A few weeks ago we reported on huge update for Yooka-Laylee that gave us details on the story and gameplay mechanics. While we will get a better look of the game at E3, a new trailer has been uploaded from Playtonic games that gives us a look at the final game. Yooka-Laylee is the upcoming Kickstarter-funded open-world platformer from ex-Rare developers behind Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong country, and boy does this look like a 90s Rare game.
From the trailer, we can definitely see that Yooka-Laylee captures that colorful charm of Rare’s classic platformers. Yooka-Laylee was pitched as a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, and from the trailer the game basically looks like Banjo-Kazooie 3 with different characters. It’s not just Banjo-Kazooie the game takes inspiration from, as the trailer shows a minecart racing section taken right out of Donkey Kong Country.
In the last trailer for Yooka-Laylee, we saw the duo being able to fly for short distances and roll up into a ball to gain speed. While the last trailer didn’t show much, this new one gives us a look at a ton of the duo’s abilities. One new ability is Yooka using his tongue on metal objects to become metal, which can allow him to pass through harmful obstacles.
Yooka also seems to have the ability to turn invisible, which is fitting for a chameleon.
We also get to see the game’s “Mumbo-Jumbo” style transformations, which in this case is Yooka and Laylee combining into a weird flower. It looks like these transformations are instant, and you don’t have wait through Mumbo-Jumbo’s long animation to transform.
Along with this awesome trailer we got a semi-confirmation on the game’s release date, which unfortunately has been delayed from its announced date of October 2016. Yooka-Laylee is now set to release for Q1 2017, a move that the developers made for the good of the game.
As posted on the Playtonic games blog “the Playtonic team has decided that it would prefer to add few extra months’ polish to the game schedule.” This is probably for the best, as it’s important to have a product that meets the expectations of your backers, especially when you greatly exceeded funding expectations. According to Playtonic “after long consideration and knowing through dialogue with our fans that they value quality and polish above all, we’ve made the difficult decision to lock the release of Yooka-Laylee to Q1 2017″ Considering that the last real Banjo-Kazooie game (sorry Nuts n’ Bolts) was released almost 15 years ago, I think fans can wait a little longer for a successor worthy of the franchise.