Playtonic's Original Yooka-Laylee Game Is Getting A Follow-Up Title

I couldn’t get into the first game, or for that matter the 2D spin-off game that followed. So for me they’ll need to do quite a lot to gain my interest.

Haven't played the original and only played a bit of The Impossible Lair, so I can't really say much on this one. All I have to say is it'd be a real missed opportunity if its title isn't Twooka-Laylee.

Optimistic about this one. There is obviously talent in the development team. Just wish the music was a bit more memorable and less derivative.

First game is underrated, it's not amazing but it's enjoyable enough. Hopefully they have taken the feedback from the backlash and will make it a worthy spiritual BK successor.

I actually liked the first one. It wasn’t perfect by a long way, but I had fun with it. About as much fun as I had with BK - but then I always thought that was overrated to begin with, and have the love for it now is rose-tinted nostalgia. Mario 64 is the better game by far, BK just has more humour.

the 2D version was definitely better

I really hope they don’t focus so much on making a game that tries to relive the N64 days and instead try do something more modern this time around. Mario Odyssey which came out at the same time felt so much better to play because it wasn’t rooted in the past.

At the very least I hope the maps aren’t massive for the sake of being massive. The first game had a weird scale issue, especially evident in the Casino level.

@Liam_Doolan The first game was not a worthy follow up to Banjo, it was an atrocity. Fix this article this instant! 😝

@Flangela
Lol, your comment made my day
Hope you didn‘t actually have to experience it

I really can't wait for this, It should fix a lot of the issue's the first game had.

But er, wasn't people promised DLC,? Did that happen or?

Loved the first one. Completed both on release on STEAM and on Switch with 100%.
Can't wait for the sequel.

Always strange to see people stating as a fact that the first game was trash, when most of the critics and users review are mostly positive.
Even on STEAM the rating was "extremely positive" for a good while.
I don't know if it became worse now, been a while since I last checked.

Both Yooka games have their own pros and cons. And with some more money and experience, there is no reason a new 3D game cant be great

I guess that Tencent money paid off. Hard pass.

I actually enjoyed the first game, even with some of it's flaws. With their experience from Impossible Lair and a better budget, I'm sure they could refine their 2nd 3D outing into something special. Playtonic has come a long way since the original, so I think it's too early for people to pass judgment before at least seeing a trailer.

Yooka Layle and the Impossibe Lair was way superior then Yooka Layle, why not make a sequel of this game istead of the original Yooka Layle?

I hope they make this one compatible with the N64 controller

I also enjoyed the first Yooka (after all the patches) despite its flaws. I’m sure they’ll only do a sequel, if they have enough fresh ideas to change things up and improve the formula. I’m looking forward to the game!

Yes! I'm pumped for this announcement. I loved the first game.

I just hope they start with a working camera from the release on... Oh and please no mine-cart jump boss battles... I think I destroyed a few controllers while doing that one.

Yooka 1 was decent, but definitely had it's rough edges (The final boss was particularly agregious). Impossible lair however, was awesome.
Looking forward to what a sequel will look like, given the investment and feedback.

@Flangela lol Well that really illustrates your feelings guess I’m glad I skipped it.

@Flangela All he said was people may be more interested in a sequel to the original after enjoying the 2D game. I feel like the issue was more that you didn’t read the comment than he didn’t read the article.

The first game absolutely sucked - hopefully with the success of the 2D game - they can make a good 3D game, not holding out hope though

Can't wait but hopefully its better than the first one. It is a cool game but could be so much better. I'm in for the sequel!

@Krambo42 what makes you think, after the travesty of the first game, that the second one would be any better? The game flopped too btw.

The first game started off well, but turned out to be more Banjo Tooie than Banjo Kazooie in the end I.e. a bit of a boring collectathon without the clever puzzles and rewards. For the sequel I would like some tighter and consistent puzzle-platforming design, with better camera and controls. I like a collectathon, but you need lot of secrets and clever designs to make it feel worthwhile. It really could have been brilliant but there were some poor design choices. Fingers crossed they do a better job this time.

Thank goodness for the ignore function. Those who **** on the first game are not worth my time.

Hoping the sequel results in a double pack retail release.

@Flangela pretty sure you didn’t read my comment either. I never said I thought this game would be good.

Yooka-Laylee
Twooka-Laylee
Yooka-Laythree

Twoka Laylee

Hey, I'm excited to hear this. I thought the first game was ok and The Impossible Lair was amazing. Hopefully they can refine the sequel and fix some of the issues the first game had.

I backed the original and thought it was just okay. Impossible Lair rocked my socks though, I’d love a sequel to that one.

Tencent huh? Hope the guys and PlayTonic know what they're doing. ^^
Oh, and this sequel BETTER have a solid pun going on in the title!

The best thing about the original game: They made a Nintendo 64 game in 2017.

The worst thing about the original game: They made a Nintendo 64 game in 2017.

@Flangela Pretty sure the developers have learned enough from the last game to make a have decent sequel. Not saying it'll be good (as you clearly hate that word being used for this), but I'd say be even the slightest more optimistic.

Also I already know you're gonna be pissed that I'm bringing up "The Impossible Lair", as you were when Mauzuri brought it up, but the point isn't that it's basically a completely different game gameplay-wise, but they learned how to make a quality game and that means they can translate that to their next 3D game, kinda like how Nintendo learned from the previous NES and SNES Mario games and used their knowledge to make Mario 64, an amazing 3D game at the time.

Although they probably should have just made another "The Impossible Lair" instead.

Nice! Let´s hope it´s as good as Impossible Lair!

While I haven't got around to Impossible Layer, the original game was pretty good. It was obviously a BK clone that couldn't match the original but I still had a good time, and it filled the void of the genre. (I played it years after Mario Odyssey).

Yes please! 3D platformers like DK64 and Banjo Kazooie are my favorite genre. Anything half-decent I will lap up.

I thought the first game was a pretty good time except for the horrible final boss

@HexagonSun i would put Mario 64 as greatest game of all time but the original Banjo Kazooie is just a smidge behind it. It has such wonderful level design, humour, vibrancy, music and you can zip through it like butter and just feel pure joy.

I am afraid Yooka had some awful level designs, the Casino and that dark swampy one in particular. I think it possibly kept the bloated nature of Tooie and worsened it slightly. That's just my opinion ofc, I hold original Banjo in super high regard personally and love replaying it. It would be nigh on impossible for anyone to replicate its quality

I enjoyed the first game and YES, I do bar mitzvahs and birthdays.

@HotGoomba agree with you on an Impossible Lair 2. Now that was ‘decent’

Would love to see a combination of the overworld from Impossible Lair with the 3D stages in YL. Pipe dream?

I hope this one is good. I have both the others and didn't enjoy them.

I was hoping for this!! The first one was very nice in parts and then not at all in others, eventually making me quit it. But i can totally see them getting it right the second time around, so yeah, i was hoping this would happen and i'm excited for it! Personally i'm happy for them that their second game was an actual success, but i just don't seem to be able to enjoy Donkey-Kong-style platforming. So i am more hyped for another go at a 3D platformer.

I (kind of) really liked the first game and collected almost everything in it. I did not care for the second Yooka-Laylee game though (the 2D game) and stopped playing it a few levels after starting. Hopefully, with a few improvements over the original, this will turn out to be a great game.

The original would have been fine if they’d just put a map in there. IIRC it came out after Odyssey which had a great map screen with icons depicting the locations of things and the ability to warp about. Yooka-Laylee felt painfully un-fun without something to help me find my way back places. If they can just fix that in the sequel it should be a lot more fun.

After playing Impossible Lair and watching them make a game that actually came close to Tropical Freeze in quality on a tiny budget, I have renewed faith that Yooka-Laylee 2 could finally catch up to the old Banjo-Kazooie titles. The developers have made it clear they are well aware of what people didn't enjoy with the first title, and I expect that feedback to help shape the sequel.

First game was alright for a studio's first effort, made under Kickstarter conditions. I was surprised they didn't just do all the things they learned, corrected some of the stuff they tried to, and do an immediate sequel.

I'm one of the few that prefers Banjo-Tooie and Donkey Kong 64 over Banjo-Kazooie, so at first I compared Yooka-Laylee to the former games, but after the swamp level I was like "Get to the next level to get the abilities ro progress the nost and finish this game". So far I haven't completed 100% a single world in Y-L (and I say that as someone who can 100% the worlds of DK64) and that final boss is something I actually had to look up how to beat it, even then, I haven't been able to beat it.

If they remove the idea of expandable worlds and make sure the final boss is not a puzzle, I'm game for the sequel.

I quite enjoyed the first one (definitely moreso than The Impossible Lair) - not sure why it had such a poor reception personally.

I'll most likely pick up a sequel.

Didn't really play much of this game. What I played was OK. "Impossible Lair" was superb though. Hopefully the sequel to this first iteration reaches the heights of Impossible Lair. In theory it should so this is good news!

Enjoyed both Yooka Laylee games but if this is their next project what a mistake. They need to prove the can make something else and make more than one franchise.

I loved both, don’t understand the hate to be fair. Provided you don’t compare it to Banjo Kazooie it’s not too bad. Just think of the dog poop Balkan’s Wonderland was...
So looking forward to this, shame about the tencent connection but hey

Very cool. The original was fun, but had a lot of room for improvement. I was hoping they'd go back to 3D with their next game, although Impossible Lair was an extremely fun DKC clone.

As a huge Banjo-Kazooie fan, this video is pretty accurate:

I hope that the 3D sequel is better and I'd love Playtonic to join Rare and make a new Banjo-Kazooie game.

I didn't like both games. But I think the formula of the first game suits better. So maybe, that sequel will turn out as a surprise.

That is wonderful news! I adored the first game, but weirdly enough, I didn't like the more popular 2D sequel! I've been worried a new 3D adventure would never occur! Very happy announcement for me!

This is awesome news. Didn’t love the first one but had fun with it, the spirit was there but it was clear that the budget was holding it back. Impossible Lair proved 100% that Playtonic still know what they’re doing though, that game is up there with Tropical Freeze for me as far as DKC games go (can’t help but consider Impossible Lair in that lineage considering the staff behind it).

Given the lessons they’ll have learned with the first game and hopefully a bigger budget and more time to work with this should be great.

Never understood the hate Yooka 1 got. At least not from Banjo fans. It is as dull and uninteresting as Banjo was and plays the same, so why is one beloved and the other hated, I see no difference between them.

Also Paytonic announced a faithful Banjo clone, everyone was exited. They delivered a faithful Banjo clone and everyone hated it… people are a strange kind of animal indeed!

From what I heard from people that played the first game, it's not really good. Let's see how this one comes up.

@Flangela What a stupid click bait comment. Grow up.

YEEEAAAAHHHH!!!

@__jamiie 🤣 who invited you to the party dear?

The char designs never grabbed me. Separately I don’t think they stand out in any way

I thought the first game was rather average and definitely felt indie, but hopefully this one will improve on that and actually start to reach the kind of scope and quality I think of when a game like Banjo-Kazooie and its sequel come to mind.

Honestly, NO THANK YOU! And I LOVE TEAM 17 however that game was hot trash!!

I know Yooka was mixed but they did a ton that they set out to do. I started it on and off, and I think the worst part was how easy it was to get stuck at some points or lost on what I was supposed to do next.

I'm really excited for what's next. So many elements in the first and the impossible lair are so so so good and just need some better execution. I really really loved the humor and the art style.

@moodycat Definitely try Impossible Lair, it’s night and day compared to the first game!

I’ll buy it only if there’s a mini-map this time

I did like the first quite a bit. It did end up falling off to the way-side as newer games came out but I did enjoy it. Maybe I’ll pick it up this holiday again…
The second one was good but I dunno… I feel like we already have a side-screen Donkey Kong available to use so… again, I enjoyed it and there were some great ideas employed, but I actually preferred the 1st more.

Consider me as someone adding this to my wishlist.

What was so bad about the first game? Haven’t played it, just curious.

Impossible Lair has shown that this team has grown, so I have faith that they can make a worthy sequel.

I wanted a closer sequel to the original Yooka-Laylee, so this is yippie to me.

Yes, I played Impossible Lair myself and while a good 2D platformer in some areas, it kind of felt like a "just there" game to me, especially on the Switch where there are numerous other options of that nature available. The only genuinely good thing I can say about Impossible Lair, though, is that it gave me the "2019 Nintendo platformer" I wanted that year, which is something Yoshi's Crafted World failed to provide me with (and even that's a stretch for me to say since I vastly preferred Umihara Kawase Fresh! and The Legend of Dark Witch Renovation over Impossible Lair and Crafted World).

Playtonic are very clever. They made 'the difficult second game' much easier to make by making the first one not quite as great as we all wanted hhehehe. Genius.

Seriously though, I do hope they nail it (and let's not forget, give the Switch version the respect it deserves this time around.)

'Are you glad to hear another 3D Yooka-Laylee game is on the way?'

Absolutely!!! I loved the first game, and I'm so glad they are not giving up on 3D platformers.

Also, despite being 2D, Impossible lair was a blurry mess undocked, and had some crazy load times. but the first 3D game looked amazing on Switch both undocked and docked.

Impossible lair needs an un-docked visual patch. But the First game is perfect on Switch.

Well, I’m a big fan of both games, happy to see more!

The first game was flawed, but the second one was pretty good so it's not like the devs are bad.

I'd love to see how they improve upon the first game.

Hmm, I could have sworn it already had a sequel?

Oh yes, I will gladly take a Twoka-Laylee thank you.

They are under tencent now, so I'll pass.

tencent? oh well, there goes future support from me. Tencent is a simp to the ccp, i don't want to give them my money in any way.

@DumbElder
I agree music is a pretty important part of games for me

Now that Tencent is involved we might actually get a decent Yooka Laylee game. Can't wait.

I hope it's better than the first one. I loved the Impossible Layer, but the first YL felt like an unfinished semi-openworld beta.

Yooka Laylee was super mediocre and I regret ever backing it. Never bought The Impossible Lair and I have no interest in ever giving Playtonic my money again. The company doesn't have much talent or originality.

DKC and Banjo series were good because Gregg Mayles was the director behind them. He's had nothing to do with Yooka Laylee or Playtonic and they've poorly imitated his style. Without him directing their games, I'll never care about anything they make.

The first game just had bad design all over it, from the levels being too big and ungainly, your movement not being as precise as a 3D platformer ought to have, abilities that lacked weight and showcase, and an overall vibe of 'we forgot how to do this'. Smaller worlds is what's needed, a hub that's incredibly fun to explore, abilities that you can use for a variety of problem solving, not just the ones it's design to solve... and a lot of polish.

A real sequel to yooka laylee: Yay!
Tencent getting a minority stake: Boooo!!!

But you know the drill by now: If you don't want Tencent in your games, stop playing games! Same goes for other pieces of media too, like movies. We just have to roll with it, or ditch it!

I don't wanna be a downer, but that kind of growth can't be sustainable based on the games they've released and their reception. Happy for a sequel because I enjoyed my time with the first.

I see Tencent absorbing every company out there again huh.

@GrailUK They did give a lot of respect to the Switch version to the point of remaking many assets specifically for it to make it work smoothly rather than just lowering resolutions. Impossible Lair was made with Switch as the lead platform then ported to other consoles, not really sure what else they could do to make sure Switch owners get a good experience

@larryisaman I remember it being heavily delayed on Switch, but they came good in the end. I just hope they don't start looking at next gen as their starting point.

A sequel to Yooka-Laylee? Sign me up!

I was a bit disenchanted by Yooka-Laylee when it came out. It felt like an indie team (which it was) trying to recapture the magic of one of the best 3D platformers ever made (which it was) and just fell short with a game that was structurally sound, but still didn't feel organic at all. Now, I'm hoping for the best with this sequel. I will be keeping an eye on it because I adore 3D platforming games as a genre and if they can shake off the fledgling controls of the original and make something that truly plays as good as it looks, I will be very happy indeed.

Also, get JonTron back on this thing. He was unfairly removed from the original game and he deserves to return.

YYYYAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!! So happy to hear we are getting a sequel to 'Yooka Laylee.' The first game wasn't as good as the old 'Banjo Kazooie' games or 'Conker's Bad Fur Day' and 'Donkey Kong 64' but I still enjoyed the game nonetheless and was hoping we would get a sequel one day. Three things I am hoping for in the sequel. 1) More levels. The first game didn't have many levels and I think that was partly 'cause they decided to expand the existing levels when you got more pagies but I would like to see more levels this time over expansions. 2) A beach level. A beach level was one of the level types I felt was missing that I always like playing in games and I would love to see something similar to Treasure Trove Cove. A Carnival or Amusement Park type of level could be fun too. 3) More moves. Kinda like 'Banjo Tooie' expanded on the moves from 'Banjo Kazooie' I would like to see the same thing.

Thanks for sharing this news. My Niece and I are thrilled. As somebody who loved playing the old 3D platformer games I am glad to see they are making a comeback in recent years and I have been able to enjoy them again with my Niece who loves them too.

@YoshiTails It was NOT an "atrocity".

Wow, how could I miss this news? I'm super excited. I love Yooka Laylee, I don't understand the hate it gets. It's up there with Banjo Kazooie and Mario 64 to me. Not quite at the same level, but I had a blast playing it.

I have yet to play Impossible Lair, but I'm not too hyper since there are tons of great indie 2D platform games. But good 3D ones? Not so much. Even if it's changing these years.

I'm glad that Playtonic is developing a sequels, I love the first game, but there's lot of room for improvement.

Yooka laylee 1 was amazing.. imposible air sucked i don’t even finish it.

We still have not heard anything about this game and with other studios struggling under tencent ownership I worry about this studios future.