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On October 9, 2025, Playtonic will be releasing Yooka-Replaylee, a remake of their breakout 2017 platformer Yooka-Laylee. While the development team has described the game as “Not quite a remake, not quite a remaster,” the completely redesigned visuals of the game, as well as the addition of new content, will lead most gamers to refer to it as the former. With the Collectathon genre being in a lull lately, it feels like the perfect time for a game like this to be released. However, is Yooka-Laylee still worth the time of gamers this many years after release? Let’s break the game down piece by piece and determine that for ourselves.
Before we head into the review, I would like to state that I am a complete newcomer to Yooka-Laylee. I never played the original title, so the finer details of how the game has been changed in this remaster will likely be lost on me. Instead, I will be providing the perspective on how the title is as a game in its own right, free of any prior experience or baggage.
Yooka-Replaylee is a collectathon platformer with a higher emphasis on the collecting half of that genre title. The game features five worlds filled with items known as Pagies that the player must gather a large amount of in order to progress through the game.
The protagonist, Yooka, has a basic moveset that is exactly what one would expect from this sort of game. The player will be able to jump around and spin to attack enemies. It’s simple, but because Yooka moves at a decent speed, it can be quite fun to just move around in this game’s world.
Perhaps the most fun part of Yooka’s moveset is the ability to roll around, which not only gives him a massive boost of speed but can also defeat enemies if the player has purchased an item that allows it to do damage.
While Yooka’s basic movement is quite fun, there are a few unintuitive parts of it that tend to bring gameplay to a slow crawl. The ability to spit in order to make platforms visible, in particular, halts gameplay whenever the player is required to use it due to how slow the move is.
In addition to the basic moveset that Yooka has access to at all times, the player will occasionally be able to obtain power-ups, such as ice breath, which are used for specific puzzles. These sections of the game are very frequent and add a lot to the game’s design. While there can occasionally be some annoyances, such as a platform only barely being in Yooka’s jumping range, the basic platforming of the game is quite enjoyable.
The game also gives the player multiple breaks from simple platforming in the form of special objectives in each level that briefly change up the formula. These missions can range from guiding a dinosaur that cannot jump through an isometric obstacle course to making a mine cart hop along as it collects jewels.
These sections do wonders in keeping the gameplay of Yooka-Replaylee from getting too repetitive and stale. While not every one of them is a complete winner in quality, most of them are fun enough to spend a few minutes on in order to earn each of the Pagies they can grant.
Each of Yooka-Replaylee’s worlds takes the form of a large hub with obstacles, NPCs, and enemies scattered about. The player can often find a large amount of Pagies just by wandering around, but if they get lost, then they can just open the map to see several of the main collectibles they missed.
Yooka-Replaylee can be almost intimidatingly big, with both how many Pagies can be found in each world and the sheer amount of other collectibles in the game. With over 50 things to gather at minimum in each location, players can expect to spend an entire day in each area if they’re going for everything.
Overall, I would describe the gameplay loop of Yooka-Replaylee as extremely enjoyable; it both reminds me of games I would play in my youth while still having enough modern flair to stand out from the crowd. The lack of Collecathon games like this in the current gaming landscape especially makes a title like Yooka-Replaylee appealing.
While I personally love this style of gameplay as it reminds me of 3D platformer collectathons I grew up with, those who aren’t diligent in their exploration can easily get frustrated when they are missing a few items with no clues toward where to get them. The 200 quills in each area, especially, can be a pain if you aren’t sticking your head into each and every corner of the level multiple times.
Even though I never played the original version of Yooka-Laylee, a mere glimpse at this title and images of the original makes it clear that the biggest change made to this remake is, of course, the game’s visuals. Each area in Yooka-Replaylee has been reworked to be extremely vibrant and colorful. Not a single blade of grass is dull, as they now shine like they have been freshly covered in dew.
While the location visuals are spot on and look fantastic, the actual character models in Yooka-Replaylee can feel off. Every character has a glossy shine to them that can often feel uncanny, especially in the game’s brightly lit areas. While it isn’t a major issue, as very little of this game is actually spent talking to characters, it does create an odd feeling whenever you do accept a quest.
The visuals of the game may have been updated, but one part of the game that has visibly aged is the dialogue and humor. The dialogue jokes in Yooka-Replaylee are still very rooted in 2017 humor. Jokes that simply point out the ridiculousness of the premise or wink at the existence of video game tropes in particular are abundant.
These jokes aren’t necessarily bad, but as time has moved on and indie games have been allowed to be more earnest about being games, they can often come across as embarrassing and a product of a bygone time on the internet.
While these visual improvements are vastly appreciated, they also come with the caveat of the game being nearly four times the file size of the original. So be prepared to set aside nearly 30 gigabytes just for this game.
Overall, I quite enjoyed my experience with Yooka-Replaylee. The gameplay is simple and basic, but the levels have enough depth and variety to make it easy to pour hours upon hours into running around collecting stuff. While I cannot vouch for whether this title is worth your money if you’ve already played the original, newcomers can easily have a grand time playing this game.
Yooka-Replaylee
Bottom Line
Yooka-Replaylee is a simple yet enjoyable breath of fresh air in the current gaming landscape and a title that anyone nostalgic for Collectathons is sure to have a fun time with.
