When I think of the name Atari, I remember my mom sitting me down in the living room to show me “what video games were like” when she was a kid. That, and I think of Wade Watts using his extensive knowledge of Atari games to save the world in Ready Player One.

So when I decided to check out some new games being published by the video game godfather, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Of the titles I played, the variety of both their art styles and genres was surprising. From turn-based roguelikes to remakes of Atari classics, there were three games that really caught my eye.

First, we have the upcoming title Days of Doom, developed by SneakyBox. This whimsical post-apocalyptic turn-based strategy game will have you trying to get your crew of survivors to Sanctuary. Along the way, you’ll face zombies, raiders and monsters as you scavenge for resources.

The real fun of this game comes in setting up each of your character’s unique abilities to combo off each other during their turn in combat. It was satisfying to cover enemies in oil with the pyromancer before setting them on fire with the gunslinger.

Each run felt unique due to the procedurally generated levels and over 50 randomly occurring events. In between runs, you use the resources you gathered to upgrade your base camp, giving an overall feeling of progress as you fight to make it to Sanctuary.

Days of Doom is an original IP for Atari which was initially envisioned as a mobile game before being brought to life for major platforms by SneakyBox. In the post-apocalyptic realm of games, the whimsical lightheartedness felt refreshing.

The game follows the Atari formula; easy to pick up, hard to master. While turn-based strategy games can sometimes feel overwhelming, Days of Doom does a fantastic job at lowering the bar for entry while still keeping a high level of depth required if you hope to continuously guide your survivors to Sanctuary.



Next up, I checked out Haunted House—a remake of the 1982 adventure game of the same name. Haunted House is being developed by Orbit Studio, known for its lovely hand-drawn video game Retro Machina.

Atari approached Orbit Studio asking them if they were interested in making a game with one of their IPs. Orbit Studio was excited about the idea of making a Haunted House game, Lowey said.

Stepping into the shoes of Lyn Graves, you explore your uncle's old mansion with your friends until your companions are captured by ghosts and monsters. It’s up to you to capture the ghouls and free your friends.

Haunted House played like rogue-lite with an emphasis on sneaking around trying to free your friends. Each of Lyn’s friends possessed different stats and freeing them unlocked them as a playable character on subsequent runs.

The rogue-like procedurally generated levels that change on each run feed into the feeling of exploring a haunted house that’s bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside.

The art style of Haunted House reminded me of the 2006 animated film Monster House. Something about haunted houses just really works in cartoons, which is great for this game. There are also Atari easter eggs scattered throughout the game, which legacy Haunted House players are sure to enjoy.

Haunted House is coming to all consoles on October 12 for Steam, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox and the Epic Games Store, just in time for the spooky season.



Lastly, a sequel to the game that bravely asked the question we all have been asking for half a century: “What if the Pong ball escaped the paddles?”

qomp2 steps up to expand upon the answer to this lofty question. The game will pick up the story of 2021’s indie platformer qomp right where it left off. The ball aches to be free of its life of paddle shackles, will you be the one to save it?

In qomp, you control the ball and you have one button to press which changes the direction of the ball by 90 degrees. Similar to Pong, the ball will always continuously move forward while you attempt to guide it through various puzzles with a minimalistic control scheme.

The original game’s developer, Stuffed Wombat, wasn’t interested in pursuing a sequel so Atari purchased the rights to the game and commissioned Graphite Labs to develop qomp2, Lowey said.

Graphite Lab was careful to retain the puzzler simplicity of the first game while adding a revolutionary feature: a second button. The second button allows you to charge up the ball and increase its momentum, opening the door for tons of new puzzle opportunities.

You can find out where the ball is going in Q1 of 2024 on Steam, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox and the Epic Games Store.

I’m a sucker for platformer-puzzlers so I was excited to try out this game. With a two-button control scheme, you use one button to change direction by 90 degrees and another to dash. That’s all you need to get to the end of qomp2’s 30 levels spread across four worlds.

Atari has a lot of stuff cooking across a variety of genres and styles. Most of what you’ll see them do is create games with fresh takes on an IP they own with developers that are passionate about an idea, Lowey said.

It’s clear that in addition to adding depth to the existing IPs in their catalog, Atari is also looking to continue pushing creativity in their brand with new IPs.

“Atari is a brand from 50 years ago, 25 years ago but it’s also a brand from today,” Lowey said.

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Kelton Burns is a freelance games reporter and recently graduated with his degree in Journalism. You can find him talking about the latest gaming news on his podcast Press Why or reach him on Twitter at @KeltonBurns His favorite game is Alan Wake.

Posted: Sep 07, 2023 10:47 am
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: Kelton Burns