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Adventure of Samsara Turns The Retro Dial Back A Few Extra Notches

When most people say their game is retro, they mean a particular era of game ranging from the NES to the PlayStation. That timespan encompasses the heyday of pixel-art gameplay and the burgeoning 3D revolution. It's not common for games to look even further back for their inspirations, to the earliest days of home console gaming. But that's exactly what Adventure of Samsara does, and it makes for a curious blend of motifs and mechanics.

Adventure of Samsara itself has a relatively long history. The game was pitched as a Kickstarter project in 2016, under the name Tower of Samsara. It had set a modest (and very precise, numerically) goal of $48,561, but failed to achieve a third of that number. That may have been the end of the story, as just another indie game that never got off the ground. But Brazilian studio Ilex Games continued to pitch it until landing at Atari, where it morphed into a sci-fi offshoot of the classic Atari 2600 game Adventure. Adventure of Samsara is a marriage of the two, an Atari spokesperson told me--the game is as Ilex originally envisioned it, but it has weaved in story elements from Adventure to make it part of that universe.

That blend of inspirations means that it carries visual similarities to an Atari 2600 game. The pixel art is large and blocky and visual elements carry a flat layer of color that looks reminiscent of those early video games, while also looking much more advanced and modern than anything the original Atari could have produced. This is a retro pixel-art throwback, but the look is striking by being modeled after and modernizing such an early version of pixel art.

Similarly, the movement and combat itself feels reminiscent of Adventure or Prince of Persia, or for a somewhat more modern reference point, Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery. Everything from your walk cycle to the swing of your swords is deliberate and chunky, matching the visual style. A parry system rewards quick reflexes with a powerful strikeback, which is extremely necessary given the methodical movement of the hero.

And within this context it's a metroidvania, consisting of a wide-open map to explore as you unlock more tools and options. I only got to play a short guided demo, with an Atari rep directing me where to go to maximize what I could squeeze out of my time with it. But I got the sense that more than many modern metroidvanias, there were dangers lurking around the unseen corners. I was warned that if I had gone this way or that, I would've met a quick end--an approach that carries a refreshing old-school sensibility to the much more guided and safe metroidvanias that we've gotten accustomed to in modern games.

The original Atari hooks extend beyond the look and feel of the game, though. While Samsara retains its original plan for a sci-fi story that takes place on Pluto, the partnership with Atari has weaved in story hooks and Easter eggs from Adventure. I saw one such little treat during my brief time with it, by finding a dragon hidden among the Plutonian ruins. That combination gives the game an eerie, otherworldly feel, blending genres and continuities together within the isolated landscape. It's all a promising start for a game that, nearly 10 years ago, looked like it would never see the light of day.

Adventure of Samsara is coming to PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch in 2025.