Or grab refunds
The golden days of Rareware may be gone, but their memories will forever live on. Soon, the spiritual successor to the Banjo-Kazooie games, Yooka-Laylee, will be hitting digital storefronts. Announced today via Kickstarter and the official website, Yooka-Laylee has gone gold and the discs are being sent out for production. The final release date for the game will be April 11, just one day before my birthday.
The game will initially launch on PC, PS4 and Xbox One with a Switch port coming at some undisclosed time. While Wii U was originally in the cards, that version was cancelled due to “unforeseen consequences.” If you happened to fund the Kickstarter and opted for the Wii U port, you now have a few options for recourse.
For one, you can request a full refund of your contribution. You can also change your copy of the game over to any of the other digital versions for no extra charge (along with getting the Toybox Plus DLC on PC) or upgrade to the physical console release (PS4 and Xbox One only) for £20 more. A little confusing, but at least there are options.
I’m not sure if Yooka-Laylee is for me. While I loved the Banjo games as a kid, going back to them when Rare released the 360 ports revealed how much I disliked early 3D platformers. Super Mario 64 got around almost all of its flaws by shifting focus away from timed challenges and honing in on pure platforming. Games after that centered too much on collecting random objects, relegating all challenge to simply poking your nose in every nook and cranny.
Still, I can see why people are so excited for this game. Even I would love if Rare would return to some of their classic franchises, but I don’t think Microsoft has that in mind for the company. If the best we can get is some original team members and mega fans working on a spiritual follow-up, I’ll take it.
Going Gold [Playtronic]
