The remake vs. remaster debate has been going on for ages, but the developers behind Rayman Legends Retold decided that the correct answer is, "Why not both?" An update to the 2013 game (originally released on the PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox 360, and even the PlayStation Vita), Rayman Legends Retold brings the game into a modern engine with 3D visuals while also adding new levels to explore and a new villain to fight.

Ubisoft Montpellier was the original developer behind Rayman Legends, but for Rayman Legends Retold, the Montpellier studio teamed up with Ubisoft Milan. The development wasn't just one studio guiding another; it was a full collaboration. For example, characters were designed and modeled in Montpellier while Milan handled the rigging and animation. The Milan studio was responsible for creating the scripts, while voice recording and direction were done in Montpellier. This sort of back and forth between the two studios ran for the length of development.

The original version of Rayman Legends ran on the UbiArt Framework, which was initially designed so artists and animators could create playable games. It was primarily used on Rayman games and the Just Dance games. The final UbiArt game was Just Dance 2022.

Rayman Legends Retold is powered by the Snowdrop engine, which is Ubisoft's default engine for all of its AAA games. The Division was the first game powered by Snowdrop, with recent releases including Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Star Wars Outlaws. It's quite a jump in technical power for a traditional platform game, but the move to 3D also enables some fun new gameplay elements.

The most obvious change is that Rayman Legends Retold now has a real-world map linking the various levels. Whereas the original game offered up a simple gallery for players to navigate and pick their levels, Rayment Legends Retold has hub worlds linking the individual levels. While not everything was enabled for the preview, a little poking around made it obvious that there are some new secrets to explore in these new areas. In the larger scheme of things, it's a small update, but it helps make Rayman Legends Retold feel like a modern release instead of a budget re-release.

Playing through the first few levels of the game was more or less identical to the original release from a gameplay perspective, but it was absolutely lush from a visual perspective. Rayman Legends may not have needed the power of the Snowdrop engine for the platforming levels, but the visual design team decided to put that additional power to good use. The increase in detail is especially obvious when comparing the new game to the original, side by side. While the original doesn't look bad, it really is a night-and-day difference when looking at the same scene in both games.

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One of the new features in Rayman Legends Retold is the ability to ride a dragon when you move to a new hub area. These dragon levels are basically on-rails shooters (think Panzer Dragoon but Rayman style) that require you to blast away at enemies and obstacles in order to reach the next area. Surviving the trip is easy enough, but a perfect run will likely take some practice.

The dragon riding levels mix things up with different views (behind the dragon vs. a sideways view) and requires the use of two different shots (a basic shot and a charge shot). These aren't just filler levels. They're fully realized shooter levels that happen to be in a Rayman game. For those of you asking why shooter levels are in a platformer, Rayman has never been limited by strict genre constraints. Anyone who has played the original remembers the music levels, which were there simply because they were fun. The same is true for the dragon shooter levels. They're fun, so why not have them?

As for the music levels, they were not playable in the demo, but Ubisoft assured us that they are returning in Rayman Legends Retold. Ubisoft did say that the music levels will feature popular new tracks, so I'm guessing that the original licensed music may not be present for the remake. Given Ubisoft's experience with music licensing, whatever they choose will likely be on point.

The music levels aren't the only part of Rayman Legends Retold with a focus on audio. The four heroes, their main allies, the Bubble Dreamer, certain enemies and the brand-new villain are all fully voiced and localized in eight different languages. Sound effects have been updated and atmospheric ambiance added throughout. Nearly an hour of new music has been added to the score, with Christophe Heral returning and Grant Kirkhope (the composer behind Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64) joining him.

There is the new world, the Land of the Living Dead. This was not playable during the demo, but we're told it contains five new levels and adds a new hero ability: the power of light. The Land of the Living Dead is also where you'll face off against the new final villain of the game. You'll see hints of the new world in earlier levels, as corruption from the Land of the Living Dead starts to spread through the environment.

While you can play Rayman Legends Retold as a solo adventure, Ubisoft said the game supports up to four player co-op, which makes it ideal for families who want to game together. Speaking of multiplayer, Kung Foot (the soccer-inspired arcade minigame) is back as Kung Foot Evo.

It's not uncommon for remasters and remakes to hew closely to the original experience, so it's nice to see Ubisoft both updating and adding a substantial amount of new content to the game with Rayman Legends Retold. Players new to the franchise will get to experience some excellent platforming, while veteran players will see familiar levels with new eyes and encounter a whole new set of challenges.