Title: Yars Rising
Developer: WayForward Technologies
Publisher: Atari
Release Date: September 10, 2024
Platforms: PC (Steam & Epic), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4|5, Xbox One,
Xbox Series X|S, Atari VCS
Reviewed on: Nintendo Switch
Price: $29.99 (USD)

Atari is a giant in the annuls of video game history, bringing the thrill of the arcades to the home console experience, granting many people their first brush with video games. But after the great video game collapse of 1983, the company largely fell into irrelevance.

For decades, however, Atari remained a cultural icon. T-shirts and key chains marked the nostalgia of years passed, but beyond those nostalgia relics, the company remained out of the video game market. Despite these lost years, the iconic gaming company has made a comeback, once again publishing games and influencing the market with creative experiences for gamers.

Recently, we sat down with the Atari team and chatted about their return to the field. Marketing and communications director David Lowey explained, “We want to be as relevant fifty years from now as we were fifty years ago.” With that axiom in mind, Atari has invested heavily in “recharging” its classic IP’s while launching new titles.

“Retro is our sweet spot,” noted Lowey. “With some titles, we remaster them; Star Wars: Dark Forces is a great example of this, which we developed through Night Dive. With other titles, we offer collections or re-releases.

“Most exciting though is the possibility of re-imagining celebrated Atari titles… to develop narrative story around these classic games, which in their time were more of a gameplay mechanic rather than a reflection of modern video games. The results, like Lunar Lander Beyond, are gripping modern games with the classic Atari soul.”

Lowey’s talk of re-imagined titles is the best explanation for what fans are getting in Yars Rising. The wonder of capturing that classic Atari soul while developing a modern video game is well executed by new partner WayForward Technologies. Yars Rising is a fun romp through 80s nostalgia, interwoven with the creativity and gorgeous visual storytelling of modern gaming.

Game Overview

Players control young hacker Emi Kimura, who’s hired by a mysterious patron to infiltrate the shadowy QoTech corporation. As Emi works her way deeper into the corporate headquarters, she discovers a shocking secret. Qotech is not the altruistic corporation they pretend to be; rather the company conducts clandestine operations deep within its tower, experimenting on alien species and hybridizing the human genome. What will they do with these new genetic powers? Emi aims to find out and will do whatever it takes to stop them.

The metroidvania-style game requires players to progress deeper into the labyrinth of tunnels, air shafts, cubicles, and living quarters, at times with stealth and at others through blasting and running.

Gameplay

As Emi explores, she discovers Traversal Augments that upgrade her physical abilities. These are pretty similar to the standard metroidvania fare, with essentially missiles, wall-jumps, speed dashes, second jumps, and water traversal abilities as upgrades.

I didn’t find the Augments and subsequently unlocked traversal options to be all that exciting. Exploration in the game feels pretty linear and there’s never much mystery about where to go next, a puzzle-like convention that other games in the genre capitalize off of. Still, even games with clear, linear progression can be fun to play if the act of traversal itself is enjoyable.

The best example of incredible traversal in recent metroidvania releases is Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Ubisoft nailed the fun of a free-moving character leaping, dashing, and repelling through a gorgeous platform region. Unfortunately, Yars Rising is lacking in this aspect.

Abilities such as the Dragonfly Dash slow the character to a halt at the end of the burst. This prevents players from stringing together multiple special moves to speed through the environment. I found this grew tiresome and caused the gameplay experience to drag.

This feeling of slogging through traversals was made worse by the constant loading screens. This may be less of a problem on other platforms, but on the Switch, these loading screens transitioned much too slowly and occurred far too often. At one point, in order to attempt another run at an area boss from the nearest save station, I had to endure four loading screens (death, two room transitions, and boss title card). I found my excitement grinding to a halt (and I love Dark Souls runs). The fact that the game completely froze and crashed twice during my review play certainly didn’t help this frustration.

Boss fights are also pretty standard fare, with little creativity or challenge for an experienced metroidvania player; however, they are still a lot of fun to battle and will certainly satisfy the casual player. While I mostly enjoyed these fights, I often wished the bosses included health bars or some other means of knowing how much damage my attacks were inflicting, because unlike similar games, the bosses didn’t always flash or give any indication of an effective hit.

Periodically, Emi comes across computer portals that allow her to hack into the security system at QoTech. Hacking pulls up a mini-game screen that features core gameplay and story elements the 1982 classic Yars Revenge. These are the moments that I feel make Yars Rising shine and stand out within the genre.

The game does an excellent job of teaching players the basics while gradually adding challenges. The hacking sequences are so fun that I found myself searching far and wide for more terminals, not just because I’m a completionist. Upon successfully hacking the terminals, Yari is granted access through a locked door or given a new Biohack, an upgrade that can be applied to her Augments or her hacking abilities. This gives players a lot of flexibility in terms of their gameplay style and it also improves accessiblity. This addition to the metroidvania genre is fantastic and something I hope other games will pick up in the future.

These sequences are also a credit to the imagination of Atari and WayForward. As someone who grew up in the 80s and 90s, I have a passion for games of that era. I never got to play the Atari games, but trying the core elements of Yars Revenge has opened my mind. I hope that other developers find ways to integrate the retro games from my childhood into their modern releases in a similar manner. This aspect of the Yars Rising is a massive success.

Music and Voice Acting

Yars Rising excels in the sound design department. The game is positively bursting with catchy tunes and zippy one-liners. Like other titles within the metroidvania genre, each region and sometimes each room has its own dedicated music.

Yars Rising’s original soundtrack is curated by WayForward and music director, Tommy Pedrini. Players can use the earbud Biohack to display song titles and artists as they blast their way through Qotech.

Musical artists include:

• Megan McDuffee

• Moe Shop

• milkyPRISM

• YUC’e

• TORIENA

• Sean Bialo

• Tobokegao

• And more!

Yars Rising has a talented young cast of voice actors. Jenny Yokobori (as Emi) and Cristina Vee (as Mrs. Davidson) are both standouts.

Final Score

As a pure metroidvania, Yars Rising is just okay. The exploration is painfully straightforward at times (even if players elect not to use the beacons suggested by in-game allies); the bosses are never that difficult, and the traversal experience pales in comparison to recent entries in the genre. But what it lacks as a metroidvania, it makes up for in creativity and retro mini-game challenges required for game progression.

As someone who became a gamer in the Nintendo Entertainment System generation, I missed out on the classics from Atari; at the time, I considered them too old and boring to give them a fair try. Decades later, my appreciation for retro gaming experiences has grown, perhaps because I’ve become saturated by modern, high-tech, 100-hour game campaigns. Getting to play Yars Revenge as a mini-game within Yars Rising was an absolute blast and the perfect way to introduce me to these iconic retro titles.

And you know what? Yars Revenge is so fun, a total breath of fresh air when I rarely have time or attention span for time-consuming gameplay during the busy work weeks of adulthood. I would honestly play it as a standalone game, separate from Yars Rising. Fortunately, Atari allows you to do exactly this with Emi’s Hacklist, an in-game menu option that allows you to replay previously completed mini-game challenges.

Ultimately, Atari has another successful relaunch of a classic game, creatively expanded upon and re-imagining the 1982 title. While the game is perhaps best suited to players inexperienced with metriodvanias, it’s still a solid title for anyone looking to enjoy casual fun or curious about Atari’s new line of games.

Boss Rush Network scores Yars Rising three and a half stars out of five.

Tell us what you think! Will you be playing Yars Rising? Share your reactions in the comments below or join the conversation on Boss Rush Network’s Discord, Twitter, and Facebook.

Featured Image: Atari

David Lasby is the Editor-in-Chief for Boss Rush Network. His favorite video games are The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and the Alien franchise. You can find him on Twitter to talk all things Nintendo, sci-fi / fantasy, and creative writing.