Yars Rising

Yars Rising is a 2024 action-adventure video game developed by WayForward and published by Atari, Inc. for home consoles and computers.^[1]

Yars Rising has been described as a metroidvania genre with 2D exploration and labyrinthian level design.^[1][2] The player is expected to hack into terminals while progressing through the game, giving the player-character different abilities by altering her DNA.^[3]

Set in the year 2049, Yars Rising is about Emi Kimura, a young hacker who is hired to expose the dark workings of the shady QoTech corporation.^[3][1]

Yars Rising was announced at an Indie World Nintendo Direct on April 17, 2024.^[4] Its creator James Montagna said that the game was made to be "a little bit unconventional" for the Yars IP.^[3] He added that they were going for what he called "freeform stealth" in the gameplay, while the environment was based on retrofuturism.^[5] Howard Scott Warshaw was not involved in the development of Yars Rising.^[3]

The soundtrack of the game consists of music composed by a collaboration of twenty international artists, and includes vocal tracks in both English and Japanese.^[3] The music too was designed to be parallel with the retrofuturistic game theme.^[5] The team also worked on making the most out of the rumble feature of the Joy-Con, on the Nintendo Switch version of the game.^[3]

Development was done by American studio WayForward, who are known for Shantae (2002) and River City Girls (2019).^[3]

It was released on September 10, 2024, with physical editions for PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch.^[2][6][7]

Yars Rising received a "mixed or average" critical reception according to the review aggregation website Metacritic, and a "positive" reception for the Nintendo Switch version specifically.^[8] Reviews by PC Gamer, Rolling Stone and Slant Magazine found the game's 2D platforming sequences weak with simple platforming, while commenting that the hacking sequences were the high points.^[1][2][9]

• "Indie Games Burst Onto Nintendo Switch Promising Adventure, Cozy Vibes, and Curious Cat Mischief". Nintendo. April 17, 2024. Archived from the original on June 26, 2024. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
• "Yars Rising". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
• Brian (May 24, 2024). "Yars Rising Confirmed for Physical Release on Switch, Pre-orders Open". Nintendo Everything. Retrieved September 16, 2024.
• Chatziioannou, Alexander (September 12, 2024). "Yars Rising Review". PC Gamer. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
• Cruz, Christopher (September 10, 2024). "'Yars Rising' Reinvents Atari's Forgotten Hit". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
• Reynolds, Ollie (June 3, 2024). "Feature: "This Isn't Just Yars, It's a Love Letter to Atari" - How WayForward is Breaking the Mould With 'Yars Rising'". NintendoLife. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
• Riccio, Aaron (September 10, 2024). "'Yars Rising' Review: A Side-Scrolling Metroidvania Divided Against Itself". Slant Magazine. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
• Tailby, Stephen (June 19, 2024). "Atari's Sci-Fi Metroidvania Yars Rising Hacks onto PS5, PS4 in September". Push Square. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
• Marrujo, Robert (2024-09-11). "Nintendojo Interview: Yars Rising Director James Montagna". Nintendojo. Retrieved 2024-09-16.

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