Yars Rising review

Our VerdictA collection of fun hacking minigames attached to a bland metroidvania.

Our Verdict

A collection of fun hacking minigames attached to a bland metroidvania.

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What is it?A classic shooter for the Atari 2600 reimagined as a contemporary metroidvania.Release dateSeptember 10, 2024Expect to pay£24.99/$29.99DeveloperWayForwardPublisherAtariReviewed onRadeon 5700 XT, i5-9600K, 16GB RAMSteam DeckVerifiedLinkOfficial site

What is it?A classic shooter for the Atari 2600 reimagined as a contemporary metroidvania.

Release dateSeptember 10, 2024

Expect to pay£24.99/$29.99

DeveloperWayForward

PublisherAtari

Reviewed onRadeon 5700 XT, i5-9600K, 16GB RAM

Steam DeckVerified

LinkOfficial site

Legitimate concerns about the perils of nostalgia aside, the practice of revisiting classics from gaming’s early history has yielded impressive results in recent years. But, whereas releases like Pac-Man 256 and Ghosts n' Goblins Resurrection expand on their inspirations' core loops, injecting them with just enough contemporary sensibility to keep these familiar experiences fresh, WayForward has opted for a drastic overhaul. Its homage to Atari 2600 blockbuster Yars' Revenge relegates its unconventional shooter elements to a series of hacking minigames and serves up a modern(-ish) metroidvania as the main course.

(Image credit: Atari)

Boss fight

It’s those hacking sequences where, it seems, most of the creativity in Yars Rising was channelled toward, arguably at the expense of the rest of the game. These single-screen distractions repurpose the basic elements of its forerunner—the iconic Yar sprite; the hulking Qotile; the latter’s protective barrier, which you’re required to shoot or nibble through; your mighty Zorlon cannon, the only weapon capable of killing your mortal enemy—to concoct brief, frantically entertaining duels which retain something of the original’s immediacy while playfully subverting it.

When it runs out of ways to combine those basic ingredients (unsurprisingly, given that there’s more than a hundred variations of that basic concept), WayForward is not averse to borrowing ideas from other classics of the era to throw in the mix: Centipede, Missile Command, Space Invaders—even Pong is referenced in a memorable, late-game encounter. Hacking is so enjoyable that the minigames themselves became just as much of an impetus to go off the beaten track as the rewards of power-ups and new abilities.

Corporate ennui

(Image credit: Atari)

Hacking a door

Worse, the same banality spreads to the action, flattening what should have been a thrilling escapade. Robotic guards are placed in neat geometric configurations, blasting away at ever-regular rhythms, while patrols pace back and forth in such rote patterns I could have evaded them with my eyes closed. I felt no requirement to think, to improvise, to vary my approach to any challenge thrown at me, whether platforming or combat, barring a couple of boss flights. At some point, I even did away with the pretence of trying to avoid damage altogether, simply walking into enemy bullets. Why tax my reflexes knowing I could simply keep my finger on the fire button and recover any health lost from the corpses of my enemies? Framed in a more self-aware manner, the tedium could almost pass off as a satire of contemporary corporate culture—not that it would have made the experience more entertaining.

(Image credit: Atari)

minigame

The Verdict43Read our review policyYars RisingA collection of fun hacking minigames attached to a bland metroidvania.

The Verdict

43Read our review policyYars RisingA collection of fun hacking minigames attached to a bland metroidvania.

43Read our review policy

Yars RisingA collection of fun hacking minigames attached to a bland metroidvania.

Yars Rising

A collection of fun hacking minigames attached to a bland metroidvania.

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Our Verdict#

Corporate ennui#

Our Verdict

Corporate ennui