3D platformers used to be a thing. But as the gamer demograpahic grows in age, the genre, highly associated with cartoony aesthetics and designed to be appealing to kids, has waned in interest.
It’s about time we get to see a proper 3D platformer again, embracing all the cartoony charm whilst bringing in tight controls and fun gameplay. Yooka-Laylee seems to fit this bill.
The game is being made by Playtonic Studios, a studio made of ex-Rare developers that used to worked on Banjo-Kazooie, a very high-regarded series back in the Nintendo 64 days. We shall not speak of that Xbox 360 sequel that introduced racing to the series.
From the looks of the trailer, Yooka-Laylee seems to be hitting the right notes here. You play as the dynamic duo of Yooka the green lizard and Laylee the cheeky-looking bat with a big nose, traverseing the world to collect “Pagies” that will further unlock places to explore. A collect-a-thon at its heart, this game is.
Here’s the aforementioned trailer:
That stinger at the end is savage.
Yooka-Laylee is set to hit PC, Wii U, PS4 and the Xbox One in Q1 2017, so hopefully we will see it coming early next year.