Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair

The title is a side-scrolling 2D platform game. The player controls Yooka, a male chameleon, and Laylee, a female bat, to complete various levels. In these levels, players collect quills and T.W.I.T. coins, as well as free a member of the "Beetalion." The members of the Beetalion each give Yooka and Laylee an extra hit point for use on the final level. T.W.I.T. coins are used to unlock further progress on the overworld through Trowzer's "paywalls."[4] Notably, it is possible to enter the game's final level at any point in the game, though it is heavily encouraged that the player first secure extra hit points by beating the other levels first.

The "Tonics" feature from the first game also returned. Tonics are potions that can modify the gameplay in numerous ways after it was consumed by Yooka.[5] Between levels, an isometric 3D overworld is used for getting around. Characters can be found and spoken to alongside puzzles to solve for quills and tonics.[6]

The game was developed by Playtonic Games, a studio composed of former Rare employees. While bearing similarities with the Donkey Kong Country series, the team opted not to use the moniker "spiritual successor" to market the game.[7] The game was officially announced on June 8, 2019 by publisher Team17.[8] It was officially released on October 8, 2019.[5]

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (Original Game Soundtrack) was independently released by Playtonic on October 16, 2019 on Bandcamp, with a fully distributed edition under the video game record label Materia Collective.[9] The music was composed by David Wise, Grant Kirkhope, Matt Griffin, and Dan Murdoch.

The game received generally positive reviews upon release according to review aggregator Metacritic.[11][10][12][13] IGN gave the game a glowing review, calling it an "excellent modernized spin on the 2D platformer"[14]. Game Informer also spoke highly, touching upon the game's great replay value and fresh perspective on the 2D Platforming genre.[6] Euro Gamer's Tom Phillips called the game "a far more polished game than the studio's predecessor," citing the more modern game designs.

Despite the game's mainly positive reviews, some journalists found issues with the game's design. Destructoid's Brett Makedonski, while having overall enjoyed the game, describing the levels and controls as "not innovative" and "good enough."[15] Hayden Dingman of PC World found the game's difficulty too "taxing" to be enjoyable, giving it 3/5 stars. [16]