When most individuals say their sport is retro, they imply a specific period of sport starting from the NES to the PlayStation. That timespan encompasses the heyday of pixel-art gameplay and the burgeoning 3D revolution. It is not frequent for video games to look even additional again for his or her inspirations, to the earliest days of house console gaming. However that is precisely what Journey of Samsara does, and it makes for a curious mix of motifs and mechanics.
Journey of Samsara itself has a comparatively lengthy historical past. The sport was pitched as a Kickstarter undertaking in 2016, below the title Tower of Samsara. It had set a modest (and really exact, numerically) objective of $48,561, however failed to attain a 3rd of that quantity. That will have been the top of the story, as simply one other indie sport that by no means bought off the bottom. However Brazilian studio Ilex Video games continued to pitch it till touchdown at Atari, the place it morphed right into a sci-fi offshoot of the basic Atari 2600 sport Journey. Journey of Samsara is a wedding of the 2, an Atari spokesperson informed me–the sport is as Ilex initially envisioned it, nevertheless it has weaved in story components from Journey to make it a part of that universe.
That mix of inspirations implies that it carries visible similarities to an Atari 2600 sport. The pixel artwork is massive and blocky and visible components carry a flat layer of shade that appears harking back to these early video video games, whereas additionally wanting rather more superior and trendy than something the unique Atari may have produced. It is a retro pixel-art throwback, however the look is hanging by being modeled after and modernizing such an early model of pixel artwork.
Equally, the motion and fight itself feels harking back to Journey or Prince of Persia, or for a considerably extra trendy reference level, Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery. Every thing out of your stroll cycle to the swing of your swords is deliberate and chunky, matching the visible type. A parry system rewards fast reflexes with a strong strikeback, which is extraordinarily obligatory given the methodical motion of the hero.
And inside this context it is a metroidvania, consisting of a wide-open map to discover as you unlock extra instruments and choices. I solely bought to play a brief guided demo, with an Atari rep directing me the place to go to maximise what I may squeeze out of my time with it. However I bought the sense that greater than many trendy metroidvanias, there have been risks lurking across the unseen corners. I used to be warned that if I had gone this manner or that, I might’ve met a fast end–an strategy that carries a refreshing old-school sensibility to the rather more guided and secure metroidvanias that we have gotten accustomed to in trendy video games.
The unique Atari hooks prolong past the appear and feel of the sport, although. Whereas Samsara retains its unique plan for a sci-fi story that takes place on Pluto, the partnership with Atari has weaved in story hooks and Easter eggs from Journey. I noticed one such little deal with throughout my temporary time with it, by discovering a dragon hidden among the many Plutonian ruins. That mixture provides the sport an eerie, otherworldly really feel, mixing genres and continuities collectively throughout the remoted panorama. It is all a promising begin for a sport that, almost 10 years in the past, appeared like it could by no means see the sunshine of day.
Journey of Samsara is coming to PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Sequence X|S, and Nintendo Swap in 2025.
