Man I dont know if I tried harder to like a game than I tried to like Yooka Laylee.

There are pieces of it that are just so good. The character design, the music…ok thats pretty much the crux of it. The writing I think trends a bit too closely to like “lol Microsoft sucks right” which isnt an incorrect (or invalid) opinion but I dont much wanna read that. When its not doing that its pretty good.

The main problem comes from the fact that Yooka and Laylee are tiny tiny animals, and theyre placed in these massive sprawling worlds that offer zero guidance on where you’re supposed to go and do or what you’ve already done, or even provide a distinctive landscape that lets you know where you are. Which wouldnt be that big of a problem if those massive worlds werent mostly empty, which they very much are. I’ve since seen this as a critique of Banjo Tooie, which I suppose isnt untrue, though its not nearly as bad there as it is here (though the backtracking in Tooie is pretty bad if memory serves). Also combat in this game is real bad and nonsensical. Like the physics are just not there for attacks to connect the first time you try them.

So its a mixed bag, and I knew going in it would be a mixed bag, but they were so close on so many things.