It's been around a year since the Kickstarter that did so well for Playtonic - Yooka-Laylee - finished and in that time there's been snippets of news from the team. Mainly though they've been keeping quiet to work on the game, until earlier today when they released a massive update to backers of their campaign.
Firstly we were introduced to the central conflict of Yooka-Laylee's world - namely that a hostile takeover of company Quack Corp by Diabolical Publishing Corporation has meant that the duo are currently venturing about the corporate building of Hivory Towers to recover Pagies and unlock the mysterious Grand Tomes. Diabolical seek to control all the world's literature and make as much dollar from it as possible, lead by villain Capital B.
Joining the cast will be the previously announced Trowzer, a snake salesman who will sell you the unlocks for certain moves which you can unlock in any order you wish; Dr. Quack who was the former head of Quack Corp and is now inventing all sorts of inventions to keep the Diabolical shareholders happy; Dr. Puzz who was Quack's former protege, now turned helper for Yooka and Laylee and will be responsible for transformations yet to be detailed and many more yet to be talked about.
Obviously there's still a lot more to be revealed yet, but the play style will be very reminiscent of Yooka-Laylee's forefather game, Banjo-Kazooie. More details will be coming in the next few months, with a feature in Edge Magazine on May 26th, reports on various gaming online channels and a showing at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Also, for those who backed the game to a certain level (and I'm one of those people), Playtonic have said that the sandbox of the game will be releasing to them in July. The sandbox is intended to be a spoiler-free way for players to get used to the platforming style that will be Yooka-Laylee's bread and butter.
As someone who loved Banjo-Kazooie as a child and can count herself among some of the first backers of the Kickstarter, I can't wait to see Yooka-Laylee's full release. Even if right now Playtonic have said they're not ready to set a date in stone yet.
