Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is a sequel for all you side-scrolling lovers

The brightly-coloured Yooka-Laylee is back, but if you were expecting a typical sequel, you're wrong. PlayTonic Games' Yooka-Layee and The Impossible Lair has been announced, and it's in glorious 2.5D with an overworld that puts all other overworlds to shame. Its trailer shows Yooka and Laylee making their way around the overworld and having to complete puzzles to get to certain levels - c'mon, this is 2019, you didn't think you'd be spoon-fed levels, did you? Plus instead of being an over-the-shoulder adventure, this time the levels are in sidescroller format, which looks like it'll give you a fresh challenge. 

Of course, as it's a Yooka-Laylee game there is an inundation of puns, as according to a press release you have to "rescue Queen Phoebee’s Royal Beettalion Guard" (see what they did there?) from every single level, as they've been kidnapped by the dastardly Capital B. You'll be rolling, swinging, and swimming your way through levels to save the Royal Beettalion Guard, so you might want to flex that muscle memory of yours as if it's anything like Crash Bandicoot, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is going to require some serious self-control when it comes to platforming at high speeds. 

Hopefully this sequel will improve on the first Yooka-Laylee game, which had a camera that tended to get in the way of platforming along with challenges that were either dull or flawed. Considering this new game looks like it's a sidescroller the camera issues should be resolved pretty easily, but let's hope that the challenges are slightly more user-friendly this time around. 

If you're after some more suggestions of what to play, here's all the new games 2019 currently has on offer, or look below to see what's games to expect at E3 2019!

Zoe Delahunty-Light

While here at GamesRadar, Zoe was a features writer and video presenter for us. She's since flown the coop and gone on to work at Eurogamer where she's a video producer, and also runs her own Twitch and YouTube channels. She specialises in huge open-world games, true crime, and lore deep-dives.