Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Game
Game2024
Yars Rising
Developer WayForward
Yars Rising is a 2024 action-adventure video game developed by WayForward and published by Atari, Inc. for home consoles and computers. It is part of the Yars series. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
296 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Oct 6, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
81
LovedLoved
162 positive · 37 negative
95% range 75–86%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 162 | 37 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
97 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
215 of 264 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 296 · most liked firstI picked up Yars Rising last month and it's pretty much been my comfort game for December, playing a bit every evening (So close to full 100%ing it! I WILL beat Supernova!!!) Loved my time with it, had to just squeeze in some fan art before the year was out. #YarsRising [ #fanart | #characterart ]
unlabelledView post →Yars Rising, my latest game, is out today! If you’ve enjoyed past WayForward games, Yars Rising will feel familiar…however, we’ve taken bold new steps with action, stealth, and hacking elements. It’s a fresh, distinct flavor, unlike anything we’ve done before. I can’t wait for you to experience it!
unlabelledView post →Available right now at the Okamoto Kitchen food truck in Burbank, CA, by Game Realms! Get the Merv Burger (River City Girls), Bug Byte Juice (Yars Rising), Spread Gunion Rings (Contra: Operation Galuga), and Deadly Clockcake (Clock Tower: Rewind), or the combo + free sticker!
unlabelledView post →In two weeks on Dec. 7, it's WayForward Day at Game Realms in Burbank, CA! Meet the creators of River City Girls 2, Contra: Operation Galuga, Yars Rising, and Clock Tower: Rewind, purchase a signed Yars Rising comic, get game-inspired food from Okamoto Kitchen, and more!
unlabelledView post →Emi from the upcoming WayForward game, Yars Rising!
unlabelledView post →Update after 100%: My full review of Yars Rising can be found on my website, which I can't link here due to Steam policy — just search for Demajen. The review is 2700 words long and goes into a lot more detail about why I can't in good conscience recommend this game when there are so many better and cheaper Metroidvanias around. If you absolutely love the Yars franchise and the hacking minigames, go wild with this one. If you don't know squat about Yars or found the hacking minigames…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've played most of the metroidvanias on Steam as its my favorite genre of game, but this one is a painful not recommend for me. The game has a pretty high level or production value. The visuals and graphics are vibrant and well done, the music is pretty great, and there is tons of voice acting. The problems start to show once you start getting into the meat of the game, or lack thereof. I'm very surprising reading a lot of the positive reviews for this game after spending 2.5 hours…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Yars Rising is out now on all major consoles If the game was not on your radar, it now is!! Ty to all signal boosts ✨
unlabelledView post →*edit* can destroyer missile just NOT? Like holy, bite me >:( The game genuinely is a victim of its price point, to which, as consumers, you SHOULD care about if value is any of your concerns. -$30 is way too expensive for this game. Even at $20, like others have said, its a shantae game, and there's plenty of games in this genre that are *so* much better and cheaper. Feels like most of the budget went to visuals and cringe voice acting. The game play itself is super middle of the road.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't know whose idea it was to take the 1982 Atari 2600 game, Yars' Revenge, and turning it into this 2.5D sci-fi platformer with anime aesthetics, but you caught my attention. It helped knowing that WayForward developed this, whose games I've enjoyed for the most part. I knew from the trailers alone that the main character was going to talk way too much to my liking, but despite that and the mostly cringy dialogues, I still mostly enjoyed my time with the game to 100% complete it. The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just in time for my trip to Portland, the awesome peeps at Atari sent me a SWEET Yars Rising Training Program promo pack!! I can’t wait to dive in to this game as @wayforward.bsky.social just doesn’t miss and Yars’ Revenge is a personal Atari fav. But there’s more… 👇
unlabelledView post →I Am Your Beast, Elsie, Grapple Dogs, Caravan SandWitch, Hollowbody, Rugrats, Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP, Space Marine II, Yars Rising, Wild Bastards, Deathsprint 66, MvC Collection, Funko Fusion, Melobot... Truly another big week of cool video game launches 🤯
unlabelledView post →Game Night Double Feature: ‘Yars Rising’ Goes Up, ‘Just Crow Things’ Punches Down(Minus World column by @stolisomancer.bsky.social ) hard-drive.net/news-games/g...
unlabelledView post →There are two types of people who would enjoy this game. 1. Old-school, 45-year-old Atari enthusiasts who appreciate old arcade references. 2. 8-year-olds being introduced into a simplistic Metroidvania style of game. Neither of these are to say the game is bad. I quite enjoyed it! Even if I was only 75% into the niches it catered to. All in all, it's a solid, if simplistic and fairly easy Metroidvania, with very forgiving gameplay for people not used to the genre, or old farts like me…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game makes me feel old...and not because it feels like a game I grew up loving. The dialogue is so painfully bad I feel like a 5th grader could write something that makes me cringe less. They tried to make the characters feel cool and completely failed in doing so.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Linear exploration, filled with annoying minigames (which at least you can turn off by making yourself invincible) and with more loading screens than a PS1 game. Don't get fooled by cute anime girls, you're better than this and you know it. (I wasn't, and I paid the price for it.)
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a good metroidvania with some fun hacking minigames but... "dude zomg this dialogue is so relatable and fun lolz". The music is also wonderful, but I got too annoyed by the dialogues and them being so "hip, modern and relatable".
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I started to draw the girl from Yars Rising. And then I was like... I don't think I actually like that game.
unlabelledView post →Yars Rising feels like it desperately wants to be quirky and modern, but the writing constantly lands in that exhausting “hello, fellow children” territory. Every conversation drags on with forced humor and awkwardly self-aware dialogue that made me want to skip cutscenes more than once. The metroidvania side of the game is also disappointingly bland. Exploration never feels especially rewarding, the level design is forgettable, and movement/combat lack the punch needed to carry the genre.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →YARS RISING. While tempting to just rattle off all the Shantae games, I thought I'd show some love to one of WayForward's recent projects. Yars Rising is a fab exploration platformer that makes use of classic Yars' Revenge-inspired sequences for hacking minigames. AMAZING music. 89/365 #365games
unlabelledView post →2024! Crazy year.. lots of game releases (Penny’s Big Breakaway, Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind, TMNT:SR Remix DLC, The Big Catch: Tacklebox, Yars Rising), started on more games, spent time with my friends, travelled, and wrote tons of music! Thank you everyone for an amazing year, and happy 2025! 🎊
unlabelledView post →I loved Yar's Revenge on my Atari 2600, and enjoyed a bunch of the Shantae games, so I had high hopes. Unfortunately this game makes a lot of basic mistakes. A - Cutscenes should be skippable. If I don't care enough to watch them, forcing me to will only irritate me. B - Checkpoints go AT the boss, AFTER their monologue and intro animation. Dropping me back to a save point making me run through a couple of rooms and then watch the intro animation again will only piss me off. Also,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I started this game because the main girl looked cute, I don't enjoy metroidvania genre very much but this one was fun and didn't made me backtrack my steps too much. Things I liked: - Hacking interface mini games were fun, never repeating, they reminded me of captcha alternatives from github I saw long time ago. - Hacking mini games were getting difficult each time but game is giving you an easy mode to play them without making you frustrated. - Main girl Emi is cute. - OST was super nice, I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →THE LOUISTRATIONS GAME AWARDS ★ Splatoon 3: Side Order ★ Thank Goodness You're Here! ★ The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom ★ Yars Rising ★ Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete
unlabelledView post →This is a metroidvania with all the secret finding removed. This is an action platformer interrupted by old-school shoot-em-up styled hacking minigames that grow increasingly tedious. The bosses are either extremely easy or obtuse. Overall the writing is probably the worst. The story itself is fine, but the game spends the first half deprecating itself by pointing out how weird or annoying certain things are--lasers are its favorite target--that when it decides that it wants to try taking…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After various delays, the Making Of article on @wayforward.bsky.social's cool Yars Rising is finally published - I had a great, long talk last year with @jpop.bsky.social at Gamescom about the game. There's an interview with Takaya Imamura, a review of Cho Aniki and a couple of fun previews. 2/3
unlabelledView post →While the SwitchArcade Round-Up has come to an end, I’ve decided to carry on in a similar (but weekly) fashion on Post Game Content. Here is the first installment, covering Marvel vs Capcom Collection, Yars Rising, and a couple dozen more: postgamecontent.com/post/7615958...
unlabelledView post →I stg Yars Rising has like one of the best video game osts I've ever heard and nobody talks about it, it's so unfortunate, Night City Walk, V I S I O N, and Shoot From My Heart are all absolute bangers
unlabelledView post →It is an ok-ish simple metroidvania, bundled with a pack of minigames, which add nothing to the gameplay. I dropped "Yars Rising" mid-game because I disliked the writing and because the movement and fighting feedback are subpar to the titles I enjoy ("Rabi-Ribi", for example). I was not sure whether to give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down, but, well, I'll repeat, the game is ok-ish.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In 1982 Howard Scott Warshaw and Atari, released a fixed shooter game known as Yars’ Revenge. The game had you play as an alien race called the Yar. with the goal of destroying your enemy, the Qotile using your Zorlon Cannon. I know there are a lot of weird words in that sentence, but it was the 80s. At the time the game was found to be “not exciting with an objective that was repeated indefinitely”. Over the long term the game has received praise as “a game that required more strategy and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is simply a below average metroidvania a 4/10 experience. The visuals are great, art-style is poppy and eye-catching, fun to see games like this voice acted always a nice treat. Looking at the game is great, the problem lies in the game-play. My god am I BORED. the enemies are so uninspiring to look at do almost nothing. They feel like they were placed there because someone in the office said "gotta have something to shoot at" but the invincibility frames are insanely long, you can…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So I've played this game and have almost fully completed it (currently stuck on the final boss). So I feel qualified to discuss it. Yars Rising is a 2.5D Metroidvania set in the Yars universe. For those of you under the age of 40, Yars Revenge was a game released for the Atari 2600 that a large portion of you have probably never heard of. This game apparently takes place in the same universe as that. Somehow. Anyway, you play as Emi Kimura, a hacker trying to steal data from a cyberpunk…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A lot of stuff on this sale is worth checking out, but I want to bring particular attention to Yars Rising, just an absolute blast of a metroidvania game that loops in its source material remarkably well.
unlabelledView post →Very enjoyable metroidvania - so far very much on the easy side (the save file says I'm more than 80% done and I still didn't even die once), but not in a way that makes it boring - I was down to 15% health several times, most often on the boss fights. I also really enjoy the hacking segments that are apparently the original "Yars" thing - I've lost on those enough times that it sometimes asks me if I want to cheat, but since each failure only costs 5% health it isn't annoyingly difficult at…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Underrated banger alert for Yars Rising. Excellent game.
unlabelledView post →It comes with an actual Yars Rising training cartridge!!! So cool~ 🤩 I’ll be playing it on the plane ride to PRGE, and content to come soon on the Switch game.
unlabelledView post →Been playing for about 4 hours and so far there are a ton of really great things about this game and 1 very bad thing. The controls are very smooth and intuitive. Animations are nice and detailed with character and enemy movements. The colors in the game are absolutely beautiful. The use of classic Atari Yars for the hacking mechanic mini game is such a good idea and never gets old. The art style is full of charm from the characters to just the simple detail of using the Atari rainbow…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I learned about this game a week prior to release, the gameplay intrigued me, so I purchased it the same day it released and didn't stop playing until I beat it 100%. I can safely say its an awesome game full of classic Atari throw backs, the story is a little weak, but overall I liked the characters a lot, the story pacing, the humor and the powers you use. My only complaints are the loading screens get in the way of the enjoyment, especially when back tracking to collect everything and some…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL;DR: Although a bright, beautiful looking game with a great soundtrack, the rest of the game is relatively average. The hacking minigame is love it or hate it. There are frequent loading screens. I ended up quitting about 75% through the game due to a persistent, intermittent bug where I would stop moving full speed to the left. To put this up front, I bought this on sale for $9 and it was acceptable for that price. I couldn't imagine spending $30 dollars for it. As far as metroidvanias go,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I guess im just getting older but the dialogue in this game makes me cringe out of my skin and I can't stand it. It sounds like the most awkward people in the world wrote it. The main character speaks like someone who hasn't spoken to anyone in real life for years.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is very fun, Rising plays very much like the old Metroid games.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is not a bad game per se, but it is a complete ripoff given its price. For that price I expected to find a large, intricate metroidvania with hundreds of secrets and multiple complex items to gradually unfold. What I got instead was a short and casual metroidvania with rather dull and repetitive who-can-mash-faster gameplay that poses little challenge. It took me less than 10 hours to 100% it first time, and a sizeable part of those 10 hours were wasted due to the ubiquitous loading…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wow Yars Rising really got me hooked! I love this game the main character is so damn funny and the English voice acting is absolutely brilliant. I want to move forward but now I’m afraid it will end too soon 🥺
unlabelledView post →The gameplay is great, fun metroidvania and those are my favorite genre. BUT, be prepared for all the annoying DEI crap. Girlboss, annoying characters that talk too much and every single line of dialogue is 'super funny sarcasm.' You know, that same lesbian sarcastic woman that is a character in every game for the last 5 or 6 years and the exact same 'humor.' "I'm so witty and funny every time I speak!" Overlooking the obvious liberal crap that is luckily starting to be on it's way out, the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Overall, a really enjoyable and fun experience. This is a very linear metroidvania, to the point where I didn't head straight towards the next marked location and the MC started making comments about how they are either lost or purposefully procrastinating. It is very much Point A to Point B. There are only two examples of nested side upgrades I can think of. Simple and somewhat short in length (100% complete normal blind run in roughly 7 hours), runs well with no compatibility issues etc.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Leans a little too heavy on the "I just moved ♥♥♥♥ with my freaking mind!" type of dialogue. If that bothers you, well there's a lot of it. Probably should just skip the dialogue anyway. The gameplay is fine. I feel like they could have put a bit more polish on some of the animations. The music is surprisingly good. You might want to get it for that alone. Pick it up on a sale.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If i could give a neutral review i could. It is playable, there is a story and it has the standards of a metroidvania. The writing is not good, the world feels flat and boring and traversal is not as smooth as many other metroidvanias. I was never surprised and i was never amused.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →New Indie game Friday is here!! Today we are going to Check out a Yars Rising! I really love the aesthetic already!! 🔗Twitch.tv/gobbielynne #yarsrising @wayforward.bsky.social
unlabelledView post →156) Yars Rising This ended up being a really fun MetroidVania style game. The gameplay is great and the game has an awesome soundtrack. The only two things I didn’t like were the frustrating hacking mini-games and the difficulty spikes near the end. #justbeatit @polykillpodcast.bsky.social
unlabelledView post →I'm a big fan of the original Yars' Revenge, and I was a bit worried about this one before it came out. I'm happy to say that it does justice to the legacy of the game and the frequent "hacking" minigames in the form of a variety of Yars'-like challenges are actually a lot of fun. I also am a bit Metroid and stealth-game fan, so maybe this one was just made for me.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →www.twitch.tv/thestuartkre... PLAYING ATARI'S NEW VIDEO GAME YARS RISING by Wayforward
unlabelledView post →Where to start with this one... This is a solid metroidvania in the game design, but they make it painfully obvious where all of the new paths opened up and secrets are, so its very beginner friendly and exploration is minimum at best. The hacking minigames are interesting as a concept, but since the objective changes every new console you hack, this minigame becomes increasing annoying. Then the final hack of the game is... a first to 5 game of pong, which is out of place and not fun. The…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a competent albeit basic Metroidvania. The core gameplay is basically just Store-Brand Shantae, which is unsurprising given that it's Wayforward at the helm. The hacking game is basically "play Yar's Revenge" with a twist - it mashes up the original Yar's Revenge concept with various Atari throwback stuff - Centipede, Missile Command, and Space Invaders. This is actually done really well and using the Atari game as a hacking minigame is an inspired way to mix it in with the modern…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quite a lot of really old franchises are getting revived with metroidvania games. Pac man, Adventure, and now Yar's Revenge. for those who don't know, Yar's revenge is a game made in 1980 for the Atari 2600 and at the time it was the best video game ever on a console, especially in regards to the sounds and graphics. That being said, video games were extremely limited back then so what was good back then is awful by today's standards, but honestly? I think the gameplay still holds up. I had a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There are also Super Glitter Rush and Yars Rising, 2 games that will be speedran by @cutefangies.bsky.social @lucifer9783.bsky.social and I next Sunday at the beginning of #FrostFatales 2026 event 😊 Go check all these amazing games ✨ So moved that the game I speedrun is featured in the bundle 🥹
unlabelledView post →We're excited to announce that @renko.studio will be joining the Jade Chamber Sound team as our Vocalist/Lyricist and Project Manager. Some of her video game credits include "Ikenfell", "beatmania", "Yars Rising", and she will be lending her voice to our vocal productions to JCS.
unlabelledView post →Game is pretty much the definition of a 7/10. pretty competently made and well playing game, neat characterstyle, some humor (though it can be cringe). it has a really great OST that is worth checking out. Little to complain about other than price and the amount of loading. moving between different sets of zones needs a little loading screen, its only like 5 seconds but it adds up and makes backtracking really annoying, especially because sometimes these zoneswitches can be chained so you run…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The writing might be a little tough, but the gameplay is fantastic. It’s a loving tribute to not just Yars Revenge but classic Atari. It’s not perfect but it is full of really fun and fresh ideas worth checking out if you love Yars Revenge.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So it's the usual wayforward okay metroidvania. And normally I'd say 'grab it.' But the mini games are just not fun. There's some callbacks to fun Atari games past, but most involve doing something to charge up a beam... that targets you and can kill you when you fire it. You then get to fiddle around aiming with your body doging not only the enemy attacks, but your own. Someone might like this. I hate it. It's still a fun little metroidvania once you turn that off. But I figure people…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →*Review updated upon completing hard mode* Had a great time with this game. Game is very charming. Voice acting is well done, especially on the main character Emi. The line delivery matches the humor of the game. Had a lot of fun listening to Emi make meta jokes about the game itself, and overall I feel the experience was enhanced by the voice lines. Beware though, if you think "millennial writing" is cringe, you'll probably feel the opposite. There is an option to turn off the quips if you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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