Playtonic Games has announced on their blog that Yooka-Laylee will be releasing on the Nintendo Switch on December 14th. The game will feature single-joycon controls for it’s multiplayer mini games and a custom achievement system. The game will be available for pre-order beginning December 7th on the Switch eShop.
The Switch version of Yooka-Laylee has had a storied history. Playtonic’s original Kickstarter campaigned had promised a Wii U version of the game, but that was scraped in favor of a Switch version. In light of this, Playtonic asked their Kickstarter backers who requested a Wii U version to choose a different version. To further complicate matters, the team had trouble porting the game to the Nintendo Switch. The troubles spurred from the game’s engine, Unity, which was having difficulties running on the Switch hardware. Both Unity and Playtonic Games have been working closely with Nintendo to iron out the problems, and it seems they are finally ready to release the game.
Yooka-Laylee will available in the Switch eShop on December 14th and retail for $39.99.
Hopefully this marks a watershed moment for Unity development on the Switch, as Yooka-Laylee was a high profile example of a game having problems during the porting processes. Battle Chasers: Nightwar by Airship Syndicate is another game that got delayed at the last minute on Switch because of issues with Unity. I’m of the opinion that preordering any game is unnecessary, but you should definitely exercise caution on this on until it’s known whether or not the port is solid.
You can check my PC review of Yooka-Laylee which I thought was a decent 3D platformer that gets too caught up in reliving the past to be truly great.
