Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair review round-up

See what critics think of Playtonic’s sequel

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair reviews have started to go live ahead of the game’s release next week.

The follow-up to the studio’s debut game, 2017’s Yooka-Laylee, Impossible Lair is billed as a “platforming adventure hybrid” for Switch, Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

It features 40 levels in total, including alternate versions, with secrets and puzzles found throughout the title transforming the game world.

Read on to see what critics think of Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, which releases on October 8.

Physical editions are available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch at selected retailers globally.

Nintendo Life (9/10) – “Donkey Kong Country fans rejoice: this is the spiritual successor you’ve been waiting for… Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is a fantastic sophomore effort that pays tribute to Rare‘s past and establishes Playtonic as one of the UK’s most exciting studios.”
Destructoid (7/10) – “Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair neatly captures the essence of Yooka-Laylee and reimagines it as a new type of game. It’s a distillation and a simplification, but it’s effective. Then, as its grand finale — a necessary conclusion that looms over the whole game — it turns uncharacteristically punitive.”
Polygon (No score) – “Ultimately though, it’s a tribute act, knocking out the big hits with all the exuberance of true believers. I found myself playing the game in short bursts, enjoying its simple pleasures before drifting into mild boredom. This is the central problem with nostalgia. It offers so little that’s new.”
IGN (8.7/10) – “Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is an excellent 2D platformer full of surprises and delights for fans nostalgic for the glory days of the genre… this one sits in the top tier of platformers just below the likes of modern classics like Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.”
Push Square (7/10) – “A clear improvement on the original, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is a pleasant surprise. It struggles to balance difficulty, but the end result is a robust and compelling platformer.”
Xbox Achievements (8/10) – “After the first Yooka-Laylee, you could be forgiven for not being desperate for more, but Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is a more accomplished and markedly different game to its forebear. And it’s all the better for it.”
Vooks (4/5) – “If you can either appreciate a masochistic final challenge or are happy to simply not worry about it, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is an excellent platformer from a team of veterans showing they can still produce nostalgic experiences that stand up to the best of the modern era.”
PlayStation Universe (8.5/10) – “A much more inventive and thoughtful affair than the duo’s previous outing, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is the closest you’ll get to Donkey Kong Country on PS4 and you should embrace it with the accordant warmth.”
Gamereactor (8/10) – “It feels like a fully-fledged 2D game to go alongside the 3D platforming original, with the same level of personality and variety-packed in there. Perhaps steer clear of the Impossible Lair itself for a while though, as that’s perhaps the weakest element of this otherwise lovely game.”
God is a Geek (9.5/10) – “Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is one of the best 2D platformers available. If you’re looking for something filled with refined gameplay and fun levels, this is it.”