Yars Rising, a game every Atari fan should play !

[JPF997]

Just finished Yars Rising ( took me 9 hours to finish and there's still a lot of secret areas that I didn't fully explore so you can expect at least 11 hours to fully conplete the game) it really was everything I expected and more, I really hope this isn't a one off thing , this game definitely deserves a sequel and Emi Kimura needs at least one more game as the protagonist of this new Yars Saga.

 

 

The Story was simple but engaging right up to the end, I won't go too much into spoilers but suffice to say it was great, discovering the dark secrets of the Evil QoTech Corporation, getting involved in an intergalactic space war between the Yars people and the Qotile,  it just keeps getting better and better the further you progress through the game .

 

The entire soundtrack from the beginning to the  end was fantastic, the characters might annoy some older Atari fans with their quirky Zoomer humor and general sarcastic tone but overall Emi and her gang are a  bunch of lovable goofballs that are impossible to outright hate.

 

 

The references to Atari's history and cultural legacy are all over the place, for example all  of the hacking mini games  are always themed after a classic Atari game ( Yars, Centipede, Missile Command etc ), most of the Bosses  are obvious references to Atari's classics ( Black Widow and Missile Commander being the most obvious examples) and  they're all legimately fun to fight against.

 

 

Overall I give it an 8.5, everything about the game is legitimately great, Yars Rising is to Atari what Metroid Dread was to Nintendo, a true return to form for an iconic gaming franchise, I  can't wait for the sequel

( especially since it's obvious that the Story isn't completed yet, I really hope that they make a Yars Rising 2 so that we can tie up all of the lose ends that have been left unresolved in the first game ).

Edited November 11 by JPF997

[+bent_pin]

Solid review 

[JPF997]

Before I forget here's the official music video for one of the more popular songs in the game ( not my personal favorite but it's still decent ) , man I just love seeing Atari embrace their.... I'll leave the rest to your imagination 😉 

 

 

Edited November 11 by JPF997

[JPF997]

24 minutes ago, bent_pin said:

Solid review 

One thing I forgot to mention, the game is very traditional/retro with it's Metroidvania gameplay, you can't shoot  projectiles upwards or diagonally, however the power ups you acquire throughout the game are  good enough that you won't really miss those modern conveniences.

Edited November 11 by JPF997

[JPF997]

Here's the entire soundtrack  of the game, just in case you can't be bothered to search it on YouTube 

 

 

[LilSwampAss]

Glad to see someone else really liked it. I'm a big Shantae fan so I wasn't really worried about the quality of a Wayforward Metroidvania going in, but I was still pleasantly surprised (mainly with the music). In gameplay it's definitely a departure from the original 2600 cart, but all those hacking minigames do plenty to keep the game from feeling too distant (plus they do get really creative with the Yars formula with those). The various Atari references do help in this department, too. Either way, nothing wrong with experimentation. 

 

Only real complaint I can think of is that a lot of the humor fell flat for me and Emi's voice acting was really annoying, but considering all cutscenes are skippable and the in-game dialogue can be muted, it's not really an issue. 

5 hours ago, JPF997 said:

One thing I forgot to mention, the game is very traditional/retro with it's Metroidvania gameplay, you can't shoot  projectiles upwards or diagonally, however the power ups you acquire throughout the game are  good enough that you won't really miss those modern conveniences.

I saw a lot of people mentioning this as a con. Considering I grew up playing the classic Mega Man games and never really stopped being obsessed with them, it was more of a pro for me. There were those other choices for attack, like nibbling or shooting missiles, but I honestly never did this (mostly because I ran a glass cannon loadout, sacrificing health ups for damage ups). Maybe I'll experiment more in the future. The game's short and pretty replayable, so I might play around with the passive upgrades. 

[bigfriendly]

Ignorant question but are physical copies of this game being sold?

[Matt_B]

17 minutes ago, bigfriendly said:

Ignorant question but are physical copies of this game being sold?

Yes, for Switch and PS5.

[Austin]

Um.. no. I’m okay with skipping it.