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Yooka-Replayee is shaping up to be the definitive version of Playtonic's 3D platformer
J
Jason Fanelli
Eight years later, Playtonic is bringing the chameleon and bat duo back, this time with a few improvements under the hood. After checking out a short timed demo at Summer Game Fest, it's clear that Yooka-Replayee is shaping up to be the definitive version of the classic platformer.
Bouncing around
The demo began by dropping us into the first major world in the original game, Tribalstack Tropics. The world looks and sounds just like it did before, but Yooka-Replayee's visual upgrades immediately became apparent. What was already a vibrant and colorful world popped even more as we ran, jumped, and bounced around in search of Pagies and other collectibles.
The core gameplay, meanwhile, remains unchanged from the original release, which makes sense: Exploration and platforming were Yooka-Laylee's strongest attributes back in 2017, and Playtonic was sure not to fix what wasn't broken. One puzzle involving red coins and ramps at the top of the first mountain brought back some painful memories, but that was less "technical mishaps" and more "user error," which is not the game's fault.
The banter back and forth between the two and other characters in the world—done in a Banjo-Kazooie style where words appear on-screen, but characters chirp the same noises over and over again—is still funny as well. In our demo, we ran into Trowzer the Snake, Vendi the sentient vending machine, and Kartos the mine kart, all faces we'd remember from the past.
We even met up with Shovel Knight again, confirming that cameos from the original game would persist in this new upgraded version. Shovel Knight's quest has Yooka and Laylee collect gems from the top of a plateau—a fitting job given by the shovel-wielding treasure hunter—and gives a nice reminder that we'll never guess who might be coming next.
Ultimately, this was more of the same Yooka-Laylee, with the same fun platforming and puzzle-solving from before. However, there was one notable change that I didn't register at the time, but in retrospect, ended up being the best part of the demo.
Keeping perspective
After our hands-on demo with Yooka-Replayee ended, and we began to walk away, we quickly realized something: We didn't mess with the camera once in that 15 minute session. There were no strange zoom-ins that made Yooka block the view, the perspective didn't change for no reason other than the camera's whim, and it didn't ignore me when I wanted to move it myself. In these ways, the camera was downright impressive.
While a working camera seems like a rather ordinary thing to be so excited about, when it comes to Yooka-Laylee and the troubles that camera faced in the original game, not seeing any of those old issues rise again is a welcome sign. It bodes well that the visual angles and perspectives are not as intrusive as they once were, as it will allow Yooka-Laylee's many other charming features to stand out to the playing audience.
The improvements shown even in that the 15-minute slice are certainly worth getting excited over, as it shows that Playtonic has directly addressed much of what fans of Yooka-Laylee would want fixed from the original 2017 launch. If that's the case, then Yooka, Laylee, and the rest of the crew could finally break through and become the next top stars in 3D platforming, a spot they definitely deserve.
Yooka-Replayee is due out later this year on consoles and PC.