Rayman Legends Retold has me struggling to justify its place as a remake, but with platforming this good I can't complain

It's a testament to how rock solid the Rayman platformers have become that, within minutes of going hands-on with Rayman Legends Retold, I'm dashing, twirling, leaping as I bop enemy heads and crash through cages to free my friends like it's 2013 all over again. Yet, still the most recent Rayman adventure (and available on modern platforms), it feels odd that such a lavish remake has its sights set on recent history. Though it's nice to feel the muscle memory kick in playing Rayman Legends Retold, that's also because my hands-on is, for the most part, playing the same levels I already played a decade ago.

Retold is such a one-to-one remake that it's even built on the original's exact level design data. It's a bold move because Rayman Legends as it exists today is still fantastic. Since playing Retold, I've revisited the original (and predecessor Rayman Origins), and had just as much fun as I did with this newer model. More content has been added on top, but the bulk of Retold is extremely faithful. The biggest and most obvious change: a shift from the original's phenomenal 2D graphics to 3D, though models and environments retain plenty of charm and a painterly feel.

A world rebuilt

Backgrounds to the stages that Rayman and up to three other co-op friends can run through, have been loaded with new detail. One swamp-based level that had Rayman punching through toad enemies with water and plants stretching behind him, is now coated with toad culture – their huts, statues, and walkways winding in and out of the screen. Every level across every biome is now abuzz with activity as a mysterious corruption spreads and invades.

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The shift to 3D means that the side-to-side plane can now bend and shift, curving Rayman's route through areas while retaining one-to-one geometry. One developer at Ubisoft Montpellier even shows me playing through this toad stage with one controller, moving the character in Rayman Legends Retold and the original game in sync. In 3D, the camera itself becomes a powerful level design tool, tilting to emphasise secret areas, or looking up as Rayman spins his helicopter hair to ascend, highlighting hazards and points of interest earlier than you can see them in the original game.

Still, for as good as Retold looks, there are moments as I watch numerous side by side demonstrations where I'm simply reminded of how good the original game still is. The game's new key art, for one, looks a bit dull when compared to the extreme stylization of the original. While Retold's in-game animation looks great, it lacks some of the clarity and definition of the original. Rayman might punch forward and throw up the double-peace 'V' sign to the screen in both, but in a space teeming with visual noise it has less impact, the enthusiasm slightly muted. Likewise, while the visual balance is still being tweaked, I sometimes find the dense, higher fidelity backgrounds can make the platforms harder to read. Minor gripes, sure, but when remaking the most recent game in the series that's also still readily available, these stand out.

Where Rayman Legends Retold adapts, it's so exact that it doesn't surprise. Even Murfy returns in some stages, an obvious holdover from the game's original Wii U exclusivity that allows you to cut ropes to lower platforms, stun enemies, or rotate platforms. As with previous non-touchscreen ports, he auto-gravitates towards areas of interactivity to be activated with a button press.

As with those ports, it can still sometimes feel a bit iffy. In areas dense with interactables when you're jumping at high-speeds, Murfy doesn't always hover over quite what you need, leading to some fumbled leaps over pits and a prompt fall to my death. It's always been a mechanic in Rayman Legends I've been cooler on, in part because it feels like a compromise to adapt a mechanic designed for the Wii U GamePad so specifically. I'm a bit surprised that even these sections are so one-to-one, as it feels like a prime area that could use a bigger rethink.

But, Retold does bring new features. For instance, the original's celebrated six musical levels – which have you platforming to a beat while diegetically the world around you breaks into what I can only describe as kazoo-disco covers – are joined by four more, though I'm forbidden from sharing details about them. Here the game promises to play more than usual with adding depth to the 2D platforming plane, one section having Rayman zipline from an almost over-the-shoulder angle – though you still very much control him in two-dimensions.

Each world – containing its own sequence of themed levels – was fairly abstracted in the original Rayman Legends as you hopped through paintings. In Retold, you still 2D platform between each level entrance, but now through a hub area that's actually set-dressed to be within each world. New stages connect each biome, having Rayman and friends ride dragons through arcadey shooter levels as chaos depends, teeing up an inevitable boss fight (clashes that, themselves, I wasn't able to play).

Playing from behind, the dragon flies into the screen, but plenty of camera shifts make this feel dynamic – one portion even turns it onto its side to feel properly retro as a gigantic frog in armour hurls castle debris at me from the background, and frogs with rocket launchers alternate taking shots at me while themselves being buffeted by a whirlwind.

Mode shifts like this can be a gamble. I didn't much care for the dragon sequences in Doom The Dark Ages, or the random shmup level in Earthworm Jim 2 (where else can you read those two games being compared, huh?). But, I really dig the first two dragon levels I play here, which feels like a smart evolution of the Rayman's hectic mosquito riding stages from Rayman Origins (and the very first game). On dragon back, you've no health bar per se, but one of the teensies you're trying to rescue will drop off with each hit you take. They can be tough to master if you're aiming to save every teensy possible, but are fun spectacles to blast through that aren't too punishing either.

These sections are part of an overall desire to make Rayman's world a bit more cohesive (or, as cohesive as a dream world can be, I'm told). Fully voice acted cutscenes have been thrown into the mix as well, bringing back classic voice talent like David Gasman as Rayman, featuring a brand new script and story. Rayman Legends Retold is still a light touch, family friend yarn, but one that aims to be more of a piece with the realized world as presented in the likes of Rayman 2 and Rayman 3.

When it Rays, it pours

I'm told constantly throughout my time at Ubisoft Montpellier that this remake is about "rebuilding Rayman's foundations", no one-off road but an attempt to pave the way to Rayman's future. Speaking with brand producer Loic Gounon, he brings up Rayman's history of 3D platformers as well as genre peers like Jak & Daxter from the PS2 generation through to the likes of Astro Bot on PS5. I have to ask if that means this 2.5D platformer remake is meant to lead towards a new fully 3D future for Rayman, and he gives me one of the most straightforward and candid answers about the future of a series I've ever received: "Yes, that's the plan!" Beyond Retold, "we think it might be the time to come back with, you know, let's say more adventurous 3D Rayman games," he says.

The new story also features an enigmatic villain, which prompts a full, final sixth world set in the Land of the Livid Dead. I'm only able to play one level set here, still a work-in-progress, but its difficulty is nicely dialed up to feel like a bit of a test (though not a patch on some optional challenge levels), and gives me time to play with Rayman's light punch power – a new ability for Retold that's derived from some of the character's classic skills. Hurling his glowing fist, Rayman can clear areas of corruption in the environment, required to make some enemies vulnerable to a pummelling, but also to stretch out the likes of vines to create temporary platforms. The additional layer of interaction adds a nice bit of extra complexity, feeling a bit like Murfy's mechanics but in a way that's more directly under player control.

Historically, Ubisoft hasn't done many remakes of its games. This year, it's releasing two with Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced joining Rayman Legends Retold. Gounon laughs as he also points out both of the original games launched in 2013, but that it's "a bit of an accident" that both projects have coincidentally arrived at the same time. Assassin's Creed, he points out, already has future projects in development. Rayman Legends Retold "is more about relaunching the brand, which is very different".

In some ways, pinning the future of Rayman on a game many players and developers already like makes sense. It allows the development team, which Gounon tells me is relatively small, to get comfortable with its Snowdrop Engine (which still runs a version of UbiArt Framework within it), a new workflow, and to expand on the "richest" game in the Rayman series in terms of characters, game design, and worldbuilding. But, I can't help but be anxious. It's staking the future of the series on a game where, for the most part, I've already been there and done that. If, somehow, you skipped Rayman Legends, then Rayman Legends Retold is a luxurious remake of one of the best to do it. But, even with its new levels, it's still Rayman Legends – my muscle memory doesn't lie.

Rayman Legends Retold is releasing October 1, 2026 on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2 for $39.99.

Weigh anchor and sail into our Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Big Preview for our deep dive hands-on and developer discussion around Ubisoft's other big remake.