Rayman Legends Retold preview: A very silly yet charming platformer

My most formative experience with the Rayman franchise, for better or worse, is a distant but glittering memory of the 2006 game Rayman Raving Rabbids. I can’t remember much, but when I later returned to the series to play Rayman Origins, I’m sorry Rayman fans, but I couldn’t really get on with it. It all just felt a bit too… floaty. And when it comes to platformers, I opt for the fast-paced style of games like Celeste.

Despite this somewhat turbulent relationship, I was excited to see what Rayman Legends Retold would bring me. A remake of Rayman Legends, a game I haven’t played — I was a bit hesitant on what I should expect.

However, after a couple of hours of gameplay where I was launched straight into the action (aka, the middle of the game), I am happy to confirm that Rayman Legends Retold is a beautiful, and very silly, game.

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And when I say silly, I mean it in the best possible way. I went straight into the Mexican-inspired Mystic Mesa world and even from the very first level I was hooked. Ruled by the king of wrestling, El Luchador, the levels were all food-themed, with the enemies threatening to KO me with a single punch.

The gameplay was fluid, with Rayman making quick work of the levels as he flung himself through cucumbers and other foodstuffs, and the backgrounds were truly a visual delight.

The real highlight, though, were the music levels. Not only is it satisfying to jump, punch and hover to the beat of mariachi covers, but the level design was incredible. To the tune of the macarena, I ducked and weaved my way through the El Luchador’s kitchen, avoiding flying forks and sausages, meanwhile, in the background, he threw a tantrum over eating something just a tad too spicy. Rayman even has to jump on the El Luchador’s hands as he gracefully does the macarena dance – this level of silliness, was frankly, refreshing.

But where I was really blown away with this level was when the camera angle changed. What is primarily a side-scroller suddenly exploded into an immersive rear-angle 3D experience with so much detail that it was hard to comprehend at times. Similarly, the dragon levels in each realm also experimented with the camera angle, and it was a fun change to suddenly pilot my dragon and blast fireballs to progress through the stage.

Soon after playing through the first couple of levels, I started to die quite a few times. After a few tries the game will give you a red heart for one extra hit before dying, or a gold heart for two extra hits – this was a balanced mechanic, allowing for some wiggle room for the more challenging areas of the game. However, if you continue to die you will unlock the Fairy Blessing feature, which basically allows you to float through the game in an invincible bubble.

Bluntly, this mechanic completely defeats the point of a challenging platformer, and I opted not to use it as much as possible. Of course, it’s an option that players are not forced to use by any means, but just knowing that it was there irked me. The temptation to turn it on with a simple squeeze of the left trigger, rather than practicing the level properly and focusing on my platforming skills, dimmed the experience.

After playing through the Iron Shell realm and a whole new area the developers added to the remake, Land of the Livid Dead, the Mystic Mesa world was definitely my favourite in terms of boss fight and level design. The El Luchador is such an enjoyable and fulfilling boss, bringing a sense of personality into the game that other bosses like the Mechanical Dragon in the Iron Shell realm fail to do (I mean really, even the name is boring).

For the Land of the Livid Dead, in my preview I didn’t manage to reach the final boss fight. Although the realm introduces a fun mechanic through the Fairy Radiance feature, which blasts beams of light at platforms to extend them. It was a unique challenge that tested my timing as I progressed through the level, and I’m excited to play with the mechanic further when the game is out.

In terms of story, I couldn’t quite make sense of what was going on since I was dropped into the middle of the game, but this made little difference to my overall enjoyment of the playthrough, indeed, Rayman Legends Retold’s real strength lies in its distinct level design, detailed backgrounds and creative mechanics.

The remake also introduces a variety of customisation options for Rayman and the gang, and I thoroughly enjoyed unlocking new costumes for each of the characters. Barbara, the confident and reckless warrior, soon became my favourite character to wield, and I loved uncovering all the different outfits in the game.

After much jumping, dodging and hovering, it's clear Rayman Legends Retold is a great remake, with new content and enhanced gameplay that pays respect to the original whilst offering up something new. It comes with its fair share of flaws, but its attention to detail coupled with a healthy dash of silliness, far outweighs any faults I find with it.

Rayman Legends Retold releases on 3 December across Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

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