One of Ubisoft’s oldest, and seemingly most forgotten franchises is easily Rayman. The series has had its ups and downs over the years, but it left a lasting impact, to say the least. However, having haven’t seen a main entry release since 2013 does tell a story, especially with this newest bit of information that was discovered. Initially shared on Twitter via Ribshark, the source code for the canceled Rayman 4 seems to have been leaked, and not just some pieces either. Somehow someway, the entirety of the code has made its way online, including the developer tools giving modders a whole new plethora of materials to work with.
The leaked footage, which we will not share here, shows the titular Rayman traversing through what appears to be a spaceship. The video shows a very, very rough build of the game, albeit in a playable state, but more than likely not close to a beta stage in development terms. According to Ribshar, some of the in-game features are functional, including being able to ride a giant spider and using a special gun that shoots carrots. As we know now, Rayman 4 ended up being turned into Rayman Raving Rabbids, which was initially released for the Nintendo Wii in November 2006 before being ported to other platforms.
This only adds to the fascinating, yet very strange journey that the Rayman franchise has been subject to. The original title released in 1995 for the PlayStation, and was a side-scrolling platformer which was critically acclaimed. Ubisoft took the franchise into the 3D world with the next two entries, Rayman 2: The Great Escape and Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, before putting the main series on a hiatus in favor of the Raving Rabbids spin-off franchise.
Ubisoft returned to Rayman in 2011 with Rayman Origins and also brought the series back to the side-scrolling platformer style. This was a highly praised decision by the community, as the art style had become increasingly more complex and detailed, which lead to more crisper environments and level designs. This was continued with the follow-up, Rayman Legends, which launched in 2013, and greatly expanded upon both the gameplay and the presentation. The title was critically acclaimed and is now considered one of the greatest side-scrolling adventures in video game history. However, sales were still lacking due to a very crowded video game market, and Ubisoft once again put the series on hiatus.
Ubisoft has kept the Rayman name alive with the Raving Rabbids series, as well as some mobile releases for iOS and Android. However, seeing how the build of Rayman 4 was in a somewhat playable state only reminds us of what could’ve been, and also what could’ve possibly kept the mainline series going for several more years.