Yooka Re-Playlee Review – A Modern Shine on a Classic Throwback

Yooka Re-Playlee Review

The original Yooka-Laylee released in 2017 after a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign. It was the first game developed by Playtonic Games, which was made up of Rare Studios alumni. It’s an homage to N64-era 3D platform collect-a-thons, and a spiritual successor to the beloved Banjo-Kazooie. Eight years later, Playtonic has remastered Yooka-Laylee for current gen consoles as Yooka Re-Playlee. They made some bold changes, so read on to find out if this new version justifies a replay, a first-time play, or a pass.

Yooka Re-Playlee is about Yooka and Laylee, a chameleon and bat friend duo. Character-wise, and gameplay-wise, they emulate the dynamics of Banjo and Kazooie. Yooka is the easygoing lead, who carries their annoying winged companion on their back. The story is about Yooka and Laylee gathering the pages of an all-powerful book called the One Book. It’s vacuumed up by Capital B, a villainous bee, and Dr. Quack, his mad scientist assistant. That’s really all there is to it. Yooka Re-Playlee’s story focus isn’t its simple narrative, but rather its charming characters.

3D Platform Gameplay

Yooka Re-Playlee’s main draw is its classic 3D platforming gameplay. X is jump, and can be held to glide. There’s no double jump. Square is a tail attack. Circle sticks out Yooka’s tongue, which swallows power-ups that give different powers. It can also be used to grapple. Holding R2 does a forward roll, which can be used to go up steep surfaces. Holding square while rolling does an even faster Sonic the Hedgehog-like roll.

Pressing L2 in the air does a downward slam. Pressing L2, then X does an extra high spring jump. Holding L2 turns Yooka invisible. Underwater, holding L2 forms a bubble around Yooka, so he can walk on the ground, instead of swimming. Triangle fires a sonar shot, which drains a stamina meter. Sonar reveals invisible objects. Holding triangle completely drains the stamina meter, but does a screen-wide sonar explosion.

Everything Immediately Unlocked

One of the major changes in Yooka Re-Playlee is that all of these moves are unlocked from the beginning of the game. In the original version, most of these moves have to be gradually unlocked. Yooka-Laylee has a Metroidvania-like structure, where the player might see a collectable they can’t get to until a future ability is unlocked. Yooka Re-Playlee removes this aspect of the original version by unlocking all the moves right away.

Yooka Re-Playlee’s collect-a-thon format is also changed. The original game had five main levels that had to be gradually unlocked. They are now completely open from the start. Some will appreciate the backtracking being gone, but I actually prefer the way the original unfolded. This new way gives a more open world feel, like Super Mario Odyssey. It gives the player freedom. I know a lot of players like this, but I feel like Yooka-Laylee was built from the ground up to be systematically unfolded. I don’t mind a more linear experience. Playtonic was obviously reacting to modern players’ desire for open worlds, and more freedom.

Twice as Many Pagies

There are now twice as many pages from the One Book (called “pagies”) to collect. The original pagies really have to be earned by overcoming specific challenges. Now, lots of pagies are just lying around and don’t feel like they were earned. Again, I feel like this was made in reaction to Mario Odyssey, which is designed to have tons of collectables. More collectables does make the game feel like it moves at a faster pace, but, unfortunately, Yooka-Laylee wasn’t originally made with this philosophy, so the new pagies feel tacked-on and unbalanced.

The most important improvements made in Yooka Re-Playlee are towards the camera and controls. The original camera felt like an N64 camera that wildly swung around in a way that no 3D game from the 6^th gen onwards should ever do. The way Yooka controls and moves doesn’t always feel great. Now the camera is perfectly up to modern standards. It’s more zoomed-out and rests higher up, and isn’t as close-up, low, and directly behind Yooka. Yooka feels great to play. Movement is extremely precise. These improvements make the game much easier, but also make Yooka Re-Playlee the vastly superior version of the game. I do wish there was an option to completely turn-off the automatic camera movements. Yooka Re-Playlee isn’t the kind of game that needs auto-camera. I much prefer having full freedom.

Improved Visuals

Yooka Re-Playlee also has greatly improved visuals. The original game looked like a PS3 game, with aesthetic choices to make it look more like an N64 game. Yooka Re-Playlee has been cleaned up to just look like a modern 3D platformer. It has brighter colors, and way better lighting and textures. It really looks like a next-gen version of Yooka-Laylee. I do wish Yooka Re-Playlee kept some more of the obvious N64 aesthetic choices, such as the Banjo-Kazooie-like main menu, or the Banjo-Kazooie text boxes. A new player might not even realize how much Yooka Re-Playlee is homage to classic N64 games.

There are a lot of smaller changes in Yooka Re-Playlee too. Some cutscenes have been re-edited. The game opens with a storybook about Yooka and Laylee sailing their pirate ship. There’s a short, opening tutorial section now. The One Book is introduced as a character right away. A lot of care has gone into improving most of Yooka-Laylee’s rougher edges.

In Conclusion

Yooka-Laylee was a platformer I wanted to love, but struggled with because of the controls and camera. Many also hated the backtracking and linear structure. Those issues have been addressed in Yooka Re-Playlee, making it the superior version. I actually really enjoyed unlocking abilities and levels in the original game. And feel like some of the attempts to make it more open, and to have more collectables, don’t work super well. I wish there was a choice to play Yooka Re-Playlee with just the improved visuals, camera, and controls. It would be a dream come true for me if Yooka Re-Playlee offered an in-game choice between an original version and a Replay version. Although flawed, Yooka Re-Playlee is the best version of an excellent N64-style 3D platformer.

***PS5 code provided by the publisher***