Over the past few years, Atari has been revisiting its storied history with compilation titles, remakes, reboots, and surprise sequels. So while a revival of Yars’ Revenge really shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise, we have to admit to being a bit taken aback by Yars Rising. After all, what was once a stylish, yet basic top-down shooter has now been transformed into a full-blown Metroidvania with anime-inspired character design, a bonkers, world-ending plot, and gameplay that blends stealth, hacking, and good ol’-fashioned gunplay. Atari, yer mad.
The thing is, though, it works. We can’t imagine that this is the future kids in the early ‘80s had in mind when they first shoved that massive Yars’ Revenge cartridge into an Atari 2600 (and maybe OG developer Howard Scott Warshaw’s long-gestating sequel will be more on par with expectations), but after completing Yars Rising, we honestly couldn’t be more thrilled by developer WayForward’s ambitious interpretation of such a classic.
Taking place in and around the Qotech corporation headquarters, you take on the role of Emi ‘Yar’ Kimura, who must sneak her way into the building and hack into its selection of mysterious terminals. Assisting Emi is a group of friends who periodically communicate as she ventures further into Qotech.
Every character in Yars Rising is brought to life wonderfully through voice acting, but although we personally adored Emi’s little quips and commentary as she finds herself in increasingly ridiculous situations, the supporting cast can prove a little irritating at times. Much of the dialogue is geared towards younger audiences, so there were definitely times when we felt about 90 years old. It’s not egregious, mind, and if Emi herself is getting on your nerves a bit, you can disable her in-game commentary via the options menu.
Onto the actual gameplay, though. As mentioned, Yars Rising is primarily a Metroidvania in which you explore the Qotech building and its immediate surroundings (plus a third major location later on that we won’t spoil here). As you progress, Emi will earn new upgrades such as the Zorlon Shot and Trionic Nibble; abilities named affectionately after terms coined by Yars’ Revenge that enable Emi to shoot and destroy enemies and traverse across the environment more easily. There are also some light stealth mechanics — crawling through vents or hiding in dark alcoves — but these are few and far between in the grand scheme.
Gaining abilities, along with unlocking new pathways, is achieved via an extensive hacking minigame. Throughout your journey, you’ll stumble across multiple terminals colour-coded to designate their purpose. Some will open doors, some will grant new abilities called Biohacks (which are assigned via a fun Tetris-inspired grid pattern), and others may even shut down big, nasty robots. When you access them, you’re presented with a minigame that’s essentially the classic Yars’ Revenge gameplay, albeit expanded significantly with unique tasks and challenges.
Some of the earlier terminals are quite literally recreations of the original 2600 classic; you control ‘Yar’ and must shoot or nibble your way through a block barrier to expose the ‘Qotile’ boss to your Zorlon Cannon. Jeez, this probably sounds like a load of nonsense to newcomers, but don’t fret. You don’t need any prior knowledge of the franchise or its terminology to wrap your head around this stuff. In a nutshell, you control a pixelated bug who must overcome a series of obstacles in order to beat the pixelated boss. That’s it.
As you get further into the game, the hacking challenges become more unique and more challenging to the point where even the most hardcore Yars’ Revenge fans will need to pause for a spell and really think about how to tackle the more devious tasks (though if you happen to fail them multiple times, you'll be given the option to toggle invincibility). What’s great is that the game pays subtle homage to other classic Atari properties, too; a few of the hacking challenges require you to destroy the Qotile while avoiding meteors falling from above and missiles flying from below, a direct and glorious take on Missile Command. We won’t spoil some of the other hacking callbacks, but if you’re an Atari fan, you’ll spot them straight away.
The references don’t end with the minigames, however. Periodically, you’ll stumble across formidable boss characters, and more often than not, these also resemble classic Atari games. Some are perhaps a little too blatant, such as an arachnid that’s literally called Black Widow, but we enjoyed it for the most part. Most of the boss battles provided a nice challenge, too, although the final foe is a bit of a pushover. After perishing multiple times to some of the earlier bosses, it was anticlimactic to vanquish the last bad guy in one fell swoop.
Thankfully, once you’ve completed the game, you get access to a new playthrough called Pro Mode. This, as you might have already guessed, amps up the difficulty significantly. In the normal mode, if you happen to fail a hacking challenge, you’ll have 5 HP wiped from your health bar. Pro Mode bumps this up to 15 HP, and when you combine this with increased firepower from your enemies, you can be sure you’re in for a tough time. We loved it.
We suspect many OG Yars’ Revenge fans will want the ability to play the hacking minigames independently from the main campaign, and the good news is that you can. Every hacking challenge you’ve completed from the campaign can be accessed via the ‘Emi’s Hacklist’ option in the main menu, with any you’ve not yet discovered blocked out in grey. So not only do you literally have Yars’ Revenge in its entirety sitting within this section, but you’ve also got dozens upon dozens of Yars-inspired challenges accessible in whatever order you desire.
Visually, Yars Rising is a stylish and colourful jaunt from start to finish. It’s got that signature WayForward style, so while there’s nothing here that’s going to blow you away with stunning detail, it’s oozing personality (and keep an eye out for those Computer Space save points too - so cool!). The 60fps performance is more than welcome too; a significant step up from the studio's disappointing effort with Contra: Operation Galuga.
Finally, we have to give a shoutout to the wonderful soundtrack. Composed by multiple artists from several different countries, it’s an eclectic mix of anime-inspired tunes that you’ll be humming to yourself long after setting the game down.
Conclusion
Yars Rising is an ambitious interpretation of a classic Atari 2600 game that resoundingly succeeds in appealing to both newcomers and veterans alike. The Metroidvania structure is good enough on its own, but when combined with the awesome Yars' Revenge-inspired hacking minigames, you've got an experience that feels wholly unique while being great fun from start to finish. Some of the characters may prove to be a bit irritating, and the final boss is a massive letdown for us, but overall this is a great effort from WayForward.
Comments 30
Nice! I already had it preordered. Looking forward to playing it. 😊
This one caught my eye from the start. Love that they are doing something new with the IP.
Looks fun!
And Emi's outfit/hairdo combo feels fittingly retro-kitsch. :v
Wayforward has a pretty mixed track record. But whenever they aim high, they don't miss.
This has been on my radar for a while, and I'm glad to hear it turned out well.
Sounds great. I'm definitely getting this game at some point. I love the art and the game sounds fun.
Big fan of Yars so I'm looking forward to picking this up on sale in a month or two
I have my doubts about this one, because I've never been a big fan of WF's games, but man, I love Atari-especially Yars. Hmm...
Also, I personally consider an easy final boss to be a good thing.
Though I do plan to support this game based on the fact that Atari/WayForward aren't using WayForward's caustic common law marriage partner Limited Run Games for this, and I want to support healthy habits like that, I can't help but feel a little icky about the fact that the game props itself up as "the true cannon sequel to the Yar-nivers(TM)" but HSW wasn't consulted at all. They're still letting him do his own Yars 2, but that part just feels... Like reckless trend chasing. Especially when all the other Yars sequels certainly didn't try to be cohesive.
Though it would have been interesting to see the Reboot camp team try to adapt the surrealist Dali madness Killspace Entertainment used for their Panzer Dragoon take on the game from 2011, rather than just the Wayforward House/Bozon style again.
@Krambo42 It's not a bad thing. I'd say from a story perspective it's funny. The big bad who everyone fears is the weakest Parody wise, I'd like to see a game that goes through with such a concept.
Seems to be getting pretty poor reviews elsewhere. consensus seems to be that other games just do it much better. (and that the hacking part is repetitive)
Thanks for the review, so glad to hear that this game is overall great (certainly looked like an at least good one based on what I had seen of it, but still) including it running well on Switch, absolutely getting it when I can!
Nice have it on my wishlist now, would be buying it soon.
@Glasso Oh boy, I was skimming this review, my main takeaway being, "This review mentions hacking; I'm so done with hacking requirements in games" and now you're telling me it's repetitive too. That could be a spanner in the works.
Genuinely shocking that this is 60fps on Switch! I didn't think WayForward knew how to do that anymore on the platform. Heck, Contra was only 30fps even on PS4. You needed the PS5 to finally get that game running at 60fps.
I just have soooo many Metroidvanias that I can't see myself buying yet another one.
@MARl0 and even on PS5 it had frame drops from what I've seen, it feels like they didn't even bother with optimizing that game
@Sylamp Thankfully I was running VRR when I played the game on my PS5, so I didn't notice the drops. But yeah, that's also not surprising.
Excellent! I'm planning to pick up my preorder this week along with Wild Ba$tards, two games to which I was looking (way) forward, so I'm relieved to hear this neo-Yars game gets Tom's approval.
Really, unless the devs had truly botched things, I expected I would like it just from looks alone.
With my fond childhood memories of the 2600, and the overall quality of these revivals, to date I've amassed physicals for Atari Flashback Classics, Atari 50, Atari Mania, Akka Arrh, the Recharged games, Haunted House, Lunar Lander Beyond, and Tempest 4000, with more to come, I'm sure. Atari 50 was particularly amazing, and the extended edition is coming next month. I'm going to have to set up an "Atari" section in my Switch shelves!
This somehow gives me Mighty nº 9 vibes, so I'm skipping it
I have never heard of Yars Revenge so I have no nostalgia or past connection to what this game was inspired by, but the protagonist is adorable looking and the gameplay sounds fun, and MVs are my favorite kinds of games these days... so I think I'll give it a go.
Hate her annoying "valley girl" accent...
I have a physical copy being delivered to me tomorrow.
Can't wait.
Must be very limited print though as you can only order it through EB here in Australia and I could only choose delivery, no pick ups.
I'd rather that than wait for 8 months for a LRG print though
I was waiting on you guy's review before I bought this game. Glad it it turned out good! I will definitely be buying soon!
Glad to hear. I'm also glad the original Yars' Revenge is included with this for context as I have only heard of Yars' Revenge. I'll look forward to playing this when I can.
Been looking forward to this game, ever since it was announced. Love the visuals and the art style. Game seems fun to play. Have played other Wayforward games such as Spidersaurs and River City Girls 2. Where it could have run better. Have watched the trailer for Yars Rising and always wondered about the frame rate on Switch. Glad it is confirmed to run buttery smooth at 60fps. It’s possible that Atari had high standards in the quality of this game when working with them. So they might have encouraged Wayforward to do whatever possible to get the beautiful frame rate implemented. Overall seems like a hybrid of Megaman and Metroid type of game. With a nice cartoon anime style experience. Day one purchase for me.
MetaCritic reviews are dire overall...
@MontyCircus Who cares though.
Well this kinda popped up out of nowhere! Only saw the trailer last week — Reckon I'll wait for a sale though (already got a lot on as it is)
@Olliemar28 how long would you say it took for you to roll credits?
@Andee I'd say about 7-8 hours or so.
Yars' Revenge was my favorite Atari 2600 game back in the day and I finally picked Rising up even though the style and look of the trailers made me wonder. I'm happy to say that it has been a blast to play so far.
I did have to adapt to the cringy dialogue, but the number of hacking games was way more than I expected, and breaking things up that way has surprised me. It's just effective. Power ups are spread between Emi and her Yar (for hacking). It's just fun to see the next inventive hack carefully thought out to introduce the elements of the original game with just enough tweaks (can't fly through the top to go through the bottom, and others).
Besides Rising, Yars' Revenge Recharged was on sale for $5 US and that is the right price for the quick arcade action of that game (also better than expected).
Getting close to the end, and the bosses are the weakpoint for me. I found them frustrating and then, after many attempts, suddenly win with more than half my health left. Something about the patterns, or the collision, I can't quite put my finger on it.
Everything else gets better and better, though. A real effort to bring Yars games forward to now while respecting the unique qualities of the original Yars Revenge (first game to come with a story in a physical comic book, well the story panels are in comic format in this game, too.)
The Metroidvania aspects improve and the hacking is honestly delightful at times. Don't forget to collect those .exe enhancements and equip them before hacking, though! They are worth hunting down.
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