Yars Rising

I'm sadly old enough to remember Yars Revenge when it came out on the Atari VCS. I was only 4 when it came out, but my grandma's neighbour would lend us their console whenever I was visiting Yorkshire in the 80's, and I have fond memories of it. I'm not sure what I was expecting from a 2020's revival, but a stealth/combat Metroidvania with an anime theme certainly wasn't it!

Set within the sort of neon future we would have imagined in the 80's, you take on the role of computer hacker Emi "Yar" Kimura as she works to expose the conspiracies of the mega tech corporation QoTech, wandering around a giant building that opens up as you play. Basically Wayforward have turned a shoot-em-up into a Metroidvania, with the computer hacking segments taking on the form of mission-specific Yar's Revenge levels. It's quite a genius idea really, since Yar's itself is quite a basic shooter by modern standards, so using it as an integral (and fun) sub-section of a larger game allows you to make that link while bringing something fresh and modern to the franchise.

The beautiful neon update for Yar's, with Emi's reaction to your performance and the timer on the right.

Wayforward have taken all the charm and energy from their design and voiceover teams to make Yar's Rising an engaging and attractive affair, with Emi enjoying some genuinely funny dialogue, though I will admit some of her cohorts were a bit of a cringe-fest. For me it manages to stay just the right side of charming though, and you can always turn the sound down if the valley-girl accents and slightly tragic male characters aren't your thing. The character designs are bright, lively and just a little sexy (yes, there's the Wayforward boob-bounce in the 3D models) but that's hardly surprising from the studio that brought us Shantae. They know how to create an engaging and attractive cast, and they've once again done a stellar job here. It's a shame that the physical edition, which I picked up from Amazon, is so bare-bones. I'd have happily paid double for an artbook and perhaps even a steelbook release. 

So it looks and sounds pretty great, and the Yar's segments where you're hacking are a lot of fun, but the Metroidvania proper? That's more of a mixed bag.

To start, you're an ordinary girl with no extraordinary abilities, save your ability to hack devices using your Yar's skills. However, hack the right terminals and you'll unlock Yar's like abilities, including the ability to nibble energy fields and fire projectiles from your hands. You'll still need to use stealth though, as stronger enemies are patrolling the building and you'll need to hide in doorways and crawl around ducts to keep yourself safe. 

Corridors are nicely lit and detailed, just a little sparse with not much to explore

The issue here is that the map itself isn't all that interesting. The regular save points are a plus, but there's really very little going on that's very memorable. You'll have to hide and time your movements to prevent detection, which slows down exploration, but even then you'll be done in under 10 hours. The puzzles aren't terribly difficult as everything is pointed out to you, including the next place you need to head to. Generally you'll want to explore every nook and cranny in a game like this, but there's not enough in the way of genuinely interesting terrain or surprises to make that element of the game particularly enthralling.

Where it wins you back is with the narrative, which is genuinely engaging thanks to the characters inhabiting the world, and the controls. Emi moves, shoots and jumps with great precision, and any stumbles were down to my cack-handed fumbling of the controller rather than an issue with collision detection within the game. It's enjoyable to play and bizarrely it's the sub-games with Yar's that make it entertaining, as your approach has to change with every console. It takes some skill to hack something and failure never feels unfair.

Bosses are big and stompy, though there's no life bar to indicate your progress in battle

The bosses are lovely and stompy, my main gripe is that I had no idea what I was doing when I came across the first one. You have to deplete the shield and then fire at the mech until it retreats, but there's no indication of whether or not you're doing any damage as there's an absence of a health bar. You have to hack into the enemy and then complete numerous Yar's challenges, but it was all a bit confusing on first play.

Just like Shantae or River City Girls, my hope here is that Yar's returns with a more interesting map to explore, because there's genuine franchise potential here. In fairness to Wayforward, this isn't a genre they're known for, so I'm prepared to be patient with their first attempt in the hope of a more rounded second, and between the very reasonable price for the physical copy and the fact that I genuinely enjoyed my time with it, I really hope they dive back in. 

Yar's Ascending anyone?