At Gamescom this week, Playtonic Games released a new trailer of Yooka-Laylee. The zany cartoon action-platformer has come a long way since its initial crowd-funding campaign in 2015. The developer unveiled a brand new Yooka-Laylee Gamescom trailer showing the game in action.
Yooka-Laylee (originally called Project Ukulele) is a spiritual successor to the classic N64 platformer, Banjo-Kazooie. Several key developers from that game’s original developer, Rare, are involved with the project. Chris Sutherland, Steve Mayles, and Steven Hurst reprise their previous roles of lead programmer, voice actor, and character artist. Celebrated music composer Grant Kirkhope has returned as well.
The new trailer shows off the plenty of gameplay elements along with some environmental shots. The game follows the lime-green chameleon, Yooka, and his wisecracking lady-bat friend, Laylee, as they attempt to collect Pagies to reassemble the mysterious Grand Tome. The heroes face off against Capital B (a capitalist bee) and Dr. Quack, who aim to absorb all of the world’s literature and convert it into pure profit.
The new gameplay footage proves the game has stuck to its retro roots. Yooka and Laylee team up for a variety of moves, many of which bare resemblance to Banjo-Kazooie moves such as the Feathery Flap and Talon Trot. The Pagies serve as the game’s main collectibe, a signature trait of Rare platformers of old. In Yooka-Laylee, the Pagies can be turned in for magical books that unlock and build upon the game worlds.
The Yooka-Laylee Gamescom trailer features a sequence where Yooka and Laylee appear to have fused to become a bulldozer. It appears this power can be used to reveal hidden areas or solve environmental puzzles.
There is also an underwater sequence where Yooka uses what can only be described as a Fart Bubble ability. This allows him to breathe, walk around, and use his normal abilities under water.
Yooka-Laylee will be available on PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox One, Windows, iOS, and Linux in 2017.
