You may have missed the news last week that Trek to Yomi will be coming to Xbox Game Pass in 2022, including for console, PC and Xbox Cloud Gaming. As you can see, it's a samurai game with a greyscale graphic style.
Trek to Yomi, which is being published by Devolver Digital, will feature "breathtaking camera angles and striking visuals in the spirit of classic samurai film", a streamlined combat system based around traditional samurai weapons, mythic storytelling and "a memorable score designed to feel authentic to the time and place of feudal Japan."
There's no word on a definitive release date for this one as of yet, but we'll keep a close eye out.
As a vow to his dying Master, the young swordsman Hiroki is sworn to protect his town and the people he loves against all threats. Faced with tragedy and bound to duty, the lone samurai must voyage beyond life and death to confront himself and decide his path forward.
Liking the look of Trek to Yomi? Let us know down in the comments section below.
Comments 28
This is one of my most anticipated games of next year. Its got so much potential, could really be indie game of the year. Really happy that it's also coming on Game Pass. Although a lot of complaints over on a certain site about that lol.
Ms trying to compete with Ghost of Tsushima? Looks good either way
This looks fantastic
Definitely got the GoT vibes here. Nothing wrong with that. Looks great.
This is exactly the kind of game I got gamepass for. Amazing looking indies that I can try when they're digital only releases, and if I really like it I'll shell out the money for the eventual limited run (or any other publisher) physical edition.
Just started replaying Ghost of Tsushima and loving it. They're just can't be enough good Samurai games (looking at you Sega, sitting on two samurai era Yakuza games begging to be localized and ported!)
@Chaudy Guess they will be over here soon to tell us how bad this game looks lol.
Game pass is a beast! 2022 is going to be a feast
@Chaudy it was only that one guy who said he's not buying any games that come to gamepass. I don't get why though as its a bit petty and he will end up losing out on playing quite a few games this gen
@UltimateOtaku91 could just be straight up jealousy, e.g. why should I pay when others get it for "free" ? Regardless its all just a bit silly
Looks good. I love Gamepass for these sort of games.
low budget crap
People see Samurai and immediately think Ghost of Tsushima. What has the world come to?
@lokozar same goes for western/cowboy setting games always get compared to red dead redemption
@lokozar Probably because GoT set such a high bar for the theme, and because, realistically, what other video game has even had that theme other than Musou in the last 20 years?
@NEStalgia Very fair point, and I know I immediately thought of Ghost of Tsushima too. I'm not expecting it to be quite on that level, but that would be fine. Regardless, this looks good and I will definitely be checking it out next year unless it turns out to be a turd.
Seeing Devolver Digital's name in quite a few trailers lately. I guess they'll have a fairly busy 2022, especially for a small enough publisher.
@UltimateOtaku91 Yep just the one guy, I asked him genuinely WHY he wouldn't buy it on PS if it was on Game Pass day one but got cut off by admin. I though it was worth discussing to see other's viewpoints and try to understand their point of view. Alas.
@oconnoclast
Way of the Samurai came to my mind as well. Must be getting old ...
@themightyant
Most likely it was mere spite. The tribalism is strong in some people.
@lokozar Perhaps. But i'm willing to keep an open mind and ask the question and at least see if they have a reasonable reason rather than just assume tribalism/hate/spite. Even if you're probably right.
I love Game Pass right now as a consumer but it is potentially the largest shake up to the industry and there are some genuine concerns what ripples that may cause. E.g.
What will it do to smaller (or even larger) devs in the long run? Will it be: if you're not on Game Pass the board is stacked against you and you're more likely to fail?
Will it make more games launch F2P or smaller base game on GP with paid DLC?
What about those collectors that love Physical media who see it as the catalyst speeding up the decline of this side of the industry?
Those are just a few of the valid CONCERNS - not saying they are true - that people have.
I wanted to have a discussion, Admins didn't
I feel it's one worth having even if the truth is we just don't have those answers yet.
@themightyant there's two reasons that I can think of.
1. He's a pure fanboy who hates what xbox are doing and anything to do with xbox
2. He hates the idea of paying for a game that he thinks the competition is getting for "free"
@themightyant
I find it interesting, that the first reflex when something new comes along is people asking what will it do to XYZ, while at the same time no one seems to ask what the status quo will do to XYZ if it just keeps going.
@UltimateOtaku91 Those are certainly two reasons. lol
But I think there are some potentially valid concerns around Digital Game Rental Services, which is effectively what Game Pass is, and some people not wanting to support that in any way. That's understandable and I would like to hear their side.
Meanwhile I'll keep lapping up the excellent service which, while not for every gamer, is a HUGE win for enthusiasts like us.
@oconnoclast Great points.
Though i'm not sure MS games ARE assured to be on Game Pass forever, only for longer. E.g. We've already seen Forza Motorsport 7 delisted and removed from store AND Game Pass. I understand why, and as disappointing as it is, hopefully that is the exception that proves the rule.
But I take your broader point about ownership. There are several games I have bought on PSN when they are on Game Pass. e.g. titles that I think I might come back to again and again like No Man's Sky, or longer titles I don't want to play right now like Tales of Vesperia: DE. Both I bought on PSN in sales despite them being on Game Pass.
'Ownership' (though that's questionable term too, especially digitally) is sometimes the better option.
Also great point on try and decide. For years I lamented the loss of game demos, which were mandated on X360 at launch, and on magazine discs for a decade before that. But Game Pass completely sidesteps that issue for any title on it. Haven't played Hades yet as I usually have roguelike/lites but will absolutely be testing that out.
@lokozar It's a fair point. So lets address that. What would happen if Game Subscription services like Game Pass didn't exist? What is the status quo?
Likely the same model as has been happening for the last decade or more. Digital and Physical media. Digital slowly gaining more share but far slower than is always predicted. Perhaps AAA game prices increasing as they have done on PS. Cloud would still be based on an ownership model (like Stadia)
Outside of that I don't see too many meteoric changes. Do you?
Game Pass/ Game Subscription on the other hand has the ability to shake all that up considerably, and with that there are valid questions to ask, and concerns to alleviate, it would be foolish not to have some worries. In life when whole systems are replaced there are naturally some winners and some losers. We need to ensure it isn't the wrong groups losing e.g. certain devs or consumers.
That doesn't mean I think it's not going to work, or is a broken model, I don't. I'm a fan who's backed it for years, but I also have my concerns about how the gaming landscape will be after.
@themightyant
The gaming industry we had up until this point was broken. It still is. We have toxic work place environments, crunch, ever rising costs alongside slowly declining quality. That is what the traditional system built up and cemented. We are at a point where, if you want to see quality and innovation for a reasonable price, you have to look at indie developers.
Incidentally, those are the ones that praise the Game Pass the most, because they gain more freedom, visibility, a predictable return, funding and income. It seems, even some bigger companies already noticed the same thing. On the consumer side you have a massively saturated market, that wants more and more money from us, and GP eases this situation a bit.
So, does the Game Pass shake everything up? Yes! Same as e.g. Netflix shook everything up. Is that a bad thing? I don't see how. Sure, some oddballs fear being left behind, because they might not get their physical copy, but to be very frank with you, that's not needed at all. It's actually a complete waste of resources, and we should get rid of it as soon as possible.
However, this will not happen, because obviously, there is a market for it. So, companies will still create physical copies and these copies will have much more quality, e.g. more steel books, collectors items, limited in number and so on, for a steeper price of course. That's some kind of a compromise, I guess. Everything will be balanced out in the end, as always after a change.
@themightyant well I suppose its a great service for those treating as a demo service or for those who are like me anyway who get a game, complete it then sell it
@lokozar "The gaming industry we had up until this point was broken. It still is. We have toxic work place environments, crunch." Game Pass doesn't change ANY of that.
"Ever rising costs alongside slowly declining quality." In my view games are getting better and better. Yes there are issues with launching unfinished or buggy mostly because Games are getting more and more complex. But again game Pass doesn't change this either.
"We are at a point where, if you want to see quality and innovation for a reasonable price, you have to look at indie developers." Agreed. But same for film and any other large media. You don't usually spend 100+ million on a risk. Game Pass doesn't really change that either other than perhaps a few cherry picked cases.
Resources/Environment is an interesting one, especially as we move towards cloud gaming which is worse in most AAA cases than digital and in some cases even physical too, especially if you share physical games or buy second hand.
It reminds me of gamers being incensed about blockchain or NFT's environmental impact, while simultaneously having their console auto-download 1000s of GB of patches most of them they will never use.
I agree most of the scepticism is people worried about change, that's default humans behaviour, but there are some valid concerns. Whether they come to pass we will have to wait and see.
@lokozar One thing with physical is that as long as the internet infrastructure sucks, I don't see a total transition to digital, and thus not a total inclusion into Game Pass happening. And in the US that means that as long as Comcast remains a mostly unchallenged monopoly in most of the country, we're a lifetime away from that changing. Heck evne where Comcast isn't a monopoly, even in NYC, you can go one place with gigabit fiber, and then 2 blocks way is on 5MB/s cable or DSL. Game Pass (and digital in general) are only viable depending on where one lives, and that's one thing that will keep the industry chasing their tails for years to come. Although with patches and incomplete games on disc, etc, it hasn't really been viable to game on anything but Nintendo if you don't have great internet since 2013. That's one reason I was deadlocked on Nintendo and physical, myself. The internet I had could only handle that.
@themightyant Microsoft first party games are basically guaranteed to be on Game Pass, as long as they're selling them, at least. Obviously the Forza series has its licensing issues and can no longer be distributed for sale or apparently subscription after the license expires. That was kind of an expectation because those games are truly license limited for distribution, the only gray area was whether streaming library counts as distribution, and now we know. But I wouldn't expect Skyrim, Doom, and Gears to start vanishing from Game Pass at any point.
The one big problem I see with Game Pass is simply cloud gaming being tied to GP. Like with Yakuza being delisted. I own all the games, but won't be able to stream them anymore, at least 0-2, and that represented probably my next 4 years of game streaming with a series that size. Let alone all the other games that were never on GP I'd love to stream. It's not really a game pass problem, and I keep assuming/hoping they open up streaming beyond GP someday. It doesn't make too much sense to limit it. It seeks a new pool of customers via lowering the barrier to entry and then tells them "Please don't buy any games, you can't use them..." I might use my XSS for streaming them now that I have it, or even set up the 1X for it, but I really liked being able to use the raw streaming for it.
I do sometimes wonder if some of the dislike for Game Pass and defense of the old model from consumers is less tied to all the (valid) concerns you raised, and has more to do with elitism and gatekeeping. Particularly from forum/reddit/social crowds. There's something special when you're among the first group of people to buy a game, and others want to know about it, and you're a temporary authority on discussing it. There's a thrill to being one of the "few" in on the new thing because you paid your fee for the status. With Game Pass, it removes that thrill. With Foraza, Halo, everyone was there, everyone could try it, for example, that thrill of "I paid my money so now I'm the elite chosen that can speak on the subject" erodes any special status. Everyone has that status and access. I suppose those are the customers early access DLC is all about, but, still....
@themightyant
Developing a game is taking a risk. Game Pass mitigates that with deals that let you break even very early on. That's just one example - diverse deals are imaginable. The thing is, that all the bad things I mentioned, essentially come down to pressure due to risks. Eliminate, or at least contain, the risks and you set everything up for a better work environment. If the greedy people in charge let it happen, that is. But if they don't, it's certainly not the fault of the Game Pass model.
On Resources/Environment this point comes up a lot, on different areas. There is a problem with this way of thinking. People want the ware. You have two options to deliver the ware. You choose both at the same time. Why? Kill one and you lift one burden on the environment. Better than having two at the same time, right? We can talk about getting better at the one that is left afterwards (keywords: green IT, green energy).
Concerns about future things will always be considered valid. In the end they will be forgotten, though. Because mankind cannot stop itself from always wanting more and better stuff. Humans seem to be unable to just ... be (in the here and now).
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