Starring the charismatic new heroes Yooka and Laylee, Yooka-Laylee uses an arsenal of special moves like Yooka’s tongue grapple and Laylee’s sonar blast, letting players explore – and expand – gorgeous 3D worlds filled with collectibles and secrets to discover. During their adventures Yooka and Laylee will complete challenges to unlock and collect Pagies. These golden collectibles are the main currency in the game, used not only to unlock new worlds but expand them too.
The project will feature worlds crafted by the artists behind the genre’s most beloved classics, plus a dream soundtrack created in collaboration with legendary composers David Wise (Donkey Kong Country series), Steve Burke (Kameo: Elements of Power) and Grant Kirkhope (Banjo-Kazooie series)
The partnership will allow Playtonic to build on its successful Kickstarter campaign with additional resources designed to benefit development and add value to both existing Kickstarter backers and new fans.
Gavin Price, Creative Lead at Playtonic commented, “From the very start we said that we'd welcome only a partner that could genuinely improve the creation of our game, while respecting the independence and creative autonomy of our development team. Team17’s 25-year industry-leading expertise will significantly benefit Yooka-Laylee in a myriad of ways, not least in expanded localisation, improved QA testing, certification and access to vastly better resources for our team. Working alongside such a strong partner will allow the Playtonic team to focus 100% of our efforts on building the best possible version of Yooka-Laylee for backers and new fans alike.”
Debbie Bestwick, Team17’s Managing Director added, “We have deep respect for the team at Playtonic. They have a very rich heritage and have worked on titles close to the heart of a lot of our team here. We’ve been following their Kickstarter campaign with interest and are delighted to welcome them onto our label and into the Team17 family. I can’t wait to start working together on this great game and hope this is the start of a long term partnership between Team17 and Playtonic.”
Key Features:
- Heroes Built for Fun: Our new buddy-duo were dreamed up specifically for entertaining platforming gameplay and exceptional colour coordination. We think we've captured the spirit of our past heroes while introducing our most inventive moves yet.
- An Arsenal of Abilities: Sonar blasting, tongue whipping, sky soaring… a move roster built for platforming fun – and unlocked with added freedom. Additionally, there may or may not be a move involving a giant fart bubble.
- A Dream Soundtrack: David Wise (Donkey Kong Country) and Grant Kirkhope (Banjo-Kazooie) combine in what's sure to be a melodic masterpiece! Seriously, clean out your ears - they're in for a treat.
- Collect-em-up 2.0: A roster of shiny collectibles with gameplay progression at their core (as well as other, more valuable materials). Every collectible type in our new game will expand gameplay in a meaningful way. Yes, we employ the man responsible for DK64's myriad of trinkets, but we've had a stern word. Our main collectible, Pagies, are used to unlock and expand new worlds in Yooka-Laylee.
- Expandable Worlds: Experience more of the playgrounds you love by spending collectibles to expand your favourites into bigger, more challenging worlds.
- A Cast to Last: A huge cast of memorable characters to meet (or beat) brought to life by the art and audio teams behind Banjo-Kazooie and destined to endure in future games as part of Playtonic Universe. Expect all manner of grunts, squeaks and squawks.
- Introducing Play Tonics: Discover these unique gameplay modifiers and use them to customise gameplay to suit your style. Will you run faster, hit harder or fly further? Also, are they named after our studio or vice versa? We'll never know.
- Arcade machines: Each world hides at least one secret arcade game encasing old-school gaming goodness. Complete its retro-tastic challenge to claim your Pagie!
Playtonic was formed in 2014 by veterans of Rare Ltd, including Steve Mayles, creator of the beloved Banjo and Kazooie characters, and Chris Sutherland, the software engineer responsible for more than two decades of iconic games. Between them, the seven-person Playtonic team has over 100 years of combined experience working on blockbuster franchises.
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