Hello everyone in the PlayStation community, and thanks for your great feedback on Trek to Yomi so far! With the game now complete and ready for gamers around the world to experience, I wanted to take a moment to talk about how our distinct cinematic image was born and the films iconic that inspired them.
Being of Italian descent, I experienced Sergio Leone’s Wests before I had any idea about Akira Kurosawa’s movies. Of course once I learned that those Westerners were heavily influenced by Japanese samurai cinema from the 50’s and 60’s, I had to experience them for myself. That’s why I fell in love with Kurosawa – specifically through Seven Samurai – during my first year at university. Realism and raw, direct representation of what life used to be, the care for the composition and performances that connect on a human level instead of being culturally dependent, All of them appeal to me. Of course, after watching Hidden Fortress, it’s also very clear to me where George Lucas and Steven Spielberg got a lot of their inspiration, and for good reason.
So, how did this discovery inspire a video game all these years later? The gameplay that came to mind at first was the main reason I wanted to do Trek to Yomi, but with that aspect ultimately taken care of by the Flying Wild Hog, my attention turned to atmosphere and visual direction. overall, as well as ensuring that the game is as authentic as possible not only with the cinematic references we’re using, but also of the Edo period and Japan’s Samurai culture.
Some of the aspects where detail is the main rain, fire, the look that everything has when you see it in black and white. Some of the movies that inspired me to do this weren’t even Japanese. Buster Keaton and the movies from the 1920-1930s are a big inspiration as they are reminiscent of 2.5D side controllers, which makes me want to make this game really bad. Orochi had some scenes that made me think “I need to make this happen interactively, that would be crazy!”
While there are many iconic scenes from classic Samurai movies that have inspired many of the decisions we make about the choice of shots, I’m especially proud of the way the main town was built. The dojo at the top of the stairs that oversees the entire main scene, the village within the walls, and the suburbs with fields surrounding the castle are all things that I wanted to include to give the feel of the castle. Very good at geography while also subtly showing how rural towns functioned at the time. Using that base, then, we spent hours composing shots that not only looked great, but influenced the way players move through the world, giving them a sense of what the town was like before. and after the devil burned it to the ground. Every entry and exit point is carefully thought out so that players will hopefully see clearly where things are.
One of my main hopes and goals in doing Trek to Yomi is to inspire people to watch classic Japanese films. This whole game is an homage to Akira Kurosawa. I definitely encourage those who haven’t seen those movies to give it a try. They are old classics, but I think most of them are still worth watching to this day.
