Plug it in, change the world
Atari has announced two new titles getting refreshed as part of their ongoing efforts, Quantum: Recharged and Haunted House. Neither has a stated release window, but both will be dropping on all consoles, PC, and the Atari VCS.
Quantum: Recharged is the next in Atari’s Recharged line of game revivals. These have included Yars: Recharged and Gravitar: Recharged. This time, they’re focusing on Quantum, which is a bit of an obscure title, but it was included in the Atari 50 collection. It’s a 1982 arcade title that uses vector graphics. You would use a trackball to try and engulf dots and other shapes. The closest I can come to a comparison is Qix, but I feel like that isn’t all that sufficient.
Quantum: Recharged updates the arcade title to give it a little more meat on its bones. On top of the revised neon visuals, there will be challenge and arcade modes, and new power-ups to shake things up. There will also be co-op and a soundtrack by River City Girls’ Megan McDuffie, who has done the tracks for previous games in the Recharged series.
If you haven’t played any of the previous Recharged games, they’re pretty agreeable little updates to classic Atari arcade titles. They retain the arcade gameplay but layer on some new visuals and features to make them more playable today.
Hanging a new chandelier
Following that is Haunted House, which is a reimagining of Atari’s 1981 Haunted House. You may be thinking, “Didn’t we already get a remake of Haunted House?” Yeah, a couple of times, and we try not to speak of them.
This Haunted House is focusing more on stealth and roguelite elements. You’ll be able to unlock more playable characters as you progress, and it promises lots of Easter Egg nods to Atari’s golden era.
All this is part of Atari’s current strategy of paying homage to their heritage. The Recharged series has been well received, and Haunted House could use a win after 2010’s Haunted House, and 2014’s absolutely dismal Haunted House: Cryptic Graves. While I’d love to see more ambitious re-imaginings of some of these games, Atari is probably making a better move by building goodwill and connections through smaller projects. And the Recharged series is actually really good. Here’s hoping we get a Berzerk: Recharged sometime in the future.
Quantum: Recharged and Haunted House are coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, and Atari VCS sometime soon.
