At Summer Games Fest, there are usually only new and upcoming games for us to try out. However, this year we got to go hands-on with Yooka-Replaylee which is a remastered and updated version of the 2017 original. It’s crazy to think it has already been almost a decade since this game debuted as the spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie. Thus, let’s dive in and see what is going on with all the new happenings in this remaster!

I played the original back when it first released eight years ago, so it was nice going back to the game after so much time away that everything felt fresh in my mind again. We were given access to the game’s first world, Tribalstack Tropics, and basically given free reign in what we wanted to do before encountering the boss of the world at the end of the demo.  One of the new updates this version brings is that there is no world expansion now, so you can now freely explore the entire level as soon as you enter it from the first time.

The first thing I noticed is how much of a remaster this is as the visual quality is much improved. Character models and the world are bright and vibrant. Then, having access to the entire level allowed for us to go gather collectibles and eases the need of backtracking through levels later on. Thus, making the remaster has made the game far more enjoyable in making me want to take my time within the levels more to get to every nook and cranny. Finally, the boss fight with The Great Rampo had some minor camera and frame rate issues, but those should hopefully be ironed out by the time the game releases.

If you were a fan of the original or are still missing the Banjo-Kazooie games, you will be sure to enjoy this better and updated version. Yooka-Replaylee is set to release on all platforms at some point later this year.