Atari and Wayforwardhave announcedthatYars Rising, a spin-off/reimagining of the 1981 Atari 2600 title,Yars’ Revengehas a release date of July 04, 2025. They’ve also released a new trailer that covers the gameplay in better detail.
Announced back in April,Yars Risingis a gated exploration (Metroidvania) game that bases itself onYars’ Revenge. It’s a weird way to reimagine a fixed-screen shooter from the early days of home games. While theinitial trailerdidn’t really show much relation to the original beyond some visual references, both the demo and the trailer show a more distinct link. I’m talking about the hacking mini-games that are essentially new configurations of the classicYars’ Revengegameplay.
It’s a better trailer overall, though I’m still not sold on the aesthetic. I say that as someone who actually likesYars’ Revenge. However, Joseph Luster tried out the demo and came to the same conclusion that he’s curious, but not wild about the game. I’m just not seeing much of a hook here.
Yars Risingstill fits into Atari’s business model of adapting old licenses into smaller-budget games. So far, a lot of what I’ve experienced from the initiative is solid but unremarkable. However, with the resurrection of the Infogrames label and Nightdive and Digital Eclipse at their side, they aren’t restricting themselves to one strategy. It’s a lot better than what we had a decade ago when they last tried to resurrectYars RevengeandStar Raiders.
Yars’ Risingwill be released for Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, and PC on July 28, 2025.
