I really admire the retro throwbacks Atari is doing these days, whether it’s something like Wayforward’s utterly gorgeous and charming Yars Rising or the underrated Lunar Lander Beyond. These games imagine the world around the Atari originals that inspired them, using them to build a base for a new game while celebrating what came before. It’s a neat idea, and something I wish other publishers would learn from. Needless to say, when I got an invite to sit down with their latest retro revival, I took it, even if I didn’t know what it was.
What I got was Adventure of Samsara, a new take on the Atari classic Adventure on the Atari 2600. Adventure was before my time, but it’s remarkable to go back to because of how simple it is. That doesn’t mean it’s not interesting, though. Seriously, go look up a playthrough of Adventure if you’re unfamiliar; it’s amazing what you can convey with very simple graphics and a little imagination on the part of the player.
That’s not what Adventure of Samsara is, though. This game is stunning, with simple yet evocative pixel art that is some of the most visually striking I’ve ever seen; I didn’t appreciate how much it captured the visual vibe of the original game until after I went back and saw it, but once you’ve seen them both, it’s easy to see how Adventure of Samsara understands its visual roots. My demo started with a beam of light striking a planet, resurrecting a fallen hero, and covering him in golden armor. The first thing I had to do was help a guy named Ombro out of a cage. “But Will,” you might be wondering, “how do you translate a game like Adventure into the modern era?” Well, dear reader, I’m glad you asked. The answer, of course, is that you make it a metroidvania with soulslike elements (resting at golden anvils restores your healing flasks and respawns enemies). I know, I know, but hear me out. This actually works pretty well.
See, the original Adventure was about navigating a world and finding the way forward, whether that meant solving a maze, finding a key to open a locked door, or bringing the right thing to the right place. There was a good deal of backtracking and learning how to navigate your environment. Sounds like a metroidvania, right? Well, 45 years later, here we are.
Anyway, I had to get my guy Ombro out of his cage, but I didn’t have a sword. So I went into a shining room behind me (Ombro was basically like, “Hey, check out that room back there”), grabbed a sword and shield, and came back. And in between, I got my first taste of Adventure of Samsara’s combat. I wouldn’t call it slow, but it is deliberate. Moving, jumping, dodging, and swinging your sword are weighty experiences, and once you commit to an action, you’re going to be stuck doing it until you finish. When you’re in combat, you want to make sure you’re doing the right thing.
Adventure of Samsara also has a parry, but again, this animation is pretty long, so if you attempt a parry at the wrong time, you’re going to get hit. Get it right, though, and you’ll be treated to one of the most satisfying parries you’ve ever seen, as the Solar Champion (that’s you) uses their sword to knock your opponent back before bringing your own sword down in a giant arc that deals massive damage to stronger foes and kills your basic mooks in one shot.
Once I’d used my fancy new sword to bust Ombro out, he told me that our people, the Orphics, were under attack by Necromancers. No biggie, just a regular Tuesday. Sounds like a Solar Champion problem, so I set out for the nearby village.
As you might expect, this is where I spent most of my time with Adventures of Samarar’s demo. Aside from the combat, which kept me on my toes because of how deliberate each choice was, I was mostly jumping from ledge to ledge (holding on is something you can do manually, which allows you to do some more complex platforming), finding new ways to get to places, and discovering hidden secrets, such as Data Cubes (think pixely murals) that referenced the original Adventure. At one point, I had to help Potisto, the Orphic Crypt Keeper, who was also in a cage (noticing a pattern here?) get a Spoiled Elixir, which meant finding it in a nearby chest. Once I did, he gave me a key to the next area.
Shortly after that, I fought my first boss. The Fleshless Giant was a good test because I couldn’t just rely on my parry to beat him. I could parry two of his three attacks (the third was a magic spell I had to avoid), but only parrying one of those actually did damage. Parrying the other let me avoid damage, but knocked me backwards. The trick was finding spacing where I could avoid that attack and set myself up to parry the other one. It wasn’t a complicated fight, but finding the right spacing felt good. And better yet, I didn’t have to play it that way. I could have just dodged and whacked away at him. I just wanted to try it.
Once the big fella went down, I got to get down to the whole “finding the Orphic Village” thing, so I went exploring. I found an ability that let me manipulate a ball of fire to light hi-tech torches (that’s one of the fun things about Adventure of Samsara; you wield a sword, but there are automated metal doors and elevators scattered around) and burn away overgrown plants. I got spells that let me push enemies away and teleport back to the last golden anvil I used. And I ran into more enemies. Spiders that ran into me instead of attacking, so I couldn’t parry them! Flying dudes I had to jump to deal with! These really annoying ground worm things that spat poison! No matter what new thing I got, I had to stay on my toes.
I did eventually find the Orphic Village, and met more Orphics. I only saw an early segment, but I did come to appreciate Adventure of Samsara’s writing as I played it. Each character speaks with a unique voice, and you’d never mistake one of them for the others. Whether I was learning about the Orphic’s sacred tree that I could help nourish to upgrade my flasks (I see you, video game mechanics), learning about the Blacksmith’s lost friend, or just getting the key to the next area, exploring the town was interesting. Other Orphics even made jokes about how I was the strong, silent type. It’s just nice when people really see you, you know?
But maybe the most interesting thing in my demo happened at the end. After I left the village, I ran into what appeared to be an astronaut with a jetpack fighting a dragon that looked suspiciously like one of the ones from Adventure, just… you know, way more detailed. I got a couple of hits in to help out, but we didn’t get him. He vanished, and the jetpack astronaut warned me that he (and the dragon) was from another world. They weren’t supposed to be here. I needed to be wary of ambushes. My demo ended shortly thereafter, but I had no shortage of questions, and that’s where you want to be when a preview wraps up.
Bringing a 45-year-old game into the present era is a challenge. I’ve just scratched the surface of what Adventure of Samsara has to offer, but it feels like it’s doing a good job of staying true to Adventure while guiding it into a new era. I knew nothing about it going in, but I came out fascinated by both the original game and this spiritual successor (and if this sounds cool to you, there is a demo on Steam right now). But that’s the magic trick of a game like this, right? You’re always torn between the present and the future, balancing what you’re seeing with what comes next, wondering what's around the next corner. The only thing left to do now is see if developer Ilex Games and Atari can hold onto that feeling for an entire adventure.
