When one thinks of classic platformer video games, a few icons come to mind. Apart from Nintendo’s king of the genre, Super Mario, many other iconic faces have spawned since platformers rose to prominence from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s, including Earthworm Jim, Gex, and of course, Ubisoft’s iconic limbless hero, Rayman.
Since his first adventure in 1995, Rayman has grown to be one of the most recognisable faces in the genre, thanks to his carefree nature and his unique limbless design, appearing in five mainline games and numerous Raving Rabbids spin-offs in the decades that followed. Now, one of his more recent platforming adventures, 2013’s Rayman Legends, is heading to the modern age with a visual glow-up and new features thanks to the upcoming remake, Rayman Legends Retold.
As the fifth mainline title in the series and the direct sequel to 2011’s Rayman Origins, Legends carried on the co-op foundations of its predecessor by featuring four playable characters – Rayman, Barbara the Barbarian Princess, Globox, and the Teensies – and was praised for its slew of content and distinctive visual flair. Rayman Legends Retold looks to go all in on the latter with a huge jump in graphical fidelity, a new 2.5D level format, and some added gameplay segments to shake things up.
Geek Culture was able to spend roughly one and a half hours with an early preview build of the game, and despite all the added visual flair, it was clear that the core Legends experience still remained the heart and soul of the remake, making it a faithful rendition that both fans and newcomers alike should look forward to.
The preview encompassed numerous levels within the game’s first two biomes – Old Teensie Kingdom and The Stinkbog. Right from the start, the game immediately felt like how it was in the original 2013 title, apart from the graphical overhaul, and will see players performing familiar moves as they traverse through levels, such as Rayman’s iconic Helicopter Hair ability, or relying on his friendly companion, Murfy the greenbottle, to activate mechanisms or stun enemies from afar.
Of course, the shift to the 2.5D level format does provide some minor gameplay changes, such as jumping back and forth between foreground and background platforms, or even subtle camera tweaks, like tilting up slightly during segments where Rayman hovers over air currents to let players see what’s above.
Like most other platformers, Rayman Legends Retold isn’t just about getting from the start to the end of levels, as within them lie tons of goodies to collect, the main of which is rescuing Teensies, friendly mystical creatures who inhabit the land. Each level comprises 10 Teensies to rescue, each tucked away in sometimes well-hidden places, with two of them, the King and Queen, being placed in dedicated secret rooms which feature platforming or logic puzzles for players to overcome.
Teensies aren’t just fun collectibles to acquire, as rescuing them is also the main way for Rayman to progress through biomes, with players unlocking more levels as they hit certain milestones. Outside of main levels, the remake also sees the return of ‘Invaded’ stage variants, which are remixed Time Trial levels which must be completed in a set amount of time.
Honestly, the massive amount of content on offer seen in the original game might well have justified a simple graphics overhaul for its remake, but Ubisoft has gone one step further here with some notable additions. First up are the new cutscenes, which are rendered in an almost Pixar-like quality and help to flesh out the adventures of Rayman and his friends. To supplement this, the game will now also feature full voice acting for more characters, including the four main heroes and other important figures like Bubble Dreamer.
And then there are the new levels, which shake things up even further. Rayman Legends Retold’s levels will now be connected on a single cohesive world map, meaning Rayman will need some way to traverse between biomes, and what’s better than riding on the back of a dragon? That’s right, the remake now allows players to control a dragon as they fly through the air, with these new levels even playing out in full 3D as they avoid incoming obstacles and blast fireballs at foes. It’s a fun little addition and seems to be spread out across biomes to offer players a break between platforming action without overstaying its welcome.
That’s not all, as the remake is also set to receive a sixth and final world, Land of the Livid Dead, which comprises five new platforming levels, a new boss, and an additional ability that’s exclusive to the biome. This will be further supplemented by new Music Levels, fan-favourite stages that sync up the action to the beat of the music, the return of the Kung Foot minigame, and Cave of Trails, a new endless platforming mode. Unfortunately, the limited time of our preview session meant that we weren’t able to try these new additions for ourselves.
What we could witness in all its glory was Rayman Legends Retold’s bold new 3D art style. Unsurprisingly, the shift in dimensions was immediately noticeable, with levels now featuring a more photorealistic look while still maintaining the whimsical charm of the original. Apart from this, character design has seen the biggest change, although this aspect might be more divisive for fans.
On one hand, it’s cool to see Rayman come to life as a 3D character, along with many of the game’s quirky creatures, but on the other, the visual change does mean some of the stylisations from the original, such as his exaggerated eyes or goofy animations, have been noticeably toned down to suit the new look. This does give the remake a more cinematic feel overall, however, so it remains to be seen how well fans will react to the change.
Even with this early sneak peek, it’s clear that Ubisoft is not setting out to change Legends’ formula entirely, but to preserve as much as they can while still offering a fresh visual overhaul and new gameplay additions for the remake. While Rayman Legends Retold is already shaping up to be the perfect way for newcomers to experience one of Rayman’s most well-received adventures, the true test lies in how well it will attract series veterans, and whether its new additions will entice them to jump in and face the Dark Teensies once more.
Rayman Legends Retold will Helicopter Hair hover its way to the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on 1 October 2026.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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