Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair

Overall, I thought this was a fun and charming platformer with some interesting and distinct features. As a big Banjo-Kazooie fan, it's been hard for me to enjoy the Yooka-Laylee series without wishing for the old fuzzy/feathered duo, but they were able to win me over with this one.

Compared to the newer DKC games, Impossible Lair is a bit more streamlined of a collect-a-thon. No KONG letters AND 5-9 puzzle pieces per level, no bosses (save for the end), no shop with consumables and pointless trophies. Just 40 fun levels with 5 hidden coins each and 48 bees to rescue. And then, of course, the Impossible Lair.

I like this less-is-more approach because it allowed me to not get overwhelmed by my completionist tendencies. The levels themselves, for the most part, are not extraordinarily difficult, but finding all the coins in each is a nice challenge that offers replay value without feeling like a chore.

The controls are exude precision, and I never felt like a failed jump was the fault of poor game design. One of the best features, in my opinion, is the fact that when the duo takes a hit, you have a chance to catch Laylee before she flies away. Because of this, you're never really in "sudden death" mode. Unless, of course, you fall in a pit.

Then there are the playtonics, a fun and useful addition. Ranging from fun fx to ease-of-life mods to challenge-increasing mods, there's incentive to explore the well-designed overworld to find at least some of the more useful ones.

And, finally, the Impossible Lair. In my opinion, this level is a really clever compromise for the tedium that can come from boss fights in other platformers. It is an extended level with periodic battles with Capital B, in which you can take as many hits over the whole level as bees you have collected throughout the game.

Contrary to what someone else said, there IS a checkpoint system - every time you reach another fight sequence, you can start the level from that point with however many bees you had remaining on your best run. Thus, if you're a super completionist, you can replay these sections for a better "score". Compared to what came before it, the Impossible Lair is a pretty difficult and engaging platforming sequence. Not to mention it's sitting there tantalizing you right from the beginning. I myself made probably 15 failed and frustrating attempts with 0 bees before I realized it was not the start of the game.

Compared to DKC (its closest relative), Impossible Lair offers less visual pizzazz and a lower level of creativity in its platforming challenges, but it's still a delightful and challenging game in its own right. And by the end of it, I'd finally come to recognize the old BK-charm in our new duo.

Time spent to collect all achievements: ~30 hours

Pros: the overworld/hub world is well implemented and adds an extra dimension of gameplay outside the standard 2D stages. In it, you can find hidden items and solve puzzles to open up new parts of the world and unlock alternate versions of each stage

Cons: the actual stages are often more frustrating than fun, due to some flawed design and frustrating mechanics. Moreover, stages have such a familiar visual aesthetic that they all tend to look very samey to me

The final level (the "impossible lair") is basically a half-hour-long gauntlet with no checkpoints, where you can only take as many hits as you've been able to accumulate by completing stages within the hub world. It's really tough, and annoying, because you have to return to the very beginning whenever you die; the player is also barred from using any upgrades that they've likely gotten used to by this point in the game. My progress would improve by about 5% at best with each attempt, and it ultimately started feeling like a waste of time. It would've been nice to at least have a checkpoint at the halfway mark. Alas, the developers chose not to grant us this lifeline. I'm sure some folks will appreciate the challenge (especially speedrunners) but I couldn't find the will to continue playing after clearing all the regular stages and then beating my head against the wall at the final stage.