Yooka-Laylee: new characters and details revealed

20 May 2016 Lite_Agent Playtonic Games, Yooka-Laylee

It’s been quite a while since we last heard about Yooka-Laylee, and there’s a good reason for that. The last time Playtonic talked about the game, they said that “‘The next time you see Yooka-Laylee, we want it to look representative of the final target we’re shooting for.” And it looks the time has finally come for Yooka-Laylee to be shown to the world!

They explain that Yooka-Laylee will feature an “all-new cast of characters from the Playtonic Universe, a deep story to discover, a roster of irresistibly shiny collectibles to seek out and huge, stunning worlds to explore.”

Of course, the team has come a long way since the Kickstarter ended: the team has tripled in size, and even moved office. And what they showed today is only the beginning: there will be even more in the upcoming weeks.

Here’s a “planning” of some sort:

article in Edge Magazine, on May 26
reports on YouTube and other video platforms soon after
E3 2016.

But if you’re expecting Playtonic Games to reveal the release date, you’re going to be disappointed. The team is working hard to complete the game and are aiming for the same release window as the one penned last year. But naturally, they will not release the game until it’s ready and at the quality fans are expecting.

Head after the break for the rest of this post!

A corporate conundrum…

In Yooka-Laylee, the buddy-duo are trying to get magical Pagies, which are required to explore the mysterious Grand Tomes. The reason they want to do this is because they need to stop the evil schemes of Capital B. What’s wrong with Capital B? A lot. But first and foremost, he wants to absorb all of the world’s literature and convert everything into profits.

Playtonic Games talk a bit about their ambition, which is to “create a story and cast of characters that will live on as part of future Playtonic Games”. They also promise “plenty of secrets, back stories and punch lines”.

Collect-Em-Up 2.0

Yooka-Laylee will have a ton of collectibles (in true former-RARE-developers fashion), with gameplay progression at their core. Here’s some examples:

Tasty Butterfly Energy: refill your health and your (brand new) power meter. That power met was designed to “empower fun and challenging platforming gameplay while avoiding the all-too-occasional tedium of resource management”;
Pagie: they’re required to unlock and expand the magical Grand Tomes, which are held captive in Hivory Tower;
Quills: they’re used to purchase and unlock moves from Trowzer (the serpent salesman). You can do so in virtually any order, which is something the developed chose to do in order to “empower player choice”. It let players “expand and make larger the worlds” they have already explored. There’s also the Tonic gameplay modifiers, which can be used to customise your play style.

A Cast to Last

Next, Playtonic Games reveal new characters:

Dr. Quack: a fowl wearing an exosuit, who’s making the best of a bad situation under the rule of Capital B. After the ruthless takeover of his Quack Corp organisation, he’s started to create various inventions to satisfy the demands of his new boss and of the shareholders. He used to be much less unpleasant.
Dr. Puzz: she used to be Dr Quack’s sweet, naive prodigy. When Capital B took over Quack Corp, she immediately left (taking her own inventions with her). She was designed by Ed Bryan. She’s the one who created the “wild and wonderful” transformations to be found in the game (something Playtonic Games will talk about in the near future).

Open the Toybox

Finally, Playtonic Games talk a bit about the Toybox (a “demo” for Kickstarter backers). They explain that the reason it has taken so long for them to release is because “plans for the Toybox have expanded beyond the web-based, single-room play thing” they had originally planned.

For those who don’t know, that Toybox is a “self-contained, spoiler-free sandbox designed to give Yooka-Laylee backers a taste of the platforming to come in the final game.There are plenty moves to try, custom-built props to play with, secrets to discover and yes, shiny collectibles to hunt out.”.

Finally, here’s some pictures for Yooka-Laylee: