Atari has announced Atari 50, a celebratory "interactive museum"-style game intended to commemorate its 50th anniversary. The compilation will include documentary footage, interviews with Atari personnel, and more than 90 games from the studio's history, including some reimagined classics.
What is Atari 50?
The official Atari 50 Steam page describes the game as an "interactive journey" through 50 years of Atari's history. It will include interviews with major Atari figures including game designers and developers, as well as documentary footage showing some of Atari's biggest moments throughout the last 50 years. The compilation will also show off production and design documents throughout Atari's history, and you'll also get to see hi-res original artwork depicting some of the studio's biggest hits. Most importantly, though, you'll get to play over 90 Atari games, some of which have been reimagined or created from the ground up for Atari 50. You can check out the announcement trailer right here.
Game-wise, the selection will probably be pretty similar to titles featured in compilations like Atari Vault. Expect to see classics like Centipede, Space Invaders, and Missile Command, as well as more obscure titles from the Atari Lynx and Jaguar eras. In addition, six games have been reimagined or developed from the ground up for the compilation in what Atari is calling the "Reimagined" series. Bear in mind that this series is distinct from the Recharged lineup, although it does function in a somewhat similar fashion. Here are the six new and reimagined games you're getting as part of Atari 50.
- Swordquest: AirWorld: The long-lost fourth installment of the legendary Swordquest series will use designs and concepts by original Swordquest creator Tod Frye, although we don't know if there will be a competition for this one.
- Haunted Houses: This one'll be a "voxel-based sequel" to the Atari 2600 survival horror classic, complete with more houses, new spooky things to look out for, and more.
- VCTR-SCTR: Atari says this is a "celebration of the vector era" and is a mashup of Asteroids, Tempest, and various other vector games.
- Neo Breakout: Have you ever wanted to see what it would look like if you combined Pong and Breakout? Here's your answer.
- Quadratank: The classic Tank series gets a new installment (take note, Tommy Tallarico) that supports four players across a variety of modes.
- Yars' Revenge Reimagined: Here, you're getting a Monkey Island-style revamp for Yars' Revenge that allows you to swap between the original graphics and the new remastered visuals at any time.
According to Atari and developer Digital Eclipse, the key to Atari 50 will be its intriguing interactive timeline feature. In essence, you'll be able to explore an interactive timeline of Atari's history, and you'll get to see documentary footage and interviews in chronological order. You'll also get to play key games in the company's history "as they launch", and Atari says you'll be able to do this without interruption, so you can seamlessly start a game up as soon as the timeline presents it. I've got to admit, that's a pretty neat way of exploring a company's history.
When is Atari 50 launching?
We don't yet have a concrete release date for Atari 50. It'll arrive in November this year, though, and when it does, it'll be available on all the major platforms. You'll be able to grab it on PC via Steam or the Epic Games Store, and it'll also be available on PlayStation and Xbox consoles, as well as Nintendo Switch. Atari 50 is also launching on the Atari VCS mini-console, which finally got a release date last year after a lengthy and troubled production process (although it still isn't out in Europe). We'll bring you more on Atari 50 as soon as we get it, so stay tuned to TechRaptor for more info.
