Tristan and Oliver voyage beyond life and death as they pick up the blade and slice Leonard Menchiari & Flying Wild Hog’s Trek To Yomi into these three bits:

1. Situational Awareness - distinguishing action from exploration and the side-scrolling combat design

2. Player As Spectator - framing the player as a bystander and other influences from the silver screen

3. The Ultimate Dilemma - projecting the hero’s burden of societal expectations onto the player through clever narrative design

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Some References:
Trek to Yomi review — Beautiful art direction and tense combat combine to create an enthralling ode to Japanese cinema - Richard Allen, Gaming Trend (article)

Walk, Don’t Run Through Trek to Yomi - Damien Lawardorn, Escapist (article)

How Akira Kurosawa inspired the vision of developers Leonard Menchiari and Flying Wild Hog.- Leonard Menchiari (Playstation blog)

Trek to Yomi - Original pitch concept (2019) - Leonard Menchiari (video footage)