When I think back to some of my favourite games of all time, many of them fall squarely in the mid to late 1990s. The early days of 3D platforming may not age particularly well in some instances, but studios like Playtonic have been reviving and iterating on the genre for some time now.
Yoka-Replaylee is the latest venture from the studio and publisher. I had limited experience with the first and skipped the second, though I’d always heard great things. After all, some of these devs made one of my favourite franchises of all time on the N64!
What’s great about Yooka-Replaylee is that it does feel new while also tugging at the nostalgic heartstrings I so often yearn for. 3D platformers were just emerging in the late 90s, and here it feels like the team has captured much of that feel while smoothing out edges around each and every corner.
Yooka-Replaylee is Charmingly Nostalgic
If you grew up in the 90s playing games, you likely came across 3D platformers. Rare Ltd. was the king in this ring, with titles like Banjo-Kazooie and action-based games in 3D space, such as Jet Force Gemini. Since then, those development teams have been split up in various directions, with some of them reconnecting and working under the Playtonic name and creating Yooka-Laylee a few years back.
With Yooka-Replaylee, they’ve freshened up the look and feel of a game that was already praised for its charm and joyful mechanics. These are all still here with sharp visuals, a control scheme, and a camera that feel exactly as they should.
Despite the gameplay being smooth and a whole lot of fun, I sit here wondering why a game that is less than 10 years old needs to be remade. Sure, Playtonic makes some pretty great titles, but what’s the reason behind this now? I’d argue that the number one reason is Yooka-Replaylee’s playfulness.
Let’s be honest, the world around us feels overwhelming and a bit of a mess in recent years. What’s great about video games is how they allow us to escape and take a breather instead of being consumed by the stresses of the real world. Playtonic knows this, and the developers who used to work for Rare Ltd. knew that 30 years ago as well. Yooka-Replaylee is a joyful escape to a simpler time, an easy-going mentality, and stress-free gaming.
In many ways, we need more of that today.
I really have enjoyed my time with Yooka-Replaylee. There are a lot of familiar elements you may have played before in a collectathon or 3D platformer, but they’re put together nicely and are easy to understand.
First up are the wacky characters. Our heroes, Yooka and Laylee, are a dino and bat duo who have crash-landed while on an epic search for treasure. It’s all a pretty simple setup for an adventure that just takes you from one world or biome to the next. But in comes that aforementioned charm: you’re searching through a wide variety of stages for loose pages of a magical book. It’s a rescue mission of sorts, but one that sets up a decent enough reason to be jumping in in the first place.
Gameplay primarily consists of light platforming, timing-based maneuvers, and simple combat. Enemies vary from small grunts to massive bosses. Some require on-the-go puzzle solving, while others take a few hits and drop coins that you can use to buy buffs, debuffs, or cosmetics throughout the journey.
Yooka-Replaylee strikes a perfect balance in its difficulty. The first few hours are mostly filled with basic enemies and some puzzle-solving. It encourages exploration and rewards you for it.
Dispatching baddies is actually the least interesting part of the game. Using the attack button three times to spin your heroes only to take out one little minion feels tedious. There are ways around this, but those are hidden behind coin exchanges in the shop. It’s not a huge problem, but one that I could’ve done without.
The team has also changed how your characters maneuver the world. If you’re familiar with the way Kazooie fluttered through the air in those Rare Ltd. games, that’s largely how it felt in the original Yooka-Laylee. Now, it’s a hover. Simply hold on to the jump button, and Laylee will shoot out their wings and help you bridge the gap.
Yooka-Replaylee Sounds Bigger and Better Than Ever Before
While playing the game itself is great, hearing it is just as awesome! Legendary game composer Grant Kirkhope has returned to recreate this score with an epic orchestral recording of songs that were already excellent. Kirkhope has been the head of some of the most celebrated original soundtracks and scores, going back to his work with Rare Ltd., with Goldeneye 007, the Banjo-Kazooie franchise, Donkey Kong games, and Perfect Dark.
Kirkhope has a great sense of fun and joy in the music he’s created, and thankfully, that shines through in Yooka-Replaylee! This doesn’t have to be the best game of 2025 or the best platformer ever, but it is definitely a set of songs worth hearing.
Verdict
If you haven’t spent dozens of hours in the original game, Yooka-Replaylee is a very safe bet to give you those same hours of enjoyment here in 2025.
It’s a game that is a fantastic mix of nostalgic game design and fresh, beautiful ideas in both mechanics and art style.
[The publisher provided a copy of the game for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: PC
