Yars Rising

[h1] Refund Requested and Denied! [/h1] ------------------------------------------- [h3] Warning to Gamers of Average Skill or Less [/h3] Yars Rising is more about platforming then it is about Castle Vania exploration. You can turn off the health penalties for the hacking mini-game, but you [b] CANNOT [/b] get out of wall jumping while lasers are firing at you or get out of boss battles. And you will have played more than 2 hours by the time you reach the bullet hell boss. And as such, you cannot test your skill against the bullet hell boss and then request a refund for this game. Therefore, you need to understand that Yars Revenge is all about arcade skill long before you buy the game. [h3] Summary of Game Elements [/h3] Soundtrack: Truly amazing Graphics: Decent, but you get no graphical options whatsoever in the settings menu Mini-games: Love them or hate them, but at least you can turn off the failure penalty Map Exploration: Mediocre Platforming: Painful In-Game Dialogue: Painful [h3] Another Criticism [/h3] Yars Revenge has [b] NO [/b] RPG elements. You cannot grind to get stronger! The only way you can get stronger is by finding more "biohacks." And most of the "biohacks" that you find are not all that useful. As a result, you will be woefully underpowered when you fight bosses. [h3] The Soundtrack [/h3] Atari and WayForward should be proud of that soundtrack. While many tracks might not belong in a MetroidVania game, they do make for easy listening. As such, I will get my money's worth for Yars Rising by listening to the soundtrack. [h3] The Audience [/h3] Other reviewers have mentioned this, but it bears repeating. Who plays MetroidVania games? Is it Gen Z ladies? Since I can't imagine anyone answering "yes" to that question, I have no idea why the game designers targeted a Gen Z female audience. It's baffling to me.

Average search action game(tm). Great soundtrack. Short and simple (around 8 hours if not doing completionist or NG+). The constant yapping from the main character and dubious writing may not be to everyone's taste. She's Bubsy levels of one-lining. The hacking minigames are variations of the OG Yars' Revenge game and you'll be doing those a lot so hopefully you like that game. Get it when at a discount.

Yars Rising is a short(ish), perfectly cromulent metroidvania with an absolute earworm of an OST from start to finish. It gets a passing grade not because anything is particularly outstanding (OST aside) but nothing drags it completely down. Wayforward obviously have a formula and know how to deliver, it's just that there isn't any element that really leaps out as a selling point. The character designs, enemies, and bosses (few as they may be) are all charming. The voice acting quality is extremely okay. Hacking mini-games add some much needed variety to the "exploration". Finding and managing upgrades to suit your playstyle is a nice way to spice things up. Lots of little nods to Atari history throughout. However, The lack of variety in enemies and areas makes everything feel repetitive. Emi will never ever shut up and always has a quip ready to go. Those same hacking mini-games are everywhere and will grind you down. Upgrades are mostly "do a bit more X" rather than altering how anything plays out. Pong. Really?? Is Yars worth playing over many other modern metroidvanias? Not really. I mean, just looking at Wayforward alone I would point to any of the Shantae games over this. But is Yars a total stinker that doesn't deserve the time of day? Also not really. Just don't pay full price for it. Oh, and the insect-lookin lady standing behind Emi in the key art? Never appears. Weird!

anime magical girl city pop future funk based on a american atari game from 1982 for sure was not what i was expecting like every way forward game, it is short but sweet, the soundtrack steals the show thou

I wanted to love this game and did for the most part, but there's a bunch of small issues ranging from the odd layout for controls to the extremes of the hacking minigame, the game of pong you have to win just before the final boss, and even the amount of stuff on the screen during the final boss (between the contact damage if I hit the crystal and all the projectiles I don't know if I'll ever actually finish it). All these issues drag the game down for me and make an otherwise fun and interesting metroidvania game a drag to play, to the point that I actively don't want to do more. I will never recommend a game that makes me not want to play it, so I'm advising that people give this a pass unless you want some light bullet hell elements (nowhere near the level of an actual bullet hell but that's how it feels to me) in your metroidvania.

Fun 2D Metroid-like. Gameplay is basic but snappy. Nice challenging difficulty. Interesting variations of the original Yars game. Story is nonsense, but the voice acting is so cringe it becomes funny. Not too long. Had a good time during the whole thing.

I am surprised that a Metroidvania thematically based on an old Atari game ended up being such a unique and charming experience. The actual platforming and shooting action is fairly standard, although the controls are a little stiff. While it's nice that you can use any of your acquired powers without having to select them from a menu, that also means sometimes fumbling around with confusing controls where every button does something different. The customization aspect, where you acquire block formations that grant you powers and place those formations onto your personal grid, is really well implemented. There are a large variety of effects and bonuses they grant you, and choosing what you want to have boosted can have a significant effect on your experience. You can make your regular shots much, much stronger, but doing so means you have less room to boost your max life, power up your secondary abilities, or make the hacking challenges easier. The hacking challenges, incidentally, are the most significant way Yars Rising pays homage to its source material. There are dozens and dozens of challenges that build upon the gameplay and ruleset of the original Yars game. While it felt gimmicky at first, I'll be damned if I didn't eventually find myself looking forward to finding another terminal to hack. The challenges become increasingly complex and demanding, and these 2D retro excursions served as an engaging diversion from the jumping and shooting. I'm genuinely surprised that two such incongruent gameplay styles meshed so well together. The hacking isn't the only connection to the old Atari days, of course. The protagonist has a Yars "tattoo" she received from a member of the Yars alien race as a child (giving me Metroid lore vibes). As the game progresses, she gets wrapped up in helping the friendly aliens take on the evil Qotile force. She has Atari-themed memorabilia in her room. The save stations look like the original Computer Space arcade cabinet. One of the main villains is named "Philip Ong" and you beat him by besting him in his namesake. A good amount of effort was put into infusing the retro Atari vibe into the game and I appreciated that. Upon beating the game, you get access to a more difficult "pro" mode. You can also play all of the hacking challenges in isolation (unlocking even more, increasingly difficult challenges). There is enough here to keep one engaged for a while. Oh, and I would be remiss not to address the writing and voice acting. While I love the character design (particularly for the main character, who is wonderfully animated), much of the humor and acting leans more towards cringe. Some of the jokes I found genuinely funny, but a lot of it just seems like it's trying too hard. If you're sensitive to cringe humor, that might compromise your ability to enjoy this game, but I didn't find it to be a big deal. Still, I enjoyed Yars Rising more than I thought I would. I actually want to check out the original Yars now that I've played this. Recommended for fans of both Metroidvanias and retro gaming.

This game is flawed but fun turn on the hack invinciblity in the setting if you have trouble with them (one of the flaws) also the game can break in many ways resualting in the camera bugging out but there are many save points so it's mostly okay the sound track and the writing is amazing and the actual gameplay is good but a little finicky 7/10 I would try to get it on sale

♥♥♥♥ this cheaply done Metroidvania Knock off. Which Moron of a Developer thougt it would have been a good Idea gatekeeping Players from the final Part of the game behind an impossible Pong Game ( The CPU cheats here). No wonder this game failed.

It excites me to see Atari titles making a comeback. Would be exciting to see the first video game console I ever played, top the currents.