E.T. Returns
E.T returns... with a laser cannon.
They dumped his game in landfills, added his name to "worst ever" lists, and blamed one seemingly innocuous game with too many annoying pits for the devastation of an entire industry. He's jealous. He's angry. Now he's back to take violent revenge on the low-res heroes of the Atari 2600.
E.T. Returns is a sequel to and remix of the iconic Atari 2600 game that *maybe* was a classic and *maybe* ushered in the downfall of the entire home videogame industry (hey, I loved that game!). Heavily influenced by the "survivors" genre and borrowing characters from dozens of retro games and Atari 2600 titles, E.T. Returns features copious helpings of homage and action parody. Upgrade your E.T., unlock characters, and shoot holes in the heroes of yesterday.
GAMEPLAY
- Destroy Atari stars and collect candy to level up.
- Destroy FBI agents and collect phone pieces.
- Collect 3 phone pieces and phone in an upgrade.
- Survive as long as you can.
- Unlock 36 playable E.T. variations.
CONTROLS
Use arrow keys, WASD keys, or a controller to move.
CONTROLLER SUPPORT
Xbox controller is supported (tested with a wired 360 controller). You might need to press a button before the controller is recognized. I think playing with a controller is best, but the keyboard works well too!
blast your way through hordes of classic Atari heroes
pick your power-ups and sculpt your E.T.
give the good guys a piece of your mind
unlock over 2 dozen retro E.T.s (some cute, some ugly)
Download
Development log
- E.T. Returns update with new retro charactersApr 01, 2025
- E.T. Returns update with more playable charactersSep 19, 2023
- E.T. Returns update featuring new anti-heroesSep 06, 2023
- E.T. Returns Postmortem(ish) Part 3: Attack PatternsJul 07, 2023
- E.T. Returns Postmortem(ish) Part 2: Visual DesignJun 30, 2023
- E.T. Returns Postmortem(ish) Part 1Jun 24, 2023
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
This game is pretty good. I still don’t fully get the “twin stick with only one stick” thing, but I’m clearly in the minority. It’s fun, but it misses out on a lot of satisfaction and strategy by not having aim and move set independently.
While I agree the controls at first seemed awkward--they are different than the regular auto-shoot, mouse aim and Archero's annoying "stop to shoot" system-- but after a couple months of playing ET Returns I've found the current control scheme provides unique fun and challenge of its own! Yes: rhythm, timing and skill are definitely required to a much greater extent than those other control schemes. If I changed anything I'd make other control modes selectable in an options screen-- but create a points system that gives LESS points for kills using the easier auto-aim/mouse-aim and MORE points for Archero or the current aiming system. Either way, much respect to therealmattkain for creating a uniquely fun game just as it is! :)
Wow, thanks for this ! Any chance of a Linux build ?
Good idea! Next time I do a game update I will try to make a Linux build too.
Super dig this game. Bullet heaven at its core, yes a tad difficult, but a fun challenge. Crucial to survival on my better runs: obtaining and upgrading specifically the Attack Boost and Spread Shot powerups, which means priority targeting the tan-jacketed Agents for their pink Phone drops. Regardless of the other Phone Abilities taken, those two seem most critical.
Also I enjoy the skill involved in scrambling to shoot the weakest enemies, collect powerups and beef myself up before even stronger mobs start appearing. Gotta be quick about it, and avoid Q-Berts with their high HP early on.
Lastly, I appreciate the history and nostalgia of all the great (and crappy) Atari stars and easter eggs of the 2600 era, and enjoy STILL playing "Name That Game Character" with some of the enemies encountered. Would totally love to see other achievements and goals added, such as kill X-amount of Q-Berts, Pac Mans, etc... Great job!
Thanks for this thoughtful post! I've played E.T Returns a ton (lots making it of course, but I've come back and played it SO many times since then), and I've been really curious what strategies others used in terms of building power-ups. I personally like speed, bombs, and attack boost as my big 3. Spread was originally my favorite, but over time I liked it less (no particular reason - maybe I overused it early on?). I also became a big fan of the pit attack since it's a powerful way to run away from enemies and still throw down a devastating attack. Anyway, thanks so much for playing my game and thanks again for this really awesome post! This totally made my day! Onward!
It is interesting to see the gap between the appearance of an old game and the system, which is up-to-date and has many enemies! It was difficult and I didn't get to meet the giant Pacman, but I had a lot of fun. *meow*
Thanks for playing and making the video! I really appreciate it! Sorry you didn't meet Giant Pac-Man! He's in there. I promise!
Vampire Survivors - E.T. Edition.
Vampire survivors if it was good
Ha! I'll take it! I like to think of it as I crammed the Atari 2600 down Vampire Suvivors' throat and it puked it back up!
AWESOME!!!!
Thanks, mate!!