Yars Rising

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

Yars Rising keeps the spirit of its inspiration alive through the robust old-school challenges of a hacking game, but as a 2D Metroidvania it all falls a bit flat. Great controls, fun ability progression, and a killer soundtrack can't elevate the game past the limitations of its straightforward level design.

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.

I hope that Yars Rising serves as a blueprint for Atari moving forward. Heck, I hope any publisher struggling to keep a series as old as Yars fresh is paying attention. Yars Rising is a loving ode to the past that reveres its source material enough to confidently expand on it rather than give it an easy refresh. It takes the original franchise’s worldbuilding seriously and finds a way to twist every morsel of it into a larger adventure that’s worthy of the Yars name. Sometimes the best way to keep the past alive is to let it evolve into something new. Precious nostalgia is an anchor, and Yars Rising flies free without that tying it down.

Yars Rising offers a unique interpretation of the classic Yars' Revenge. While the narrative may be unmemorable and the cutscenes intrusive, the gameplay remains engaging, thanks to its surprising remixes of the original game and how they fit in the structure of a Metroidvania. The stealth mechanics, though simplistic, contribute to the overall experience.

In such a crowded genre, it’s hard to say that Yars Rising would manage to truly stand out, even though it did try its hardest. There are too many sections to either just didn’t fit in very well, such as the aforementioned lack of flow in the hacking bits, or just too much stuff other metroidvanias ended up doing a lot better. It’s not a bad game by any means, and it can be enjoyed if you’re a metroidvania or old-school Atari fan, but I can’t say it would be on the upper echelon of my recommended games list by any means.

Fans of the Metroidvania genre should definitely look into Yars Rising. It’s a fun and challenging addition to the genre. And yes, while far from perfect mostly because Emi is incredibly fragile and the hacking mini-game gets tedious the more you do it, it does offer solid gameplay, challenging bosses and a unique environment to explore. I highly recommend Yars Rising to everyone; fans of the Metroidvania genre or not.

I’d definitely recommend giving Yars Rising a go, especially if you enjoy Metroidvania style games in general. It won’t be the best one you’ve played in the genre, but it’s a good time throughout despite some annoying sequences that slow down the action.

Yars Rising combines modern and retro sensibilities into a fun and quirky package. It's both a solid new Metroidvania and a great celebration of Atari classics.

An unusual mix of pretty ordinary Metroidvania action with variations on the Atari classic used for hacking