Yooka-Laylee was one of my favorite games from 2017, and I’m not just saying that to justify the Kickstarter money I invested on it (you won’t hear me say the same for Shenmue III, for instance). Despite featuring some issues, it delivered exactly what I wanted from a game meant to evoque the look, feel and soul of Banjo-Kazooie and, most specifically, Banjo-Tooie. That being said, I get the criticism. I understand that some people didn’t like its excessive complexity, reminiscent of Tooie, not Kazooie. But that was eight years ago, and we now live in a different world. A world full of highly acclaimed collectathon platformers such as Super Mario Odyssey and Donkey Kong Bananza. The genre has evolved, and so should the Yooka-Laylee franchise. Not with a sequel, mind you, but with a remake/remaster, Yooka-Replaylee.

When Yooka-Replaylee was announced, my initial reaction was a resounding “why”, because I really wanted a sequel to the 2017 game, but after some thinking, I understood Playtonic’s thought process behind such decision. When Yooka-Laylee dropped, we weren’t living in an era where open world platformers were cool again. Super Mario Odyssey changed the landscape a few months after that game’s release, with that game’s success resulting in an utter deluge of other platformers flooding all gaming marketplaces. Most of them shared the same quality of life enhancements set by Odyssey, making Yooka-Laylee felt borderline dated in comparison, even though it was almost as old as Mario’s (arguably) best adventure to date.

This is Yooka-Replaylee‘s premise: an updated take on the foundation set by Yooka-Laylee, fixing issues, adding quality of life enhancements where necessary, and shoving in some additional content in order to justify its release as something more than a mere update. By new content, I mean new Pagies added throughout each level. There are no new levels per se, which I think it’s a tad bit disappointing, as there weren’t that many levels in the original game to begin with.

But that’s the thing: each level has been vastly expanded in terms of content and exploration, as Yooka-Replaylee distances itself from the “work hard to get your macguffin” playstyle popularized by Banjo-Tooie and Donkey Kong 64, in favor of a faster-paced, more frantic “collect as much stuff as possible without too much of a hassle” style popularized by Super Mario Odyssey. The addition of a map, hint systems, and so much more content you’ll be literally stumbling upon them basically brings Yooka-Replaylee to the new standard of collectathons that have been all the rage since late 2017. Is this a good thing? To be honest, it might eventually become a point of contention between fans. It feels less like the love letter to N64 platformers it once was, but at the same time, there’s no denying that its new gameplay features make it a lot less clunky.

I haven’t even mentioned some improvements to the controls and the overall gameplay. For starters, all moves are accessible from the getgo. Controls are a bit more responsive, with Yooka and Laylee feeling a bit lighter and more nimble. The camera controls have been revamped as well. Fans of the original Yooka-Laylee have always complained about that game’s camera work not feeling ideal, and I’m glad Playtonic took its time to fix it, and make it work as intended.

Finally, there have been some massive improvements to the presentation, but with a catch. Graphically-speaking, Yooka-Replaylee looks outstanding, with vastly improved lighting effects, textures, animations, and materials. Laylee looks as fluffy as ever, for instance. The original game was already gorgeous, but it suffered from the occasional usage of a low-quality texture here and there. Not anymore.

The only point of contention I have with the presentation as a whole is more of a matter of personal taste: the complete UI overhaul. By that, I meant that the developers have completely removed any signs of Comic Sans which were commonplace in both Yooka-Laylee and the Banjo games. I get that a lot of people hate Comic Sans, and even I can’t stand it for about 99% of the time… but that 1% in question was in these Rare platformers. I liked the original UI and fonts the way they were, and was a bit saddened with the decision to make everything feel a bit more polished and overly professional. That’s just not what you expect from a game like this.

There’s just one thing that remains largely unchanged in Yooka-Replaylee, and that’s the sound department. To be fair, if you could change anything about it in the game, would you even do so? Is there a reason to do so? Why would you want to fix something that, by all intents and purposes, is simply not broken? Between the funny voice clips (the silly fonts may have been removed, but the silly voices remain as they were) and the outstanding soundtrack coined by David Wise and Grant Kirkhope, Yooka-Replaylee sounds exactly like Yooka-Laylee, and that’s definitely not a bad thing at all.

Yooka-Replaylee is, by and large, the same 2017 game you know and (hopefully) love, with just an extra layer of polish, less bugs, and more content to enjoy. I might not agree with all of its features, as well as how easy the game feels when compared to the original, but there’s no denying that this is still one hell of an entertaining platformer, with some incredible level design, amazing music, and outstanding visuals. Would I have preferred a Twooka-Laylee instead? Well, duh, of course. But I’ll never complain about giving myself a reason to play one of my favorite games from that year once again.

Graphics: 9.0 Better lighting effects, improved textures, adorable animations, though the UI feels a bit more generic with the usage of more modern (and minimalist) fonts and icons.	Gameplay: 8.0 Responsive controls coupled with a camera system that now actually works as intended.
Sound: 9.0 I don’t think anything has changed in this version when compared to the original. Then again, there’s no need to fix what isn’t broken, right?	Fun Factor: 8.0 By and large, a very similar game, with just a bit more content, quality of life enhancements, and a more streamlined progression system. I might not agree with all brand new implementations, but there’s no denying that this is still one hell of a fun platformer.
Final Verdict: 8.5

Yooka-Replaylee is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X, PC and Switch 2.

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB.

A copy of Yooka-Replaylee was provided by the publisher.