Yars Rising

Yars Rising is in the dreaded "pretty decent" zone, not actually bad, but not good enough to be memorable. Controls are fluid and smooth, but there aren't many areas that give them a proper workout and there was only one boss fight in the entire game that presented any kind of real challenge. The hacking games are more consistently creative, but they're also the kind of thing you'll play once and not feel any need to go back to again, despite being available as a collection from the main menu. Yars Rising is playable, Emi is a fun character that usually doesn't fall on the wrong side of the "I guess this is my life now" line, and the jump between metroidvania and classic single-screen arcade gaming is a nice hook. Altogether, though, none of the elements ever fully take off to make Emi the hero she should be.

Yars Rising delivers a notable deviation from the original Atari 2600 title. Here, Howard Scott Warshaw’s classic is imaged as a hacking mini-game placed inside a metroidvania adventure. While these transitory throwbacks and their variations are absorbing, the principal play between them is too lifeless.

Yars Rising is a decent metroidvania. Period. Nothing more, nothing less.

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 a decent enough adventure, but it feels like a very odd way to revive Atari’s legendary franchise.