Akka Arrh is a game that few people have heard of and fewer have played. Having never made it past the prototype stage, it was a title that was deemed too complicated for the arcade audience at the time. Outside of emulation on MAME, the only way that a larger audience was exposed to it was via Atari 50, which was released on all platforms last year. This is the title that Atari chose to get a modern finished version, and it hired Jeff Minter to do the job.

The core gameplay is taken straight from the arcade original, and it doesn't take long to see why it would have been deemed too complicated for an audience that's used to more straightforward experiences. You control a turret that looks like a space bovine, and the turret can't move from its central position, but it can rotate. A cursor can be aimed anywhere on the screen to determine the direction and distance of your shot. You shoot bombs that explode either when they come into contact with an enemy or land at their targets. That explosion moves outward, and any enemies caught in it will also explode, creating their own explosions that match the radius, pattern, and duration of the bomb you threw. It plays much like Missile Command in this respect, except that your cache of bombs isn't limited. The other change is that the explosions are restricted to the colored platform that you aim for, so you can't bombard the screen with explosions, even when things get frantic.

While the idea of chaining together explosions in a restricted area is new enough, the original blueprint adds one more mechanic for good measure. If you have an enemy come close enough to your ship, you'll be prompted to focus on them first. With the tap of a button, you'll get a zoomed-in view of the inner platform and have a more traditional cannon that can be used to get rid of any invaders that have made their way in. If you've played the original, you'll notice that the shield that surrounded your turret has been replaced with life pods that surround the inner area. Enemies that invade take away those pods, and you'll lose if you are hit with a stray bullet and don't have any life pods.

The new version of Akka Arrh adds even more elements. Scoring is heavily dependent on creating bomb chains, since every explosion created by the chain consistently multiplies your score to astronomical levels if it continues for long enough. Throw another bomb, and the multiplier is reset, forcing you to be strategic when throwing out that first bomb. You'll also need to be patient, since you'll want the last explosion to linger long enough to catch a newly spawned enemy and keep the chain going.

Creating bomb chains is also the only way to gain bullets, similar to what you get when you take your zoomed-in view of the inner platform. Bullets may be limited in number, but they travel faster and don't reset the multiplier. Have a stash of over 100 by the end of a stage, and you can replenish any missing energy orbs alongside getting your normal bonus. Finally, there are now power-ups that can add an automatic electric shock to kill any enemy it touches.

The mechanics are quite a bit to take in, but the game is relentless in sending more changes for each and every level. Enemy bullets can be shot down. Some foes won't die by explosion, so you'll need to have some bullets in reserve to take care of them. Your platforms will have multiple tones, so careful explosion placement becomes even more paramount. The platforms will suddenly change shape and rotate. The game never gives you a chance to get comfortable with things, since there's always something new to learn and discover.

All of this can get daunting and almost impossible to fully understand all at once, especially when the screen is awash in color, noise and particles. Give it a few tries, and you'll start to understand the flow and cadence. It wants you to be conservative with your shots to get a high score and focus on looking for stray shots that can break your scoring chain. You'll learn which sound effects alert you to certain enemies and which let you know to zoom into the action long before the text prompt appears. It follows that classic Llamasoft formula, where every mechanic suddenly clicks and you can focus on the more important things while letting the chaos take care of itself. The disparate mechanics do their part in making this harder to understand than past efforts, but players who stick with it will find that same addictive element that puts this in line with the company's other offbeat shooters.

There are a few concessions to align the game with the expectations of modern audiences. There's an option to turn off the strobing lights to make things easier to see and soften things for those who suffer from epilepsy. There's also the option to change the firing configuration from one button to two. The one-button system may make sense if you're trying to minimize finger movement, but the delay from tapping the button to fire a bomb to holding it down to fire bullets is detrimental to reaction time — and it can even accidentally ruin your score — so a two-button setup for each weapon makes more sense. There are also online leaderboards to give you that classic arcade feel, and players can continue from the last level, so they don't need to trek through all 50 levels in each playthrough.

The presentation in Akka Arrh aims for brilliance in simplicity, just like all of Llamasoft's previous titles. The flashing colors, multitude of vector-based graphics, and text are joined up with large, pastel-colored platforms and explosions that make the scene pop on an OLED screen and still looks brilliant on a regular LCD. The soundscape is comprised of era-correct sounds that lack the harshness to make them sound more pleasant. The music starts off minimally, but the combination of the simple score and the long explosion chains are reminiscent of Every Extend Extra, where you make the soundtrack without realizing it. It helps you get into the groove of careful bombing and shooting to keep pushing you further, even when it looks chaotic on-screen.

If you're planning to play the game on the Steam Deck, prepare for some disappointment. While the game runs, the company logos and the base are presented completely in white. Any of the mesmerizing graphical effects are gone, so it's a game of guesswork in menu navigation and gameplay. The problem doesn't get fixed with Proton 8.0 or Proton Experimental, so until a new patch or version of Proton fixes this, it's not in a real playable state. If it does become playable, you'll be able to enjoy the game at 60fps with a battery life close to five hours, so the hope is that some fixes come in soon, or else you'll play the prototype from Atari 50 to get your fix.

Akka Arrh won't click with most people right away. It takes a while to understand how to effectively use the bombs and bullets while wrangling a free-aiming cursor. The inclusion of another level to travel to briefly when things get hectic can be a bit too much to handle all at once. When it does click, it becomes a beautiful destructive symphony that pushes a psychedelic landscape for a signature Jeff Minter title. This is well worth the trip if you want a shooter that moves away from the genre norms.

Score: 8.0/10