Review – Yooka-Replaylee – Gamerview

After eight years of waiting and criticism that echoed throughout the gaming community, finally decided to return with , a remastered version that seeks to correct the errors of the original game released in 2017. Developed by Rare veterans, responsible for the classics Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong Country, this new edition presents itself as the definitive version that the original game deserved since its launch.

From the beginning, Yooka-Replaylee manages to maintain its essence as a 3D-style platformer, following the charismatic duo made up of Yooka, a green chameleon, and Laylee, the purple bat, on a journey against the corporate villain Capital B. The premise remains interesting and a great treat for lovers of this genre, trying to prevent all the books in the world from being turned into cash, with worlds full of collectibles and challenges to be explored.

A well-deserved return for the dynamic duo

It’s impossible not to start with the most impressive point in this remake, as the visual leap is really noticeable. I was one of the supporters of the initial project via Kickstarter, in 2015, and since that time, Yooka-Replaylee has certainly managed to deliver notable graphical improvements, with high-resolution textures, more fluid animations and a more vibrant color palette, which lives up to the visual charm that the game has always promised. The character models were also completely redone and the art direction gained a polish that makes each environment more attractive and cohesive, further increasing the desire to explore this authorial and charismatic world.

If we recall the original game, let’s remember that the main criticism of Yooka-Laylee was its problematic camera, unresponsive controls and overly creative level design, which caused a feeling of being lost with each environment discovered. Playtonic did the work of listening to all feedback from the community and brought improvements that really make a difference, with a completely redesigned camera that offers total control to the player, eliminating those breaks in the game’s fluidity and overcomplicating the game’s platform factor.

Yooka-Replaylee also gained new controls, with much greater responsiveness and the possibility of chaining movements, making exploration even more fluid. Now, traversing large portions of the gigantic environments is really easy and enjoyable, as they eliminate the latency between pressing an action button and seeing Yooka jump, not to mention that all of the characters’ movements are available from the beginning, eliminating the artificial progression that forced players to constantly revisit areas.

And since we’re talking about progression, the developers managed to rethink the choices that displeased free exploration with excessive backtracking, now we find a structure that respects the player’s time. The new world map has a challenge tracker and eliminates that feeling of being lost in gigantic levels without clear direction, knowing what we need to look for and what stage of the search for collectibles we are at.

From collectible to customizable

For those looking for something new, Yooka-Replaylee expands and increases the content of the original game, introducing new Rextro challenges, with an isometric perspective, redesigned bosses that require new tactics, and a variety of new missions to fill the feeling of emptiness in the stages, which already begin in their expanded versions. As a result, the levels received a new layer of previously non-existent interactivity and new enemies, which guarantee good surprises for those who played the original and revisit familiar areas.

The introduction of coins from Coinelius the piggy bank adds a new layer of collecting that serves as shorter challenges spread strategically throughout the levels that encourage exploration without overwhelming you with confusing objectives. Tonics also return with new features, allowing customization of play style through simultaneous improvements, while the Vendi machine has been expanded with new merchandise, offering new features for those looking to customize the protagonist duo.

Reliving the golden age of collectathons

One of the points that always caught my attention in the franchise was Yooka-Laylee’s visual style, especially for those who lived through Rare’s golden era. Replaylee corrects this shortcoming with an impressive upgrade that makes the worlds feel truly alive, with more vibrant colors, sharper textures, and a level of detail that does justice to the colorful and charismatic character designs. Finally, each world has a visual identity, with unique elements and making the colorful Quills specific to each environment visually connect the collectibles to the theme of each area.

On the soundtrack, Yooka-Replaylee shines even more, featuring the collaboration between Grant Kirkhope (Banjo-Kazooie) and David Wise (Donkey Kong Country), reviving the original’s memorable soundtrack in a new version orchestrated and recorded with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. The music resonates with a richness and depth that perfectly complements the enhanced visuals, further justifying the entire remaster.

I left the criticisms for last, as I believe that they do not diminish the Yooka-Replaylee experience in any way, as we still have some small performance problems, with slight drops in frame rate and small bugs caused by free exploration when trying something unforeseen in a more distant and empty corner of a level.

Yooka-Replaylee represents a genuine and successful effort to fix the problems of a game with great potential since its proposal. The technical improvements are essential, the visual presentation is impressive, and the orchestral soundtrack is excellent. For those who have never played the original, this is definitely the version to try, while for fans of the genre and those nostalgic for Rare’s classics, Yooka-Replaylee offers a solid experience that finally honors its influences.