Though Rayman appears like a collection that has been round for many years and by no means gone away, the final mainline launch was 13 years in the past. Some cell runner titles and the thirtieth anniversary model of the unique sport have been launched since, however 2013’s Rayman Legends was the final brand-new sport to see the sunshine of day.
Now, Ubisoft Montpellier is remaking the sensible 2D platformer, and I spoke to Loïc Gounon, Model Producer on Legends Retold, about why the remake is the beginning of rebuilding the franchise.
I requested Gounon why the staff determined to totally remake Legends, as an alternative of simply remastering it. “I feel one factor we wished to start out is rebuilding the IP, relaunching Rayman for actual,” he stated, “and we felt Legends constitutes essentially the most full model of the world of Rayman in a means, by way of the set of characters, the number of components.”
However he additionally believes there may be extra that might be accomplished to enhance Legends past merely making it look prettier, as a remaster would obtain. “Taking a look at it, despite the fact that it is a 92 Metacritic, if you objectively ask, ‘What was the story?’ You are like, ‘Oh, I do not actually know.’ Or the place’s the ending? Or the place’s the UI? And all of the sudden, despite the fact that it is an excellent sport, there was room for enchancment, and that is what led us extra in the direction of the remake street than a remaster.”
Ubisoft Montpellier needs Legends Retold to simply be the beginning of the franchise’s rejuvenation. I requested Gounon whether or not he’d prefer to see extra video games like Legends, extra just like the 3D platformers from 20 years in the past, or one thing new. “I might say a little bit of the whole lot,” he replied.
“If the franchise is profitable, I cannot say no to something. Principally, I feel there have been profitable 2D [games] that at the moment are changing into 2.5D which have their very own profit. You understand, having enjoyable with pals from one to 4 gamers, simple to select up, and many others. Now, Legends has a bit extra story, and there are the extra partaking video games like Rayman 2 and Rayman 3, which might be extra adventurous, exploration-based. I feel each codecs work effectively, and will nonetheless work effectively sooner or later. So despite the fact that we additionally discover spin-offs, cell, and many others, I feel at the least these two most important traces of the franchise might make sense sooner or later, so then we’ll see the place that sport is taking us and what we need to do subsequent.”
So whereas Gounon is worked up by the modifications being made to Legends, he is additionally open to the place the collection will go after it. I might like to see one other 3D platformer, which takes inspiration from the ingenuity proven by the likes of Astro Bot and Mario Odyssey, and I am glad Ubisoft is open to all the chances, too.
