, as it lets you parry an attack and then swap positions with an enemy.

You can grab this move in the third chapter, and it's performed by pushing the analogue stick toward the enemy you are parrying. You should always try to get all enemies in front of you, as this will allow you to take them on one at a time, making the combat significantly easier. 

• We also have an explainer for the Trek to Yomi Artifacts, which are collectibles you can find across the game to learn more about the culture being depicted. 

Trek To Yomi Tips: Listen Out For Wind Chimes To Find Secret Shrines

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Shrines are one of the most valuable things you can come across during Trek to Yomi, allowing you to save your game to earn a checkpoint and regenerate your health and stamina.

You'll find lots of these across the game but some of the side areas contain Secret Shrines which typically give you a moment of reprieve between heavy bouts of combat and allow you to carry on stronger. Listen out for the sound of wind chimes to locate these, as they are almost always worth using. 

Trek To Yomi Tips: Make Use Of Your Ranged Weapons

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Along your journey, you will acquire three different ranged weapons which can be used to assist you combat. There are bo-shurikens which are great for stumbling enemies for follow-up attacks, the bow which one-shots most enemies, and the ozutsu which is a hand cannon that can take out multiple enemies, but has a slow reload.

It's always a good idea to mix up your combat and use some of these in situational moments, and exploring consistently will earn you plenty of ammo. 

Trek To Yomi Tips: Watch Out For Your Stamina Metre

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In combat, every attack, block, or dodge will use part of your stamina, meaning you'll need to maintain it so it doesn't run out mid-fight. This is always devastating - especially as your stamina bar gets longer from upgrades - as you can't attack or defend until it fully regenerates, and you move incredibly slowly.

It also doesn't necessarily get easier to stop it from running out later in the game, as you'll be dealing with more enemies of various types. This really ties in with our tips about positioning in combat and learning enemies' weaknesses, as this will allow you to keep your stamina from running low. It's also worth noting that it refills quicker while you stand still, and continuously blocking attacks without parrying will rapidly drain it.

That's all for our Trek to Yomi tips, and now you should be able to jump right into the adventure and take on the hordes of enemies. 

If you struggle with the boss encounters, make sure to check out our walkthrough for beating the Trek to Yomi Sanjuro boss.