Playtonic Games’ ode to the 3D platformers of the ’90s is coming to modern consoles. According to a press release, Yooka-Laylee will be getting a remastered version called Yooka-Re-playee for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and “Nintendo Platforms.” The use of multiple platforms could refer to the current generation Nintendo Switch and Nintendo’s next console.
Yooka-Laylee is a spiritual successor to 3D platformers like Banjo-Kazooie and Spyro the Dragon. In fact, some of the people who worked on the original Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong Country helped create Yoka and Rayleigh.
Playtonic raised over £2 million in a 2015 Kickstarter campaign to fund the development of its launch title. The game was released two years later for consoles, PC, and Mac. And in 2017, Playtonic Games released a sequel called Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair.
The remastered version includes updated graphics, new enemies to attack, and fixed controls and camera views. The original score, written by Banjo-Kazooie’s Grant Cahope and Donkey Kong Country’s David Wise, has also been updated with a full orchestra.
Yooka-Laylee is a new colorful open world to play and explore like a modern Banjo-Kazooie. The titular duo is a chameleon and a bat who fight against a ruthless CEO named Capital B who wants to steal all the world’s books with a giant vacuum cleaner. Yoka and Rayleigh head to a world called Hivory Tower to stop Capital B from finding a “page” in a book that can rewrite the universe.
