Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair Reviews

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is ranked in the 89th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
9.5 / 10.0
Oct 3, 2019

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is essentially a spiritual successor to Donkey Kong Country that ends with a difficult Super Mario Maker-like dungeon. It friggin' rocks.

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Spaziogames
Top Critic
7.5 / 10.0
Oct 3, 2019

Despite a strong game structure change and the presence of 2.5D levels, Yooka-Layle and the impossibile Lair has nothing to envy to the previous chapter.

Review in Italian | Read full review

9 / 10.0
Oct 3, 2019

I love Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. It feels fresh while keeping some of the great traits of the first game. The changes may even change the minds of players which did not enjoy the game that preceded it. It controls very well, looks great, sounds great and is a lot of fun. Just give it a shot, I think you will like it.

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4 / 5.0
Oct 5, 2019

Delightful a package this ends up being — with a surprising glee to be had when it comes to fiddling about with the many game-altering tonics on show — it's by no means an argument for Playtonic to ditch altogether the idea of revisiting traditional 3D for a hypothetical "Twooka-Laylee" follow-up.

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8 / 10.0
Oct 7, 2019

By incorporating some of the classic 2D design of previous generations this once N64 throwback has matured and grown into its own slice of platforming gold.

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5 / 5.0
Oct 26, 2019

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair may have made it into one of the best games of 2019!

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GameSpew
Top Critic
8 / 10.0
Oct 3, 2019

I’ve had a lot of fun with Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. It’s challenging, humorous, beautifully designed and offers a surprising amount of variety.

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8 / 10.0
Oct 3, 2019

Where this game shines is in the sum of its parts. The individual levels might not be outstanding, but combining those with alternate versions and a light and engrossing overworld make the whole package that is Playtonic's second game a thrilling one. They might not have regained the crown from Retro Studios in the realm of Donkey Kong Country-like games, but they certainly retained the googly eyes.

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87 / 100
Oct 7, 2019

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is a great platform game that seeks to please Donkey Kong Country fans. It's a relatively long, challenging title with a lot of collectibles and some special stages. The overworld has some very interesting puzzles. However, the camera has some problems and the damage system is like the one in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and it isn't very good.

Review in Portuguese | Read full review

Oct 6, 2019

If you've always wanted a platform game on PC that was as good as Donkey Kong, here it is.

Review in Turkish | Read full review

8 / 10
Oct 13, 2019

A polished 2D platformer rich in content and ideas, and show the developer capable of iterating on what they started earlier in their career.

Review in Arabic | Read full review

TrueGaming
Top Critic
9 / 10.0
Oct 15, 2019

It is really rare to have a platforming game this well-designed outside of Nintendo's offerings, this game more than makes up for the first one's shortcomings.The Impossible Lair does inspire from the best, while also introducing unique ideas of its own to build something truly unique. this is one of the best platforming games for this console generation.

Review in Arabic | Read full review

7.5 / 10.0
Oct 17, 2019

Yooka and Layle return with a new 2.5D twist, but their new game lacks its own identity.

Review in Slovak | Read full review

10 / 10.0
Dec 19, 2019

Playtonic has absolutely smashed it with Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. It builds on the team's experience with platformers and manages to improve on its predecessor in every way. One of the best platformers I've played in years.

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Cubed3
Top Critic
9 / 10
Jan 21, 2022

A love letter to the Donkey Kong Country series, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair goes beyond a standard homage, and crafts something beautiful of its own. Fantastic challenging platforming, spanning across 40 imaginative levels, and a charming graphical art style. This is an essential 2D platformer that should not be missed, even more so by the fact that it is being sold for budget point.

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8.5 / 10.0
Oct 3, 2019

As a huge fan of the original game, I'm amazed by how much more fun Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is.

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5.8 / 10.0
Oct 2, 2019

While Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is a decent copy of a Donkey Kong Country it's not a patch on the real thing.

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Oct 3, 2019

Yooka-Laylee and The Impossible Lair is such a surprise hit. Featuring challenging platforming, the pacing of it keeps up. It’s allows players to consistently push against the challenge. The design of no traditional lives counter really keeps things flowing. Meanwhile the exploration aspect of the hub world offers a totally new experience all on its own, even if it’s not the focus, it’s an addition I ended up loving. While some spin off games from franchises come off feeling like an incompletely experience or lesser experience of the original, I find The Impossible Lair an excellent addition to the franchise. A platformer that clearly takes inspiration from one of the best side scrolling games ever, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, and molds it into its own. As a side scrolling fan, this is one I recommend folks not pass up. Charming, colorful, and runs extremely well on the Nintendo Switch, a perfect companion piece to the original game.

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8 / 10.0
Oct 3, 2019

Overall, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair feels a little more put-together and modern than the original game, which is a great thing. Playtonic gave players exactly what they asked for with the original — a nostalgia-fueled 3D collectathon — and they really stretched their wings with The Impossible Lair and reminded us that they can play to their other strengths within the same franchise without losing any of its charm in the process.

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9 / 10
Oct 4, 2019

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is easily the best platformer I have ever played. With a character that feels great to move, level designs that look and play amazingly, an entire overworld that offers just as much fun as the main levels do and great characters and writing it’s impossible not to love this game. And of course the game’s claim to fame the Impossible Lair is refreshing and an actual challenge to complete unlike most other games these days which try to appeal to all audiences by making their games incredibly easy. Yooka-Laylee no longer represents the 3D collectathons of the late ’90s, but rather the unapologetic 2/2.5D Platformers akin to the Donkey Kong Country series while still being and feeling like its own series. Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair has paved the way for so much for Playtonic and I can’t wait to see what they put out next!

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