Yooka-Laylee is an all-new open-world platformer from genre veterans Playtonic! Explore huge, beautiful worlds, meet an unforgettable cast of characters and horde a vault-load of collectibles as buddy-duo Yooka and Laylee embark on an epic adventure to thwart corporate creep Capital B!OUR NEW BUDD...
Yooka-Laylee is an all-new open-world platformer from genre veterans Playtonic! Explore huge, beautiful worlds, meet an unforgettable cast of characters and horde a vault-load of collectibles as buddy-duo Yooka and Laylee embark on an epic adventure to thwart corporate creep Capital B!
OUR NEW BUDDY DUO: Yooka and Laylee boast an awesome arsenal of abilities built for platforming fun!
CARVE YOUR PATH: Unlock moves with freedom and choose to expand your favourite worlds into even larger playgrounds!
A MODERN COLLECT-EM-UP: Seek out a roster of shiny collectibles with gameplay progression at their core!
A CAST TO LAST: Meet a memorable cast of characters destined to endure in future Playtonic adventures!
LOTS MORE: Discover epic boss fights, mine cart challenges, co-op mode, unique multiplayer games and more!
At a glance, this looks like a great successor to Banjo Kazooie. The character designs and graphics are spot-on and the music is exactly what fans of Banjo Kazooie would expect. When moving beyond aesthetics, however, the game fails to live up to its predecessors.
My biggest complaint is that the levels lack an intuitive flow. The musical notes of Banjo Kazooie were arranged in such a way that they led players through the levels and hinted at the locations of jiggies. The quills of Yooka-Laylee are sparsely strewn about in a seemingly random manner. Progression through the worlds isn't nearly as smooth as it could have been.
Secondly, the objectives for obtaining pagies are often more tedious than fun. Running through a series of rings before time expires is repetitively used and feels a bit generic. The snow world has an objective where players must find and return hats to five different snowmen. The snowplow form used in parts of this objective controls poorly and finding them all becomes more bothersome than fun.
Finally, the system for projectile power-ups is a step back from the game's predecessors. In the BK and BT, eggs could be collected as ammunition and players could use them at any time. In Yooka-Laylee, consuming a projectile power-up results in a timer beginning and it can only be used for a set amount of time before expiring. Eating an elemental berry and rushing to the area of its intended use before time expires is not especially fun.
While Yooka-Laylee successfully captures the look and sounds of a Banjo-Kazooie title, it only succeeds on a superficial level. The actual gameplay and level design are a pale imitation of the game's inspirational material. If you long to once again experience the fun and silliness of Banjo-Kazooie, I would recommend simply playing Banjo-Kazooie.
PC Port: There is no keybinding that I can see, and the options menu is incredibly lacking. I believe Playtonic rushed out the game to release and be compatible on a large variety of platforms at once. I HIGHLY recommend playing this game with a controller as using the keyboard is frustrating and involves a lot of trial and error to learn what every button is mapped to.
Graphics: It's colorful and vibrant. The character designs are all very clever, and I personally found a lot of charm and heart in it. There were some animation bugs that I noticed, in particular with NPCs, and some rough, stretched textures and low-poly models. It definitely feels like a previous-gen game in some regards.
Sound: It is about what you'd expect from a Banjo-Kazooie successor. The way I tend to judge the quality of video game music is whether or not I would enjoy listening to it on its own. I can say about 75% of the Yooka-Laylee OST passes this "test" with me. Some of the tracks, however, are a bit too "noisy" for my tastes. Some people might find the way the characters "talk" to be annoying, but I find it a nice throwback to the old Banjo games.
Writing/Story: Lots of puns and breaking the fourth wall. I think it's funny, others might not. Cutscenes aren't skippable (correct me if I'm wrong), which is frustrating, but they got me to chuckle.
Gameplay: I am enjoying it. I feel that some level designs and puzzles are a little weak in comparison to the original Banjo games and I don't feel as "immersed" in these worlds than I did in Banjo-Tooie. Camera can be a little wonky. I don't like the quiz sections. I enjoy collecting things, however, and learning new abilities and visiting old worlds.
Over-all: It's charming and enjoyable. I think it needed another year to polish it up though. The Banjo franchise is a hard thing to live up to. Keep your expectations tempered and you'll probably enjoy Yooka for what it is. -1 star for bad PC port, -1 star for other minor annoyances.
Do you replay Banjo-Kazooie like all the time?
Miss the days where you collected things in a 3D environment?
Miss Rare before Microsoft bought it?
This game is for you!
Most of the original Rare team got together and made this gem. Looking forward to the next 3D adventure from them!
First, I give it 3/5 but I don't mean it as a bad way (where, nowadays, anything below 8/10 or 4/5 is bad). YL is the perfect example of a "good enough" game.
The game is perfectly playable, has some charm, and will last you a solid 10-15 hours. But ultimately, it's all there is to it. you're unlikely to be struck in awe by anything in the game.
It's worth playing, you'll have a good time for sure, but it certainly won't be anybody's GOTY, and it shouldn't be.
This game is waiting for a review. Take the first shot!
{{ item.rating }}
{{ item.percentage }}%
Awaiting more reviews
An error occurred. Please try again later.
Other ratings
Awaiting more reviews
Add a review
Edit a review
Your rating:
Stars and all fields are required
Not sure what to say? Start with this:
What kept you playing?
What kind of gamer would enjoy this?
Was the game fair, tough, or just right?
What’s one feature that really stood out?
Did the game run well on your setup?
Inappropriate content. Your reviews contain bad language.
Inappropriate content. Links are not allowed.
Inappropriate content. Content contains gibberish.
Review title is too short.
Review title is too long.
Review description is too short.
Review description is too long.
Not sure what to write?
You cannot save your review due to the following reasons:
You need to select star rating
You need to enter review title
You need to enter the content of your review
Show:
5 on page
15 on page
30 on page
60 on page
Order by:
Most helpful
Most positive
Most critical
Most recent
Filters:
No reviews matching your criteria
Written in
English
Deutsch
polski
français
русский
中文(简体)
Others
Written by
Verified ownersOthers
Added
Last 30 daysLast 90 daysLast 6 monthsWheneverAfter releaseDuring Early Access
Your review should focus on your in-game experience only. Let the game stand entirely on its own merits.
Avoid noise
To discuss topics such as news, pricing, or community, use our forums. To request new games and website or GOG GALAXY features, use the community wishlist. To get technical support for your game contact our support team.
Critique responsibly
To keep our review sections clean and helpful, we will remove any reviews that break these guidelines or our terms of use.
Ok, got it
GOG Patrons who helped preserve this game
Error loading patrons. Please refresh the page and try again.