Review: Yars Rising (Nintendo Switch)

Yars Rising is an action platformer for the Nintendo Switch. It comes from those crafty folk at WayForward, renowned for the terrific Shantae series, among others. Yars Rising adds another feather to the team’s cap, taking a classic Atari shooter and reimagining it for a new genre and audience. And it totally works.

We follow the adventures of Emi, a young woman (don’t call her a child!) who works in the office of the mega corporation known as QoTech. Naturally, the company turns out to be evil, and Emi, a skilled computer hacker, must escape the building. As she attempts to flee a lockdown, things become increasingly dangerous. It’s now up to Emi to not only save herself, but the entire world.

Gameplay is divided into two parts. The main mechanic is the platforming side of things, which involves running, jumping, shooting, and various other movesets. It very much has a Metroid feel to it, with maze-like hallways to traverse as a map unfolds around you. The platforming is satisfying, with the usual lasers, moving platforms, enemies to avoid or defeat, and boss fights. I also enjoyed unlocking more power ups for Emi, like wall jumping and energy zapping. There’s enough variety to keep you hooked, and the generous save points mean there’s little need to backtrack or repeat sections. 

In fact, the overall difficulty is balanced quite well. Emi sports a health bar, beginning at 100% and moving towards 0% as she succumbs to attacks. Some enemies drop energy refills on defeat, helping Emi regain lost health. Unlockable badges allow Emi to increase her total health, among other things, enhancing the abilities in tandem with new and more formidable enemies. This pacing works well.

Adding to this badge system is a fun way to equip them. Instead of only being able to equip, say, three at a time, there’s a unique Tetris-like system that allows you to assign as many as you can fit into a special space. Badges come in the form of blocky shapes, and, if you can fit these shapes into an Atari-like alien symbol, those badges are usable. At first, there’s plenty of space of course, but once you unlock a whole bunch of enhancements, it’s an enjoyable way to rearrange and equip your faves.

Back to the gameplay, the second part is a minigame based on the original Atari title, Yars Revenge. If you’re not familiar with this 1981 game (and I wasn’t), it involves a space bug—controlled by you—that must penetrate various shields to unleash a special bullet and take out an enemy ship. There are many variations of how this plays out, including enemies chasing you, special shields that need destroying first, or Galaga-like streams of enemies to shoot. 

The clever hook here is that these microgames are periodically unleashed as part of Emi’s hacking attempts while fleeing the building. Locked door? Better play a minigame. Time to upgrade? Another minigame! Bonus hidden room with optional collectible? You’d better believe it’s time for another minigame.

These short “hacker” minigames break up the platforming nicely. They’re also quite tricky at times, though there’s a handy way around that. If you die too often, you’re given a few options to make things easier, granting an immortality of sorts. You can elect to have this option shown again later, or not again. It’s another great way to balance the difficulty.

There are a few other things I love about Yars Rising. Firstly, the style. Everything looks lovely. It’s a 2D platformer that somehow appears 3D. Part of this is the way Emi can use background spaces to dodge obstacles and enemies, like ducking into a crevice. But the character models themselves are rendered in a neat way that gives them depth and adds to the characterization.

I also love the dialogue. The story flows quickly and smoothly as Emi communicates via radio with her friends on the outside. As they guide her through the building’s security, there’s plenty of fast-paced humor. Some of it may come across as a little corny, clearly aiming to emulate how 20-something-year-olds speak, but I found it amusing nonetheless. Each character also feels unique, with varying emotions to drive their story forward.

Terrific voicework complements this narrative. Emi’s character, in particular, is voiced with such passion and humor that I found myself wanting to hear her speak rather than quickly reading and skipping the text. Kudos to the actors involved.

The music is also worth noting. An upbeat synth-based soundtrack plays neatly in the background, with songs changing as though Emi is listening to her favorite playlist on Spotify. You can even see the song titles at the top of the screen. It fits in well with the aesthetic and the characterization. Nicely done. 

Yars Rising sounds pretty good, right? It is. My only real issue with this game is the presence of some annoying loading screens. While they’re relatively short in duration (between 5 and 10 seconds each) they occur a little too frequently. The game stops to load new sections every three or four screens of gameplay, which interrupts the flow. It becomes more noticeable later in the game when a little backtracking is involved, meaning you move more quickly through each room. It’s by no means a deal-breaker, but it feels like it could have been avoided.

Overall, Yars Rising is a terrific platformer with satisfying puzzles and shooting elements. I enjoyed the story, along with the clever integration of a classic Atari game. Apart from some annoying loading screens, this is absolutely a game worth checking out.