Review: Yars Rising

Yar, maties. Avast ye scurvy lubbers. Man overboard! (Checks PR) Oh, it’s sci-fi.

I don’t think anybody expected this. Yars’ Revenge, from Howard Scott Warshaw of E.T “fame”, is a WayForward-developed Metroidvania-cum-shooter-cum-stealth bit of loveliness that easily clears the bar of Atari’s recent titles. The Recharged series didn’t really land for me, but Yars Rising is nice and cohesive. Well, sort of. The nostalgia portion of the game sees you thrown into a game of, well, Yars’ Revenge, but in the guise of hacker Emi Kimura as she infiltrates megacorp QoTech, breaking into their systems via the medium of the Atari VCS classic. It’s almost like a trainer for Yars’ Revenge, slowly introducing each element of the same in order to work the player up to understanding what is and remains a mechanically complex, richly enjoyable game.

Surrounding this immediate throwback, though, is a Metroidvania of a very traditional sense, bolstered with confident performance, charming voice acting, and a story that knows when to get out of the way and let you play the thing. Controlling Emi is consistently enjoyable, her movement speed and smooth control being satisfying and hasty without feeling so empowering that you can run rings around your opponents. I hate to use such an obscure point of comparison, but at times Yars’ Rising reminded me of Splinter Cell, specifically the side-scrolling GBA version. It also recalled elements of Konami’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus in the way you explore enivronments while trying not to be spotted by certain enemies, armoured and dangerous. You’ll crawl through vents, duck into cubbyholes and create diversions to get around them, though it’s not so much a stealth game as an action platoformer which integrates its sneaking elements very well.

Besides an abundance of duct-based exploration, it’s also Mega Man. There’s a distinctly Blue Bomber-esque feel to the jumpin’ n’ shootin’, a sensation that only gets magnified when you take on the bosses. It’s then exponentially concentrated when you gain a charged shot that’s both visually and sonically reminiscent of Capcom’s hero to the point that you may start wondering if a lawsuit is on the cards. Thankfully, it retains enough of its own flavour through its enjoyable story (fully voice acted with aplomb) and excellent soundtrack that features River City Girls composer Megan McDuffee, with a host of catchy vocal tracks and atmospheric ambience where needed. In fact, the vibes of Yars Rising are as immaculate as the gameplay is fundamental… though I do mean fundamental, because I found all the platforming stuff pretty easy to beat. Yes, I have played a lot of platformers, but I could have done with a little more challenge here and there, outside of the hacking minigames which could be a little frustrating before I had the mechanics down. Thankfully with the latter the game takes time to ease you in, but the main body of the game is still a little toothless.

That said, I still enjoyed pretty much every second I spent with it, and there are additional challenges to tackle on completion as well as a higher difficulty level. It’s a charming world, hugely enhanced by its music, and the integration of Yar’s Revenge is entertainingly esoteric in-universe. The likeable, put-upon main hero is an amusing character to spend six hours or so with – more if you’re looking to 100% this thing – and it’s mechanically familiar and unobtrusive enough to be a thoroughly chilled-out way to spend an evening or three. I was fond of the upgrade system, which superficially resembles – and you’re going to have to forgive my vagueness here because I can’t remember most of the details and Google isn’t helping – that system from the Mega Man Battle Network series where you slot your upgrades into a grid, with each one having a different shape to take into account. See, told you it was vague. You know the one though, where they’re like “Buster +1” and you need to keep it flush with the others so Mega Man doesn’t start going mental. Anyway, I liked that, and it’s in this. Which is nice. And so is Yars Rising. It is a good game. It is nice. I recommend it. The review’s over. I’m going now, bye!