Yooka-Replaylee Review

The Nintendo 64 was the console that first got me thoroughly hooked on video games, and the rest was history from there. While I feel like I was into a pretty impressive range of genres back then, even for a five-year-old, the platformer quickly became my thing.

Of course, this meant that my favorite games at the time were things like Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, and even the unsung and criminally underrated, wacky titles like Glover. If I can hop around from Point A to Point B, fight some cool enemies, and collect some things along the way, I’ve pretty much always been in.

That extends to this day. When a great new platformer is released, I’m champing at the bit to go hands-on with it. 2017’s Yooka-Laylee, the spiritual successor to Rare’s Banjo-Kazooie seemed primed to be one of my next obsessions. Then, it released, and it was… fine. I’ll still contend to this day that it was better than many thought, but I can also admit it was closer to average than a classic, too.

All of this is why I was so curious to demo Yooka-Replaylee in Las Vegas back in April to see if this ground-up remake could finally bring justice to the IP. My initial impressions were positive, but I still hadn’t seen enough to truly be all-in. Fool me once, and all that.

Friends, now with Yooka-Replaylee’s full release here, I am genuinely so thrilled to tell you that I think the game is amazing. Not only has it improved on the 2017 title, but it’s also one of the best collect-a-thon games I’ve ever played. Let me tell you all about it.

New And Improved In Every Possible Regard

Whether you’re a defender of the 2017 game or are someone that felt ultimately disappointed by the experience for one reason or another, Yooka-Replaylee is going to be a treat for you. Every possible critique or shortcoming has been addressed, and the game is improved and iterated upon in so many more ways than I could’ve even predicted.

The visuals are the most obvious, as the game is simply stunning 100% of the time. Every single character design and world has been reworked, now challenging games like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart as the best looking, 3D, cartoony option on the market. Laylee’s purple fur looks so plush. The wear and tear around Hivory Towers is apparent. Capital B’s clothes have little tears. Everything looks insanely good.

The same soundtrack is back, but this time, it’s performed by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. It’s a clear standout, and I already want a copy on vinyl to spin endlessly on my record player. The polish level of the presentation is sky-high, causing Yooka-Replaylee to feel like a truly premium experience from start to finish.

But it’s not just the presentation that’s been reworked. The story is now more cohesive and fun. Some specific lines from the OG game have returned (in classic Banjo-style gibberish chatter), but there’s a ton that’s been added and changed, too. The camera control has been massively improved. There are new characters. Power-Ups are all unlocked from the very start of the game. Movement is as smooth as butter.

But the list goes on. There are new activities, additional and relocated collectibles, 104 cosmetic items to unlock, quality of life improvements to track your progress, 35 tonics to modify gameplay, the implementation of fast-travel, and truly, even more.

This is not your average remake/remaster. The team at Playtonic told me earlier this year that they were addressing every possible thing they could in comparison to the 2017 game, and the effort I can now see after playing all of Replaylee is actually staggering. They clearly love this IP, and I think many more of you are going to love it now, too. I know I do.

I did experience infrequent, but still noticeable frame drops when the on-screen action got a little hectic for my base PS5. Yooka also got stuck on a doorway or two, and I froze and had to restart once. I want to stress that these were very minor issues that didn’t take away from my personal experience or enjoyment whatsoever, but this is a review, after all.

Five Beautiful Biomes With A Great Hub World

If you played the original, you will already know the five levels that you’ll experience in Yooka-Replaylee. From the opening world of Tribalstack Tropics, to the magic of Glitterglaze Glacier, and the corporate greed-filled Capital Cashino, the gang’s all here once again. On the surface, I can understand if someone was initially bummed to learn it’s the same areas once again.

But believe me, they are going to feel brand new to experience regardless. Yes, a lot of the general layouts will still seem familiar, but the fact that all five biomes look so much prettier and have so much more packed inside of them means you’re going to have a fresh and new-feeling playthrough here regardless.

I do have my favorites. I could tell you right now that Galleon Galaxy and Capital Cashino are the two standouts for me overall. But at the same time, all five levels are excellent. I also really loved that it felt like the two best were saved for last. Again, don’t get it twisted. I loved the initial three biomes too. Still, capping the game off with the best content available keeps the momentum strong from start to finish.

A criminally underrated part of a 3D platformer is the hub world, and Replaylee has one of my new favorites ever. Not since Gruntilda’s Lair in Banjo-Kazooie have I experienced a hub so fleshed out and filled with its own collection of secrets, activities, and challenges.

Throughout the game, you’re collecting Pagies to progress (think Jiggies in Banjo or Power Stars in Mario). The hub world in Replaylee has fifty of its own Pagies to discover, which really drives home that these areas were thought of more as an entire additional level as opposed to a simple means of connecting World 1 to Worlds 2, 3, 4, and 5.

There’s just something special about every single location you’ll experience here, and I can already tell you that this is a series of levels I’m planning on playing through time and time again for a long, long time.

Thousands Of Things To Collect

Let’s talk collectibles, because that’s what many of you will ultimately come to a game like Yooka-Replaylee for. You’re going to have a lot to keep yourself busy with. It’s not an exaggeration to say that you’ll have well over 1,000 things to grab if you want to get 100% completion here.

Allow me to break it all down. You’ll be able to collect: 300 Pagies, 750 Quills, 40 Pagie Pieces, 25 Ghost Writers, 5 Pirate Treasures, 5 Rextro Tokens, 5 Mollycools, 104 Cosmetics, and 35 Tonics. Of course, a lot of these names will look like nonsense to some of you right now, but just know… there’s a lot.

The most important are the Pagies, since those are your main collectibles needed to unlock more levels and ultimately challenge the final boss. Of the 300, you only actually need to grab 125 in order to beat the game and roll credits. This might still sound like a lot, but I promise, it’s a super manageable amount if you’re someone that isn’t incredibly interested in doing everything here.

If you do feel overwhelmed by these collectible totals, worry not. The Pagies are placed everywhere with the care of a Mario Odyssey and give you a nice serotonin hit whenever you earn one. The Quills are now positioned like Odyssey’s purple coins, and you’ll feel rewarded constantly by finding them as you explore every inch of the map.

For most of your efforts, things will be located in places that either make sense once you get to them (as well hidden as they may be), or you’ll stumble upon them naturally anyway. I’ve collected everything over my twenty hours with the game, aside from two lone Pagie Pieces that are keeping me from a full 100%. I’m losing sleep over them, but they will be mine… someday (someone write a guide, stat).

Replaylee hits the perfect mix of giving you a ton to do, but only if you really want to. I’m a completionist with this genre, so I got entirely sucked in. But no matter what, your experience here is going to be positive, and seeing your collectible totals go up and up feels so nice with each and every increased number.

So Much Room For Activities

“Cool, so you’re collecting little trinkets. Neat. What else does the game have for me?” I’m so glad you asked, Mr. Hardtoimpress. On your journey to collect Pagies (and everything else), Yooka-Replaylee’s levels give you activities and challenges out the wazoo.

There are mini-games, races, mazes, platforming challenges, boss fights, combat arenas, stealth missions, memory games, slot machines, golf, roulette, timed red and green coin collection challenges, first-person shooting sequences, quiz shows, isometric caverns, side-scrolling sections, Crazy Taxi-style drop-offs with a helicopter, item retrievals, environmental puzzles, and (would you believe it) more.

It’s a staggering collection of things to do in addition to just hopping around and grabbing Pagies on the path of least resistance. Oh, and the transformations are back too, allowing you to be morphed into a snow plow, helicopter, school of fish (and more) in order to help you unlock everything within a given level as well.

If this somehow wasn’t already enough (you greedy gamer, you), allow me to introduce Rextro’s Arcade Cabinet, which is an entire set of eight original retro-inspired levels to complete and earn more Pagies from. Playtonic heard you liked games, so they put a game within your game so that you can continue playing more games while you game.

These challenges aren’t ever too difficult, but they are awesome, and add such an unnecessary but amazing level of charm to a game like Replaylee that was already bursting at the seams with it. I truly would take a whole entire Rextro standalone title if Playtonic is ever keen on it (throwing it out there).

I can’t help but walkaway endlessly impressed at just how much is contained within Replaylee. If you’re like me, you’re going to track down every single Pagie on your tracker map (another wonderful new addition) just to see everything that the game wants to show you.

Approachable Fun For Everyone

There’s a lot to manage in Yooka-Replaylee on paper, and even the fact that all nine of your special abilities are unlocked from the get-go this time around could feel additionally excessive to take in all at once. Or, maybe you’re a parent, and you’re wondering if everything here will be too much for your kiddo to handle.

But the fact is, Replaylee isn’t that challenging of a game, and the lenience of only requiring 125 of the 300 total Pagies to roll credits proves this point as well. If you can play a standard Mario, you can manage this game too. I mean, shoot. A couple of the bosses might have some particularly tricky AOEs for the most novice of players to handle, but the only mandatory fight in the game is actually just the end boss.

Aside from that, you’re completely free to explore the game at your own pace, collect Pagies in any way that you see fit, and progress whenever you do hit the required Pagie threshold to get to the next area. The pressure is low, and I don’t expect many people will struggle to at least arrive at the endgame.

Of course, if you’re looking for a more challenging platforming experience, maybe this is bad news. I’ll admit too, as someone that’s proficient at these games, I didn’t always feel like I was being asked to do anything that was particularly difficult. But at the end of the day, I never, ever stopped having fun, and that’s the most important thing to keep in mind here.

Replayee isn’t going to ever lead to any broken controllers, but I dare you to try to play it and keep a smile off of your face. I’m a gamer that’s Platinumed several FromSoftware titles, but I’m also still one that will be the first to tell you that the Platinum trophy for Yooka-Replaylee was one of my favorites in recent memory.

This is the type of game I feel like I could continue gushing about forever. If you’re one of my close friends, colleagues, or loved ones, I apologize in advance for how much I’m going to badger you to play this title. I’ve already decided I’m buying it for my nephews for Christmas, but you shouldn’t wait till December to jump in yourself.

Yooka-Replaylee feels like one of the best Nintendo 64-era collect-a-thons ever, but with every bit of shine, polish, and refinement that a 2025 release allows. Each level and character design is gorgeous, the orchestral soundtrack is incredible, and there’s a ridiculous amount of activities and challenges jam-packed into every single nook and cranny of the game. The whole thing handles as smooth as butter and is a top-tier platformer experience that’s oozing with heart, charm, joy, fun, and humor. My hat is truly off to Playtonic for taking the foundation of their 2017 title and improving upon it tenfold in every conceivable way. This is a banger.

Released

October 9, 2025

ESRB

Everyone 10+ // Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Crude Humor

Publisher(s)

Playtonic Friends

Engine

Unity

Pros & Cons

• Buttery smooth platforming controls paired with pristine visuals and an incredible soundtrack
• So much charm, heart, and humor present throughout
• An insane number of activities, challenges, and great collectibles
• A wonderful Platinum trophy experience
• Frequent gameplay and perspective switchups to keep everything fresh
• Five jam-packed, awesome levels with a stellar hub world

• Very infrequent, but occasional performance dips
• Not a lot of challenge overall, even when 100%-ing