Playtonic Announces Co-Publishing Partnership Alongside a New ‘Yooka-Replaylee’ Trailer

Playtonic Games is bringing Yooka and Laylee back with a new look in Yooka-Replaylee, a fully remastered and enhanced version of their classic 2017 3D platformer, Yooka-Laylee. Revealed during The MIX x Kinda Funny Spring Game Showcase, the latest gameplay trailer showcases the game’s vibrant new visuals, improved mechanics, and fresh content, all set for a 2025 launch. In addition to the latest gameplay trailer, Playtonic announced a new co-publishing partnership with PM Studios, ensuring Yooka-Replaylee reaches players on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo platforms later this year. With redesigned biomes, a new collectible currency, expanded maps, and a new orchestral soundtrack, this definitive edition is set to become the best way to experince Yooka and Laylee’s adventure.

A Chameleon and a Bat Walk Into a Game…

Yooka-Replaylee brings fresh updates to the original platformer to take full advantages of current generation hardware. It offers redesigned biomes, smoother controls, and an improved camera system. Players can explore larger and more detailed worlds with a new map and challenge tracker to help navigate and collect all the secrets. A new collectible currency lets players purchase upgrades from VENDI, the sentient vending machine, while customizable tonics enhance gameplay.

KEY FEATURES

• More Beautiful Than Ever – With an art and animations overhaul, along with enhanced performance and resolution, the favorite buddy duo has never looked or moved better.
• New and Improved Challenges – Improvements to existing in-game challenges and entirely new challenges to discover and undertake.
• New Collectible Currency – Capital B’s inept minions have dropped their hard-earned coins all over the place. Collect the official currency of the Hivory Towers to spend on video games’ most beloved sentient vending machine.
• Navigating the World – Now you can get lost in the game, not in the world. A brand-new world map and challenges tracker helps you know where you are and what needs to be done. Hooray!
• Vendi Has Plenty to Offer – Tonics are back with all new flavors. With the option to equip multiple game-changing enhancements, you can truly customize your playstyle. And as if that weren’t enough, Vendi has new lines of merchandise for the modern fashionable adventurer.
• Revised Controls & Camera – A new tweaked move set allows you to combine moves more fluidly, while the new camera controls makes framing the action a breeze.
• A Dreamy Orchestral Soundtrack – The original score from famed video game composers Grant Kirkhope (Banjo-Kazooie, GoldenEye) and David Wise (Donkey Kong Country) returns but as a beautifully arranged orchestral score. Now seriously, clean out those ears!

MY THOUGHTS

As a long time fan of Rare games from the Nintendo 64 era, I have a deep appreciation for the way they defined gaming during that time. Rare’s releases were events in themselves, from the colorful 3D platformers like Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64, to the gritty first-person shooters like GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark. Rare had a way of blending creativity with solid gameplay mechanics, earning them a reputation that rivaled modern-day giants like Rockstar Games. When I played Yooka-Laylee back in 2017, it immediately struck me as a spiritual successor to those old N64 classics, with many former Rare employees behind the project at Playtonic Games.

The nostalgic platforming, the charming characters, and tight controls felt like a perfect tribute to that golden era. Now with Yooka-Replaylee, Playtonic continues to honor that legacy, delivering a remastered experience that brings back the magic of yore while pushing the game to new heights. One interesting detail that caught my attention in the fine print of the press release I was provided, was the mention of this game coming to “Nintendo Platforms.” This suggests that Yooka-Replaylee will be releasing not only on the current Switch but also the upcoming Switch 2.