Yars Rising review: an Atari 2600 classic gets an ingenious reimagining

Yars Rising MSRP $30.00 Score Details Pros

Respectful of the Yars legacy
Loaded with style
Economical adventure design
Genius throwback minigames

Cons

Hacky humor
Simplistic combat
Messy traversal skills

What is the best way to honor a classic video game’s past? Is it enough to port an old Atari game to each new platform? Is an HD remaster or flashy remake enough? Those are all fine options that publishers seem eager to pursue in our nostalgia-driven phase of gaming history, but they’re all approaches strictly focused on spotlighting the past. How does one not just honor a legacy, but carry it into the future at the same time?

Leave it to a studio like the aptly names WayForward to crack the code with Yars Rising. The new Metroidvania is a modern reimagining of Yars’ Revenge, one of the Atari 2600’s greatest games. Rather than simply polishing an old space shooter up, Yars Rising turns the series into something else entirely. It may look alien at first, but the 2D action adventure pays tribute to a foundational game in a surprisingly respectful, transformative manner guided by the series’ long history.

Though its economical Metroidvania design has its pros and cons, Yars Rising should be a new blueprint on how to revive retro games without only relying on nostalgia as a crutch. It’s a bold reimagining that has two legs to stand on and four wings to carry it forward.

Past and present

In the original Yars’ Revenge for the Atari 2600, players controlled an insectoid character at war with alien ships. They could nibble away at the shields surrounding their foe on the other side of the screen and then fire at the ship behind it with a Zorlon Cannon shot. It’s an elegant piece of retro design that did something entirely different with the popular space shooters of the era. That’s a difficult appeal to translate to audiences in 2024. So instead, developer WayForward gets creative.

Yars Rising blows that simple idea out into a full Metroidvania with side-scroller