Yooka-Laylee (Digital Deluxe)

Yooka-Laylee is a 3D collect-a-thon platformer built by Playtonic Games, a studio formed largely by veterans of Rare's golden era - the people behind Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64. That lineage is not subtle. This is a game about a chameleon and a bat exploring oversized, toy-box worlds, hoovering up feathers and pagies (the collectible currency that unlocks and expands levels), and trading quips with a cast of deliberately weird NPCs. The villain, Capital B, runs a corporation that literally absorbs books. It is goofy in exactly the way it intends to be. The core loop is satisfying if you have any warmth toward the genre. Each of the five Grand Tomes is a self-contained world you can pay to expand mid-run, which physically stretches the map and unlocks new areas and challenges. Yooka and Laylee gain abilities over time - tail whips, ground pounds, buddy slam attacks, a sonar blast - and the game drip-feeds these in ways that feel deliberate rather than padded. The duo handles well enough, though camera control in tight spaces is the single most consistent frustration across the whole experience. It is a known issue, widely reported, and worth flagging honestly. Where the game genuinely shines is in its atmosphere and soundtrack. Grant Kirkhope, David Wise, and Steve Burke composed the score together, and the result is something warm and slightly melancholy under all the bright colours - a kind of bittersweet nostalgia-haze that the best 90s platformers had. Worlds like Tribalstack Tropics and Moodymaze Marsh have distinct sonic identities, and simply wandering around them while the music shifts is a small pleasure the game never loses. The writing leans heavily on fourth-wall jokes and corporate satire, which lands about half the time and misfires the other half, but the charm is genuine rather than manufactured. The Digital Deluxe edition bundles the base game with the original soundtrack, an art book, and a Yooka-Laylee comic - worthwhile additions if you care about the craft behind the project. The split-screen co-op mode is a curiosity: a second player can join as a different character and assist (or hinder) with various modifiers, which makes it a decent couch game for two people willing to tolerate the shared camera. PvP arcade modes are included and feel like extras rather than main events. Who is this for? Honestly, people who grew up playing Banjo-Kazooie and want to feel that specific texture again will get the most out of it. It does not reinvent the genre or offer the tightness of modern indie platformers, and some of its worlds outstay their welcome by a level or two. But as a handcrafted tribute to a very particular era of 3D games - made by people who clearly love what they are building - it earns its place. Come in without expecting a redefined genre, and there is a lot of genuine fun buried in those pagies.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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