The hotly topical next-gen remake of Yooka-Laylee – the adorably named Yooka-Replaylee – has been confirmed to release on consoles, with Playtonic targeting PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and “Nintendo platforms,” which surely means Nintendo Switch 2 , not the current console, or they would just say it’s for Switch. As previously confirmed, the game is also coming to PC.
We’re in a very compelling place right now with remakes and remasters, and Yooka-Replaylee is a remake of a game that’s less than 10 years senior. The game was the debut title from Playtonic Games, which started the project in 2015 and eventually released it in 2017.
Playtonic’s desire to revisit this game, rather than create a sequel, is to take the various things it has learned since then and reapply them to the original. Yooka-Replaylee will therefore feature improved graphics, more lively worlds, novel and improved challenges, novel collectibles, novel characters, as well as a number of quality of life improvements – of course, the original game had a gigantic influence on Spit ‘n’ Polish update to bring own improvements.
I must admit it looks quite nice, although I hope it will be a springboard for a sequel to the full 3D platformer if it proves popular enough. There was also a side-scrolling spin off of Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair.
The spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, Yooka-Laylee was a love letter to the early days of the 3D collectible platformer. Returning to the original review, Jim said: “Of all the potential obstacles one might encounter when creating a 3D platformer in the style of late nineties classics, Playtonic skillfully sidesteps the most glaring ones. In fact, Yooka-Laylee manages to revive a long-forgotten format and does it with such vigor and passion. However, players should not expect this to reinvent the genre.”
