The spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie is getting an HD remaster for modern consoles and PC with new features
What you need to know
Playtonic Games have announced a brand new HD remaster for Yooka-Laylee called Yooka-Replaylee which will be released on home consoles and PC via Steam in the distant future.
Yooka-Laylee was a 3D indie platformer created in 2017 by veteran developers who worked on iconic platformers such as Donkey Kong Country and Banjo-Kazooie.
The HD remaster, Yooka-Replaylee will many improvements from the original game, including revised controls, enhanced graphics and framerate, new challenges, quality-of-life features, and more.
On June 6, 2024, during the Guerrilla Collective event, the indie studio Playtonic Games made an appearance to reveal their latest project. They will be returning to their classic indie platformer, Yooka-Laylee, and remastering for a new generation of gamers with Yooka-Replaylee.
Yooka-Replaylee is scheduled to be released sometime in the future for PC via Steam and home consoles. No specific consoles have been announced at this time; however, it's fair to expect a release for Xbox Series X|S, as the original Yooka-Laylee was released on Xbox One.
For those unfamiliar with Yooka-Laylee, it was a crowdfunded, indie 3D platformer created all the way back in 2017 by Playtonic Games, which consisted of developers who worked on genre-defining platformers such as Donkey Kong Country and Banjo-Kazooie.
The game follows the adventures of Yooka the Gecko and his best friend Laylee the Bat as they journey to stop the evil corporate tyrant Capital B from stealing all the world's books and converting them into pure profit for his money-grubbing schemes.
It was praised back in the day for recapturing the magic of early 3D platformers with its charming cast of characters, complex collect-a-thon gameplay that could be customized to fit your playstyle, rich cartoony worlds packed with secrets to uncover, and catchy, memorable music composed by Grant Kirkhope (who worked Banjo-Kazooie's soundtrack) and David Wise (who worked on Donkey Kong Country's soundtrack).
The HD remaster, Yooka-Replaylee, aims to improve upon everything that fans loved about the original game while polishing some of the rough edges that held it back.
These new features that Yooka-Replaylee will have are:
An overhauled presentation with more detailed animations and enhanced graphical resolution and performance.
New in-game challenges to complete and improvements to existing ones.
There will be a new collectible Hivory Tower currency to grab from Capital B's minions that can be used at Vendi the vending machine.
A new world map to help you navigate the worlds you'll explore and a challenge tracker so you can keep tabs on how many challenges you have left to complete.
Vendi the Vending machine will have new Tonics to buy, which come with all kinds of new abilities and passive enhancements for you to expand your playstyle. In addition, Vendi will also offer fashionable cosmetic merchandise.
A revised control scheme that will allow players to chain moves together more intuitively and improved camera controls that will help players get a better grasp of their surroundings.
An orchestral re-arrangement of the original game's soundtrack, which will once be composed by Grant Kirkhope and David Wise.
Are you ready for some classic 3D platforming?
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I do enjoy my fair share of classic platformers like Super Mario Bros, Sonic the Hedgehog, Spyro the Dragon, Donkey Kong Country, Psychonauts, and the occasionally indie platformers like A Hat in Time. Unfortunately, I never played Yooka-Laylee when it first out in 2017 due to other games taking up my time.
After seeing Yooka-Replaylee's reveal trailer, though, I'm considering giving this new version a shot as this game's cutesy art style is adorable to look at, and it looks fun to play thanks to its new gameplay features and quality-of-life improvements.
However, will the graphical and gameplay upgrades help Yooka-Replaylee earn a spot among the best Xbox kids games if it comes to Xbox? Stay tuned to find out as we keep an eye out for the full release date of this upcoming PC title and potentially upcoming Xbox title.
Yooka-Replaylee
Yooka and Laylee are back to thwart Capital B's evil plans to steal books for profit in Yooka-Replaylee. Relive the classic 2017 indie platformer, Yooka-Laylee, now remastered for next-gen platforms with improved controls, enhanced graphics, new gameplay features, and more.
