Yars Rising is the comeback an Atari 2600 classic deserves

Despite being a certified classic, I never played the original Yars’ Revenge on the Atari 2600. It was well before my time. However, Yars Rising caught my eye as a newcomer with its bright visuals and Metroidvania label. The radical reimaging is built just as much for old-school fans of the classics as it is for new players who have never even heard of the series. In a hands-on demo at Summer Game Fest, I played through an opening chunk of the game, fought my first boss, and even tried a handful of new abilities that show just how deep the Metroidvania goes.

Instead of limiting itself to 2D space shooting, Yars Rising fleshes out a full story and world that reimagines Yars and modernizes it for new audiences. Its panel-style cutscenes mimic the Yars comics that shipped with the original Yars’ Revenge. There are text bubbles and exaggerated caricatures, that match the upbeat tone that the story imprints with its dialogue. The characters come off as the type you’d see in cartoons: lively and expressive, but somewhat campy. I don’t expect it to be all too rich of a story, but it offers enough context between the quips to give a reason for your adventure.

It’s the action itself that sweetens the deal.Yars Rising quickly drops players into the halls and vents of QoTech Corp, where the main character, Emi, disables robots and hides from sentries to dig deeper into the company. During the infiltration, she uncovers machines hidden in the corners of the map with new abilities to unlock. Emi hacks these machines with short, puzzle-like challenges that call back to the old Yars style with an insect-like shooter and cannon.

In my first puzzle, I shot a cannon placed behind me and quickly moved my ship out of the way so that the bullet hit the target without hurting me. In another, I chipped away at a barrier with bullets before lining up the final shot. These generally were a little underwhelming at first; not so difficult that they would frustrate players, but also not