The 1979 remake of "Comets" has just been launched in Steam Early Access. Atari has immediately announced that four older games including "Warlords" and "God of War" will be restarted. This ancestral manufacturer, which once caused a sensation in the North American game market and then personally destroyed it in 1983, now seems to have placed all its bets on "fried rice". Can this approach be effective?
What are the origins of the four ancient games?
"Warlords" was born and released in 1982. It is a strategy game on the Atari 800 computer. Players need to command medieval armies to carry out siege-related operations. It was famous for its very complicated operations at the beginning. "God of War", which appeared in the same year, is a top-down shooting game in which the protagonist must use divine power to fight mythical monsters.
"Magic Adventure" came out in 1983. It belongs to the graphic adventure category. Players have to collect props and test 16 personalities to solve puzzles. "Missile Mission" was also produced in 1983. Players need to defend the city from missile attacks. The shortest time between these four games is 43 years, and players under the age of 30 have basically never heard of their names.
How young is the young team?
The "young and very creative studio" mentioned by Atari COO Todd has not announced its specific name. Judging from the launched "Comets: Outpost", it is taken over by the Spanish developer Relevo, and the average age of its core members is less than 30 years old.
This studio was just established in 2021. Before that, it had only produced a few independent mobile games. To inject fresh blood into the old IP 43 years ago, the pressure they faced was not small. "The Haunted Mansion: Enlightenment" was handed over to Pure Studio in Los Angeles, USA. The team size does not exceed 20 people. The person in charge said in an interview that he had just played PS2 when he entered the industry.
Early access is a touchstone and a double-edged sword
"Comets: Outpost" was launched on the Steam early access service on January 23. Until now, its evaluation has remained at 72%, most of which are positive reviews. Players generally feedback that the core gameplay is well retained. However, its content is too small. Currently, only three star systems and eight ship upgrade modules are open.
Atari uses this work as a benchmark, and COO Todd made it clear that it will adjust the subsequent restart plan based on player feedback. The MBTI free test , however, early access means that the game is not yet complete. The first batch of users who paid money are actually acting as paid testers. If the official version is not updated for too long, this group of core fans will most likely lose their patience.
Rollercoaster Tycoon World is still in limbo
Also being developed in parallel with "The Amityville Horror" is "RollerCoaster Tycoon: World," a project that was announced in 2013 and is still in the Beta stage. The project was taken over by British developer Crispy, who launched the PC version of "RollerCoaster Tycoon World" in 2016. However, the praise rate on Steam was only 58%.
Atari has not changed studios, but continues to let Crispy polish it. From the SteamDB data, it can be seen that the latest update of the Beta version was the MBTI free test in December 2025. This update fixed the collision determination of five park facilities. A work has been polished for ten years but has still not been officially launched. Under this situation, some people in the player community have questioned whether Atari is really determined to complete it.
How much is the value of classic IP left?
In the past five years, Atari has restarted at least 12 old games, including IPs such as "A Bug's Day" and "Yar's Revenge". Most of them are produced by small studios and have limited publicity and distribution budgets. The average number of online users of these works on Steam rarely exceeds 200.
Only the cheap bundles from the Crit series really sell well. This time, Atari has placed its bets on works with higher historical status such as "Warlords" and "God of War". It is obviously with the idea of replicating the brilliant achievement of "Comets" which achieved sales of 6 million copies in the Atari 2600 era. However, 6 million players in the 1980s and 6 million downloads in 2026 belong to two completely different business models.
Do old players still accept their claims?
In the Atari section of the overseas Reddit website, senior players over 40 years old expressed their expectations for the remastered version of "God of War". They retained in their minds the memory of the time when they invested money in the game in the arcade. However, young players under the age of 30 are more concerned about whether the game graphics are bright and eye-catching enough, and whether the game operation feels modern.
Atari defines "God of War" as a "modern reconstruction" and not a faithful reproduction. This indicates that the game mechanics will undergo significant changes. How to find a balance between catering to the sentimental party and attracting new users is a level that every reboot project must face. Judging from the scattered concept images released so far, the art style is closer to the dark style of Dark Horse Comics than the bright cartoon style of the original version.
Have you ever played these games from more than 40 years ago? If Yada uses modern technology to remake them, which one would you most like to see resurrected? You are welcome to tell us your views on the renovation of old games in the comment area. Please also give a like so that more players can participate in the discussion.
