Yooka-Laylee: the spirtual successor to Banjo-Kazooie takes shape

Donkey Kong Country, Banjo-Kazooie, GoldenEye, Perfect Dark and Conker’s Fur Day – all titles previously created by the now partially disbanded Rare development studio. Well known over the years for its work tied closely with major game companies like Microsoft and most notably Nintendo, former members of the team have now branched off to form their own studio known as Playtonic Games. First on the agenda for the newly formed development team, Yooka-Laylee, a brand new adventure platformer heavily inspired by the N64 classic, Banjo-Kazooie.

Head below for some gameplay footage and platform/release details:

The entire game, from the design of the characters, to the way they interact with each other and the game world is very much inspired by Banjo-Kazooie. Yooka, “the green bloke with no pants” and his “wisecracking lady-bat” friend work together to take out baddies and traverse through more than 5 brightly colored game worlds.

In what should feel familiar to Banjo-Kazooie fans, the new duo also have an arsenal of abilities specific to them like Laylee’s sonar blasting and sky soaring, as well as Yooka’s rolling ability and tongue whipping. You can see some examples in the brief gameplay clips below.

The game will be scored by “three of gaming’s greatest composers, the legendary David Wise (Donkey Kong Country, Diddy Kong Racing), equally esteemed Banjo-Kazooie composer Grant Kirkhope (Viva Piñata, GoldenEye 007) and Banjo sound effects supremo Steve Burke (Kameo: Elements of Power).

The game has already eclipsed its now seemingly tiny £175,000 Kickstarter goal, having raised nearly one and a half million pounds with 39 days to go still. Unlike most of Rare’s work over the years, Yooka and Laylee wont be tied down to any one platform and is planned to appear on Windows, Mac, Linux, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Wii U. While release dates depend on how much money the team actually raises, at this point it has already hit all of its stretch goals but one.

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