Yars Rising

Written by Joseph Moorer on 9/12/2024 for PC  

I am very fond of the fact that Atari is just churning out games and consoles as if it never lost a step. From re-releasing their own consoles, to original games like Kombinera, and Mr. Run And Jump, Atari just seems to be back, but is staying in their own corner of the world. Their recharged series got them started, and Atari 50 is just an amazing compilation. Even the Akka Arrh remake was Jeff-Minter-quirky, but not bad at all. All that to say, this writer is glad to be able to cover their games, and the latest is probably their most flushed out version of one of their best selling IPs yet. Yars: Rising.

Yars: Rising is a WayForward-fueled MetroidVania action adventure side scroller at its core, based on the Atari 2600 game Yars' Revenge. You are Emi Yar Kimura, someone who is fed up with her employer and their hidden secrets. She has made the decision to hack into the mainframe of the company. Of course this is frowned upon, and as she starts to break away from the corporate grind, she finds herself in more trouble than she hacked for. Qotech (get it) and their upper management have found out about Miss Kimura's hacking ways, and will stop her at any cost, but she has friends in her back pocket, navigating her and getting her out. 

Her best friend Mal, who is there for her through thick and thin, is that one friend who will support you in all your endeavors of chaos. Then there’s Kitbash, a fellow hacker, who (according to Emi) has very nice hair, and very nice eyes. Rounding out the bunch is the guy in the chair, Refresh, who may not have the technical abilities, but has all the Gen Z jargon you need to keep you going through a hostile takeover at 23 years of age. You are against Mrs. Davidson, who is trying to initially stop you from your constant meddling, and her boss, Phillip Ong, who is your typical money hungry capitalist shrouded in secrecy type villain. The only thing he’s missing is a cat. 

As you try to make your exit from the cubicle to the front door, the multi story building is filled with enemies and different stage hazards. You have your classic platforming moves, and from start, Emi can jog, jump, duck and crawl. She’s a person, y'all. Unfortunately, there are enemies standing in her way. You will see these same enemies, and stage hazards a lot, in different variations. There are lasers, security bots, cleaning robots, shooting filing cabinets, and more, but not much more. The security bots take you out immediately if they are alerted to your position, so along with the platforming and the dodging, you can also use stealth-like tactics to get past them. You can sneak up to them, and hide in an opening in a wall, or climb up into a vent. The bots aren’t the smartest, so you can get past them with ease, but if they catch you, it will hurt. Speaking of…everything that hits you hurts. EVERYTHING. This is not one of those run and gun games where you can just run through unscathed. You will get hit. It will feel unfair. Deal with it. 

And deal with it she does. Emi eventually comes across consoles to hack, and these consoles will open doors, stop stage hazards, and sometimes give you powers. This is the coolest part to me, because the hacks are versions of the original Yars' Revenge game. So if you’ve never played the game before, and you want to play this, find the original game immediately. To successfully hack the console, you have to take out the Qotile with a Zorlon Cannon. The hacks are color coded, so yellow will unlock doors, while red may be a operational one, and blue will result in bio hacks. Every hack is a different version or variation of the Yars' Revenge.

There are some throwback surprises and references to other Atari games that made me grin and nod like someone took my advice and did something cool. You would know what I was talking about if you played the game, so go play the game. The rainbow ones always leads to augments. The first augment Emi receives is a Zorlon shot. This immediately helps, as you can now take out all the things with a rapid fire shot, akin to Megaman. You can not take out those security bots so don’t even waste your time. This also gives you a leg up so you’re not kissing the pavement instead of that dreamboat Kitbash. She likes him a lot.

The Zorlon shot doesn’t stop there. Eventually Emi gets more powers to help her traverse the building and find out more about what’s going on with her former employer. Eventually as the challenges get tougher, you will receive more powers in the form of augments. The first is the Destroyer missile. As the Zorlon shot has unlimited ammo, the Destroyer Missile has a limited amount. You can restore these by destroying enemies, or even destroying trash, signs, and canisters littered throughout the stages. Use these missiles to get to places you couldn’t get before. You will see places you cannot access, and it’s because you’ll have to hack your way to a new power to get there. Augments come in both combat and traversal, so you’ll eventually get powers like a wall jump and a dash. You know, as Metroidvanias do. And don’t worry. If you’re not happy with your powers, you will be able to upgrade them with biohacks.

Biohacks are crucial to getting through the game. They can upgrade your powers on the spot. Essentially, they are perks, except you can equip multiple, and they even expand beyond the game into the hacks. There’s a pixelated Yar that you fit these biohacks on, and yes, they are shaped like Tetris pieces. Use the best strategy to fit the pieces into the Yar puzzle to win. I just upgraded my Zorlon shot to the highest degree, and focused on my health, rather than being able to jump higher, or use the multi shot for the Yars Revenge hacks. As you progress, you will find the same biohacks in different shapes, so you can fit more pieces. You can access and change these out at any time, even if you’re having trouble with a hack. You will have trouble with some of the hacks, mostly because they're timed. Go play Yars Revenge. Get familiar. EVERY HACK is a variation of Yars Revenge. I can’t express that enough. I made a lot of same faces Emi did when not doing something I already know how to do. 

Your bosses are not for the weak. These half screen multi plane bosses run directly into you, flatten you, shoot things at you, and every single attack hurts. I was downed by the first boss in a matter of seconds. These are not pattern bosses. They switch up their attacks every time you fall to them. Two of the bosses’ names had me point at the screen like a DiCaprio meme. I won’t spoil this for you. I wouldn’t call them cheap, because once you figure it out, you can take them down pretty quickly. Just make sure you hit that save point before each one, because when you do get smacked around, you respawn at the last save point.  

There are save points gratuitously everywhere on the map. The cool thing about this is that if you fall into a pit - it takes your last THIRTY PERCENT. As the game has no lives and no continues, this is a good thing. Also, if you make your way through a level, and unlock some hacks, take out some barriers, etc., and you get stung by a random airborne bug thing, and you don’t save, you still start from the same save point, with everything you’ve accomplished. You just have to make your way back to where you died, and all the enemies have respawned. There is an element of fast travel here too, but it’s in the form of elevators. 

There are sections of the Qotech building that you will have to go back to to get more hacks. Once you receive an augment, the map will let you know where you can go, but only if you’ve visited that part. I checked my map often. It’s totally ok to do. There are doors you can go into as well, so make sure you check those for more hacks. This is where the elevators come in handy, but the elevators don’t unlock, until you use them. Be cautious of that too. I got everything there was to get. I may have made the game longer for it, which is fine. Go at your own pace. The music will keep you moving along, with tracks from the great Megan McDuffee, my new favorite Moe Shop, and more!

Overall, I thought the game was pretty cool. The cutscenes are in comic book form. The conversations between Emi and her friends were fun, and Emi’s quips throughout the game are hilarious. Jenny Yokobori is fantastic!  She will constantly complain about how many lasers there are, and it’s funnier every time. The Yars Revenge hacks get FRUSTRATINGLY hard, as they take 5% health everytime you fail. I think that’s fair. I enjoyed it. There is some replay value here too, starting with you can go back through and time attack the hacks you completed. Why you would want to torture yourself, is beyond me. The game took me about 10-15 hours to complete, and I ended with 99%. Something else unlocks when you beat the game, but I’ll leave that to you. Now, go and take Qotech down.