Watching the new Yooka-Laylee trailer is giving us all the more reason to stay excited for Playtonic’s much-hyped return to the golden age of 3D platformers. Like Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, or really any adventure based classic from the N64 era, Yooka-Laylee looks like it will have elemental landscapes constructing the colorful world that the protagonists explore. In this case, Playtonic has revealed Glitterglaze Glacier, a beautiful, frosted landscape that has very heavy call backs to the original Banjo-Kazoozie. It’s hard not to see the similarities between the two. Even the look of the central castle for this level has a heavy nostalgia feel for Spiral Mountain, and there’s an ice key that will most assuredly open an ice lock!
The gameplay showcases some of the fun abilities you’ll get to use along the way. Yooka eats a firefly type, turning him into a fluorescent chameleon to explore dark areas. Later, the duo turns into a snow plowin’ truck mobile to bust apart some rocks and win a collectible. Polygon has done a 10-minute play through of Glitterglaze Glacier that gives you a solid feel for how the actual gameplay will be. The good news is that Yooka-Laylee should be everything a Banjo Kazoo fan could ever want. The gameplay looks super smooth, the visuals are sharp and vivid, and the world seems to be filled will puzzle, adorable baddies, and all sorts of platform-y hijinks.
With this game’s release coming on April 11th, Yooka-Laylee should be a nice break from all of the AAA and massively open world titles coming in the next few weeks. We couldn’t be more excited to buddy up with a bat friend and hop around the world of Yooka-Laylee.
Yooka-Laylee releases on April 11th on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Linux, Mac OSX, and PC.
