I’ve always been a fan of the classic Breakout and Arkanoid games, where using a paddle-shaped spaceship to smash bricks provides a special kind of satisfaction. The thrill of pulling off intricate combos and launching multiball attacks on those bricks just never gets old. So when Atari dropped the news—or, more accurately, reintroduced—a new Breakout game that lets you unleash chaos on abstract structures in space, I was definitely intrigued.
Atari’s fresh take on this classic, called Breakout Beyond, is set to make its debut this March. According to the company, the game will not only have players smashing through every last brick, but also doing so with style, using score-building combos. Breakout Beyond introduces a twist by adopting a horizontal layout, challenging fans of arcade-style gameplay to clear walls from left to right. In addition to this novel perspective, the game features 72 levels and offers a two-player cooperative mode, which sounds like a lot of fun.
“We couldn’t be happier to share this experience with our audience,” expressed Ethan Stearns, Atari’s senior director of games publishing. “Our team saw it as a fantastic opportunity to stay true to the core of Breakout’s gameplay while adding a fresh twist. Breakout Beyond stands as a fantastic new chapter in the Breakout saga, and I’m excited to see the wild combos players will develop.”
Breakout Beyond will be available on a range of platforms, including the Atari VCS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.