Yooka-Laylee on Switch - first impressions (by first-timers!)

[Rueckkoppler]

Soo what do you guys think so far of the game? I started yesterday night and I must say that I'm overall very happy with what I've got. It runs very smooth, looks and sounds great (yes, I turned down the voices by 50%, but it's nice that way now)!

Yes, it isn't as fastly rewarding and polished as a game like Mario Odyssey, but as a indie game, I really like it. Especially since it's basically a love letter to B-K. I plan on not expanding anything till I reach the final boss, which was a suggestion on these forums when the game released. Also, manual camera mode all the way! I don't want the game to decide which path I take and turn the camera around to that path, so this is another big suggestion.

And man, does it look great on handheld mode! 630p, but it doesn't really matter on that screen. All hud things are crisp & clean and seem to be in 720p (handheld) / 1080p (docked), which brings back vibes from the XBLA remakes of Banjo-Kazooie & Banjo-Tooie.

I'm early in (Glitterglace Glacier) and heard some rather bad things about later worlds (and the game structure itself) and I already see what people mean. Playtonic needs to take inspiration of the most recent, big mainline 3D Mario once again and streamline / flesh out a lot of things (and make the worlds smaller, but more dense). Yes, that's not the AAA polished Banjo-Threeie we wanted, but I hope they takes measures to come much closer to this with their next project. There needs to be a revolution for the formula, definitely.

Xellos suggestions are really something I'd like Playtonic to at least consider / think about: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5554&start=20#p34764

Still I'm seeing how I like the game eventually, there's still much to do.

What are your impressions so far?

[Lienk]

I also just started to play the game on Switch for the first time and wow what a gorgeous game!! The gameplay feels very good, it’s so fun to run, jump and swim! The environments and animations look wonderful. Just standing still and looking around at the colourful world, while listening to the beautiful music is a joy!

I’m going to have a real good time with this game! And nicely in time for the holidays! Well done Playtonic!

[baker_boy0017]

That's interesting you've been warned about later worlds, because I saw lots of people appreciating those ones more, particularly worlds 3 and 5. But I think the overall world design is OK. Not great, but not terrible. Definitely a place Playtonic will improve on moving forward.

I'm glad to hear you are enjoying it! I was actually going to start a thread asking first-timers what their impressions were, if the game managed to live up to the hype/wait that the Switch version had.


P.S. Be glad you didn't experience the original Rextro games... so help me I hated some of those. Particularly world 4's... the controls wouldn't always work for me

[Rueckkoppler]

Yeah Rextro's games weren't all that terrible, I would even say I had fun while playing them (and a second time to beat the highscore). The levels do feel empty in a way, although there's some beautiful atmosphere in many of them. The graphics and the music are really stunning if you think that this is an indie game. Only place where it doesn't look too nice are shadowy places, but just the second world and the inside of the castle is really stunning!

[shockthetoast]

[Rueckkoppler]

Yeah checkpoints would've definitely helped. In many regards more polish would've been great.

What I personally would wish for is way more sounds / effects in the game. For example, when choosing between Yes and No, the game should highlight your choice & play a sound once you did your choice. Also when your rolling around, it's a bit weird that you don't hear sounds according to the materials you're rolling on. When rolling through some water (in world 5 for example), you don't hear that you're rolling through water, neither do you see a trace. Also, there's just no jumping sound for Reptile Roll. That makes the game feel a bit stiff.

Sound is lacking in many regards when I think about it. I don't like the fanfares when you completed a task, they sound very thin and cheap and not satisfying at all. Same goes also for the fighting sounds, they aren't as satisfying as they could be. In one video review, a guy compared them to killing these green Monsters (that came through the wall in Clanker's Cavern) in Banjo-Kazooie with the Rat-Ta-Tat move. That's a thing you could do all day long, since it feels and sounds so satisfying.

I hope with a bigger team, Playtonic can help this one guy (it was apparently only one guy who was responsible) out in the sound department and make everything more fleshed out. Many cons of this game can be related to the game being too ambitious for an indie team if it wants to be very polished too.

I don't have that many problems with the camera though. And even the controls are alright by me. 1st person aiming could be faster, yes. But apart from that, I get along with them pretty well.

[shockthetoast]

[baker_boy0017]

Oh gawl I hate the first person aiming! I was so badly hoping for gyro controls on Switch... alas, no

It's been said plenty of times: Yooka-Laylee came out too soon. They should have spent several more months polishing the game up - and that's without considering the terrible condition the other console games launched in too. But, for their first kickstarted game, I think Yooka-Laylee ended up pretty well. I've said before that I've played this game 5+ times now, but I can't even fully bring myself to finish Mario Odyssey 100%. That isn't to say Odyssey is bad by any measure, just that something about Yooka-Laylee REALLY clicks with me, despite it's many flaws.

[ShanPen]

I'm still slowly playing my way through the game for the first time. I got to Moodymaze Marsh today and I love the music in that level! I love the Tribalstack Tropics music too but because we heard it so much during the Kickstarter campaign it wasn't a surprise when I actually played the game the way Moodymaze Marsh's music was. The Glitterglaze Glacier music is nice too and suits the level well, but I really like the 1st and 3rd level music.

I'm really enjoying the game, don't really have any complaints except for one small thing that would make fighting the bosses less tedious if you die - it would have been nice if you were given the option to skip the dialogue scene before the boss if you've already gone through it once, so that when you die you don't have to go through it all again before re-attempting the fight. A lot of games seem to have that option, so I was surprised that wasn't the case in Yooka-Laylee. And the only other tiny complaint, although I don't know if it counts because it could be a glitch - is having to always pause the game to see how many butterflies I have, because the butterfly meter doesn't seem to always show when I take damage or eat a butterfly, so I never reliably know how many butterflies I have. But those are just two minor things, overall I'm loving the game!

Also I keep coming across the name "Penny" in the game (graffiti on the rafters of Yooka-Laylee's ship, the green letters in Hivory Towers spelling it out, the high score name in Rextro's arcade machines), so I wonder if this has some significance to the story that I'll find out later, or if it's just that someone at Playtonic Games has a special someone called Penny (partner, daughter, mother, pet, friend etc? Or maybe a Kickstarter backer who gave them a huge donation?) so they wanted to put their name into the game.

[baker_boy0017]

[ShanPen]

[NPChilla]

First thing I did was play on the multiplayer games with my girlfriend, she was as taken with them as I was. Especially the one with the ice platforms that disappear.

I've only just started the main mode, I'm already seeing Capital B as a baddy with figurative legs...

[ShanPen]

[Exaskryz]

[baker_boy0017]

[ShanPen]

[baker_boy0017]

[ShanPen]

[baker_boy0017]

I actually found the Kartos challenges to be fine. Kind of fun, although I'm DEFINITELY in the minority: lots of people I've heard from hated those challenges. I never thought about the variable-speed element: that totally may be why! The thing with this game is I feel like a lot of the haters cannot actually pinpoint what elements are frustrating, so hearing you mention that speed is nice. I am also a humongous DKC fan, and liked/loved the mine cart levels there, depending on the game and level in question. I utterly HATED the DK64 minecart levels, and am glad that - for me at least - Yooka Laylee was loads better. Although I think DKC Tropical Freeze takes the cake in best mine cart level design: they ought to just copy those ideas for the next Yooka Laylee.

World 4's mine cart challenge is undoubtedly the hardest. I've played the game multiple times now, and it consistently takes me multiple tries to get that one. Others I can usually beat in one go by this point, but world 4 is just... ugh LOL.

You know, there was a lot for me to hate in world 4. Especially when I had one last blasted token left. I strongly encourage you guys to use the Hunter tonic on World 4 if you're in a similar boat!

[rocho]

Im loving this game till now, only 13 pagies left for me.

As constructive criticism I can point that I wish some sounds coukd be updated. Like the sound when you pass a ring or when you complete a task, its more like a "Charge" melody than an accomplish one(That trumpet is a bit annoying).

Why not apply a Ukulele melody instead??


The second thing I think the game can improve is Characters! I love all the designs so far and you can definitely see the pedigree of the designers here. They are sooooo good I think is a shame ther the variety is so limited.

I mean don't get me wrong I love the snowmans *SPOILER ALERT* And I think the hats helped them as the mission has to do with it but the Snow World really has some lost potential as characters go.

And by all means Keith (the blue minion) represents 2 characters in the game just by adding a hat to it... the casino machines and the frogs in world 5 (battle toads reference maybe).

I know time, money and effort have a lot to do with it but I wish there were different characters instead of copy pasting a basic one.


Over all the game is awesome, the writing is funny, the music is amazing, the quizes got me at some points in unexpected questions and the feeling over all is a compelling experience.


I can say the game is all I expected from Playtonic I feel pleased with it and I'm a proud backer. I know that with the right engine and time they can surpass our expectations. The pedigree is there, the minds and talents are there and I cant wait to see and support the next project!

Big shout out to Playtonic for helping us fans go back to experience this sensation all over again!