Gearing up for the celebration of its 50th anniversary, Atari announced this week that they would be releasing a game in a “brand-new IP” called Kombinera. Kombinera is a puzzle-platformer by developer Graphite Labs where players control a group of simultaneously moving colored balls. The balls all have their own unique abilities to help them traverse over 300 levels of puzzle-platforming fun.

To progress through the game, players must combine the different colored balls by avoiding spiked pits, walls, and other obstacles. The game also comes with several features sure to make any challenge-hungry gamer happy: for example, each level has a specific goal time, adding another layer of challenge to what is sure to be a tricky, difficult game.

Part of the design philosophy behind Kombinera comes from Atari’s past when pick-up-and-play gaming wasn’t just the norm: it was a necessity.  As Atari CEO Wade Rosen said in the game’s official press release, “Kombinera is a really fun project for Atari because it’s a modern game that anyone can play and enjoy on today’s platforms, but it also feels like a pick-up-and-play Atari classic. And that’s really what our mission is — bringing high-quality gaming experiences to players while staying true to Atari’s roots.”

From the trailer and screenshots, it certainly looks that way. Combining the fast-paced movement and immediate feedback from their older titles, Kombinera is as much a throwback as it is something completely new. Let’s hope that this is a good direction for Atari going forward.

Kombinera is available this April on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4|5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Atari VCS, as well as iOS and Android.