Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is nothing short of an excellent Donkey Kong Country styled 2D platformer with smooth and tight controls, accompanied with elegantly designed levels. On top of tons of secrets to find and the unique charming soundtracks of each level, this title is definitely one of the better modern 2D platformers.

• Tight, responsive and smooth controls
• You’ll have less maneuver abilities depending on whether you have Laylee with you or not
• All the levels have alternate states, some of them will be frozen, flooded, more enemies etc.
• You can access and complete the Impossible Lair (final level) whenever you want
• Elegant level design that allows you to speedrun through levels
• Secrets are cleverly hidden
• Overworld has loads of secrets and is made to feel like its own level
• Tonics can modify the game to make it more or less challenging
• Each level has its twist on the original soundtrack to fit the environment

• Sometimes when losing Laylee she’ll fly through objects you can’t get past or too high that you can’t reach
• Hardcore platform fans might find the game too easy till the final level
• The difficulty spikes from the final chapter to the Impossible Lair which definitely lives up to its name
• Sometimes you can’t see the platform below you that the game expects you to land on

• Occasionally, the conveyor belts won’t move you at all
• Thinking cloud stuck got on the screen
• When warping to chapter 10 you won’t be able to enter the level, have to walk out to the overworld and then back in

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair has a rather interesting concept allowing you to enter the Impossible Lair whenever you want, it’s entirely possible to complete the game within half an hour if you’re extremely good at platformers. However, it’s more than likely that you won’t put yourself through that torture and instead go through each chapter (level) to collect bees, these bees that you save will give you an additional hit point in the Impossible Lair to make it... A bit less impossible…

All of these chapters have elegantly designed levels that might start off very easy, but do eventually get slightly more difficult as you go on. There are tons of secrets along with 5 T.W.I.T coins in each chapter to collect which are mandatory to unlock Towzers’ paywalls which is literally a wall that you can’t bypass until you’ve paid the require T.W.I.T coins to unlock it. This might be slightly annoying to some people who don’t like going back to play previous levels to acquire previously missed T.W.I.T coins but they aren’t that difficult to find so it shouldn’t be much of a problem.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2223274587

These chapters also cater to both hardcore and casual fans of platformers, there are loads of checkpoints throughout each chapter and if you die a certain amount of times on a specific section then you’re given the option to bypass that section and skip to the next checkpoint. It’s rather nice for a game to try and make it easy enough for newcomers to pick up and play whilst also giving the hardcore players a tougher time. However, I feel like there needed to be more options for the hardcore fans as the only really difficult part of the game that I constantly struggled on was the Impossible Lair. You can equip tonics to make the game more challenging but there aren’t that many to increase its difficulty.

Each chapter that you access also has an alternative level based around the original one but with a different concept. You can access these levels by flooding the chapter, turning on the electricity, freezing the book etc. This then makes the original level modified to become a new level with different mechanics and a different route to take. These levels can be flipped, frozen over, flooded, turned into a vertical level etc. Even these alternative levels clearly have had a lot of time put into them since the level looks similar to the original but plays differently to how you’ve modified them.

As far as difficulty goes, the chapters steadily increase as you progress introducing new enemies with different moves. It’s rather clever how each level has its own unique mechanic to teach you since the Impossible Lair combines everything that you’ve come across into one very challenging level. As the title suggests, the final level (The Impossible Lair) definitely lives up to its name as the final chapter doesn’t even come close to how difficult The Impossible Lair is. Some people might find this spike in difficult rather frustrating since it can take multiple attempts to make it to the end, however the game does allow you to start at the beginning of the stage you got to with the number of bees you had at that point.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2223277266

A unique feature with this title is the fact that when you take a hit you’ll lose Laylee who flies about for a few seconds before completely leaving the screen. In this time, you’ll have a chance to collect Laylee again to regain that extra hit before dying. However, depending on whether you have Laylee with you or not will alter which moves you can do. For example, having Laylee you can twirl whilst in the air to get a little bit more air time and fall slightly slower, but without Laylee you won’t be able to twirl at all. Its a rather unique way of punishing the player and forces you to try and play more carefully so you have the upper hand and can use all these abilities to your advantage.

With only a limited amount of moves, it’s surprising how smooth and tight the controls are to make it feel satisfying and enjoyable to play through. Not only does every move you make feel smooth and satisfying to pull off even if it’s not difficult, but there’s also momentum that you carry with you that never feels off or weird since most of the levels feel like they were built around running through them without stopping. At the same time, if you wanted to take it slow at specific sections because they look overwhelming or you weren’t prepared then that’s completely fine too, the level design caters for both.

With 20 chapters each with their own alternative level its a surprise that the majority of them all have their own unique soundtracks. Since most of them have very different environments and atmospheres to them, each soundtrack compliments that environment that you're in extremely well. The music even changes slightly when you enter different areas in the level.

Each level has a lot of attention to detail put into them, even the backgrounds which you don't normally pay that much attention to has a lot more detail than is necessary. However, you can appreciate how each level looks drastically different from the others and the way that each alternative level also has it's own unique style. Everything in this game seems to have a lot of detail put into it and it really shows.

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is an extremely good 2D platformer that sets new standards to how this genre should be made. It's full of elegantly designed levels accompanied with fluent and satisfying controls that never get old or boring to mess around with. Despite the game only being challenging towards the end, this title is definitely one of the better modern 2D platformers that you can play. If you're itching for a new platformer then you've found what you're looking for.

This product was reviewed using a free key provided by the Developers

[h1]🎤Introduction[/h1] [b]Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair[/b] is nothing short of an excellent [b]Donkey Kong Country[/b] styled 2D platformer with smooth and tight controls, accompanied with elegantly designed levels. On top of tons of secrets to find and the unique charming soundtracks of each level, this title is definitely one of the better modern 2D platformers. [h1]✔️Pros[/h1] • Tight, responsive and smooth controls • You’ll have less maneuver abilities depending on whether you have Laylee with you or not • All the levels have alternate states, some of them will be frozen, flooded, more enemies etc. • You can access and complete the Impossible Lair (final level) whenever you want • Elegant level design that allows you to speedrun through levels • Secrets are cleverly hidden • Overworld has loads of secrets and is made to feel like its own level • Tonics can modify the game to make it more or less challenging • Each level has its twist on the original soundtrack to fit the environment [h1]❌Cons[/h1] • Sometimes when losing Laylee she’ll fly through objects you can’t get past or too high that you can’t reach • Hardcore platform fans might find the game too easy till the final level • The difficulty spikes from the final chapter to the Impossible Lair which definitely lives up to its name • Sometimes you can’t see the platform below you that the game expects you to land on [h1]💢Bugs[/h1] • Occasionally, the conveyor belts won’t move you at all • Thinking cloud stuck got on the screen • When warping to chapter 10 you won’t be able to enter the level, have to walk out to the overworld and then back in [h1]🕹Gameplay[/h1] [h3][b]The (not so) impossible game[/b][/h3] [b]Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair[/b] has a rather interesting concept allowing you to enter the Impossible Lair whenever you want, it’s entirely possible to complete the game within half an hour if you’re extremely good at platformers. However, it’s more than likely that you won’t put yourself through that torture and instead go through each chapter (level) to collect bees, these bees that you save will give you an additional hit point in the Impossible Lair to make it... A bit less impossible… All of these chapters have elegantly designed levels that might start off very easy, but do eventually get slightly more difficult as you go on. There are tons of secrets along with 5 T.W.I.T coins in each chapter to collect which are mandatory to unlock Towzers’ paywalls which is literally a wall that you can’t bypass until you’ve paid the require T.W.I.T coins to unlock it. This might be slightly annoying to some people who don’t like going back to play previous levels to acquire previously missed T.W.I.T coins but they aren’t that difficult to find so it shouldn’t be much of a problem. https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2223274587 These chapters also cater to both hardcore and casual fans of platformers, there are loads of checkpoints throughout each chapter and if you die a certain amount of times on a specific section then you’re given the option to bypass that section and skip to the next checkpoint. It’s rather nice for a game to try and make it easy enough for newcomers to pick up and play whilst also giving the hardcore players a tougher time. However, I feel like there needed to be more options for the hardcore fans as the only really difficult part of the game that I constantly struggled on was the Impossible Lair. You can equip tonics to make the game more challenging but there aren’t that many to increase its difficulty. Each chapter that you access also has an alternative level based around the original one but with a different concept. You can access these levels by flooding the chapter, turning on the electricity, freezing the book etc. This then makes the original level modified to become a new level with different mechanics and a different route to take. These levels can be flipped, frozen over, flooded, turned into a vertical level etc. Even these alternative levels clearly have had a lot of time put into them since the level looks similar to the original but plays differently to how you’ve modified them. As far as difficulty goes, the chapters steadily increase as you progress introducing new enemies with different moves. It’s rather clever how each level has its own unique mechanic to teach you since the Impossible Lair combines everything that you’ve come across into one very challenging level. As the title suggests, the final level (The Impossible Lair) definitely lives up to its name as the final chapter doesn’t even come close to how difficult The Impossible Lair is. Some people might find this spike in difficult rather frustrating since it can take multiple attempts to make it to the end, however the game does allow you to start at the beginning of the stage you got to with the number of bees you had at that point. https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2223277266 [h3][b]Yooka without Laylee[/b][/h3] A unique feature with this title is the fact that when you take a hit you’ll lose Laylee who flies about for a few seconds before completely leaving the screen. In this time, you’ll have a chance to collect Laylee again to regain that extra hit before dying. However, depending on whether you have Laylee with you or not will alter which moves you can do. For example, having Laylee you can twirl whilst in the air to get a little bit more air time and fall slightly slower, but without Laylee you won’t be able to twirl at all. Its a rather unique way of punishing the player and forces you to try and play more carefully so you have the upper hand and can use all these abilities to your advantage. With only a limited amount of moves, it’s surprising how smooth and tight the controls are to make it feel satisfying and enjoyable to play through. Not only does every move you make feel smooth and satisfying to pull off even if it’s not difficult, but there’s also momentum that you carry with you that never feels off or weird since most of the levels feel like they were built around running through them without stopping. At the same time, if you wanted to take it slow at specific sections because they look overwhelming or you weren’t prepared then that’s completely fine too, the level design caters for both. [h1]🎧Music & Sound[/h1] With 20 chapters each with their own alternative level its a surprise that the majority of them all have their own unique soundtracks. Since most of them have very different environments and atmospheres to them, each soundtrack compliments that environment that you're in extremely well. The music even changes slightly when you enter different areas in the level. [h1]🎨Graphics[/h1] Each level has a lot of attention to detail put into them, even the backgrounds which you don't normally pay that much attention to has a lot more detail than is necessary. However, you can appreciate how each level looks drastically different from the others and the way that each alternative level also has it's own unique style. Everything in this game seems to have a lot of detail put into it and it really shows. [h1]💭Closing Thoughts[/h1] [b]Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair[/b] is an extremely good 2D platformer that sets new standards to how this genre should be made. It's full of elegantly designed levels accompanied with fluent and satisfying controls that never get old or boring to mess around with. Despite the game only being challenging towards the end, this title is definitely one of the better modern 2D platformers that you can play. If you're itching for a new platformer then you've found what you're looking for. [i]This product was reviewed using a free key provided by the Developers[/i]