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Okay, I’ll admit it: Outside of my brief love affair with Galaga and the small bit of Frogger I played as a child, I’ve never meaningfully engaged with the vast majority of arcade games. It’s my weakest area in terms of video game genres I’m knowledgeable in and as such, I walked into my appointment to play Yars Rising only minimally aware of its first entry and the impact it had at the time.
Upon its release in 1982, Yars’ Revenge–the first entry in the Yars series–became the highest-grossing original title for the Atari 2600. It’s been included in more than a few Atari classics collections, a handful “Greatest Games of All-Time” lists, and a display on video game history at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Though part of its popularity was due to Atari’s status as a video game powerhouse at the time–thus giving the studio the necessary resources to actually promote Yars’ Revenge and build “hype,” as we’d call it here in the year 2024–it was also just an incredibly solid sci-fi shooter.
Yet, despite its success, a follow-up to Yars’ Revenge (a rail-shooter called Yar’s Revenge) didn’t emerge for nearly three decades and was largely met with disdain–even from series creator Howard Scott Warshaw. But after another decade–and another stab at regniting the Yars fandom with Yars: Recharged–Atari has recruited a new studio, Shantae and River City Girls developer WayForward, to help revitalize the series. The first challenge for WayForward? Steering Yars away from flies and aliens and into a new, flashier direction. And based on my time spent with the upcoming reiteration, I feel confident that it’s going to nail it.
Rather than stick to Yars’ arcade-shooter roots, Yars’ Rising reimagines the game as a cyberpunk metroidvania. However, the game still honors its past by incorporating arcade games throughout the game via terminals that protagonist Emi “Yar” Kimura must hack in order to enhance her abilities and gain new powers. This creates the main gameplay loop as well as that metroidvania feel, as new powers mean access to new locations that were previously just out of reach.
It becomes very easy to feel like Samus Aran herself as you traverse the futuristic QoTech laboratory–crouching, wall-jumping, and blasting your way through obstacles and enemies–although I’d say, from what I saw, Yars lacks the same tension, complex puzzles, and hyper-satisfying sense of progression and traversal as many other titles in the genre, for better or worse. In many ways, it feels like a great starting point for people who are newer to the genre: You have fast-paced arcade minigames that require decent reflexes and add challenge (particularly for those of us who grew up after their time), some light 2D platforming and combat, and that sense of accomplishment of unlocking a new power and knowing precisely what to do with it. But where Yars Rising truly shines is in its overall aesthetic.
It comes as little surprise that WayForward knows how to make a game feel stylish and lively, and this is what chiefly sets the game apart from other 2D action-adventure games. Yars Rising kicks off with a comic-style opening–an homage to the Yars comic series that was released shortly after the original game–in which our Ramona Flowers-esque protagonist, Emi, frantically dresses and leaves her house to work at a job she hates. It’s easy to adore Emi immediately, with her spunky attitude and outfit to match, but she’s not the only lovable character in Yars Rising.
During the 40 or so minutes I played, I met several cute, anime-inspired characters that I am positive others will thirst for; I myself was not immune to Mrs. Davidson’s good looks, pink hair, and arrogant attitude. Nearly all the game’s characters boast colorful hair, stylish techwear, and bold personalities, and alongside the game’s neon-lit levels and bouncy techno-pop music, this creates an overall peppy and energetic-feeling to the game. Considering your main goal is to take down a corrupt and oppressive company, it feels like a fun and very conscious choice to keep things a bit more light-hearted and anime-esque. So while the gameplay might be familiar, there was enough style and playful banter to give Yars Rising its own sense of identity and keep me engaged.
Yars Rising also implements a fun system that Nier Automata fans will automatically recognize and was a very intentional pull from the sci-fi action game, according to the developers I spoke with. Emi is able to Biohack herself and equip upgrades by inserting Tetris-like blocks–each one representing a different ability–into a slotted grid. Powers and upgrades will vary in size and shape, with more simplistic powers taking up one block of space whereas more complex powers are made up of multiple blocks in a more difficult-to-place shape. Something else I really enjoyed was how even small features–such as the ability to listen to music–were dependent upon equipping the right upgrade (in this case, Emi’s Earbuds).
Overall, I had a great time playing Yars Rising. While I didn’t get the sense that it was anything particularly novel or challenging, it was a fun experience that left me wanting to see even more of Emi’s world and the cute characters who inhabit it. Yars Rising is slated to come to PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S on September 10, 2024.
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