What Rayman Legends Retold Is – and Why It Exists
Rayman Legends Retold is a modern remake of Ubisoft’s acclaimed 2D platformer Rayman Legends, rebuilding the original adventure with a new engine, refreshed visuals, expanded storytelling, and extra content while keeping its core level design and structure intact. Ubisoft Montpellier and Ubisoft Milan are using the Snowdrop Engine to deliver an “immersive” 3D art style, redone cutscenes, and new and returning voice work. The developers also promise a larger, more connected world structure, online four-player co-op layered on top of couch co-op, and an entirely new sixth world with fresh mechanics and enemies. At USD 39.99 (approx. RM190), Rayman Legends Retold aims to sit between a budget remaster and a full-price new release, but that middle-ground position makes its purpose—and its ideal audience—more complicated than a straightforward remake vs remaster decision.
A Visual Overhaul That Makes a Strong First Impression
In motion, Rayman Legends Retold looks like the definitive visual version of this platformer. The original’s illustrated 2D art still holds up, but the remake’s reworked assets, lighting, and depth give levels a richer, almost diorama feel without abandoning the series’ exaggerated cartoon tone. Built on Snowdrop, environments now show more detailed layering in backgrounds and foregrounds, with caves, forests, and castles feeling more “place-like” than flat stages. Character animations remain elastic and punchy, preserving the responsiveness that made the original so satisfying. However, because Rayman Legends already looked charming and sharp on modern hardware, the jump here is more refinement than revolution. According to Wccftech, “Rayman Legends still looks great, it still plays great,” a sentiment that underlines the core tension: the remake’s visual boost is clear to the eye, but not transformative enough on its own to sell everyone on paying again.
New Worlds, Online Co-op, and Rebuilt Storytelling
Beyond graphics, Ubisoft positions Rayman Legends Retold as “more than a remake” thanks to structural and content changes. The most obvious addition is a full sixth world—reported as a new Land of the Living Dead-style area—bringing fresh levels, mechanics, and set-piece encounters like dragon rides that play into the series’ rhythmic, momentum-driven platforming. Story delivery gets a noticeable overhaul too: cutscenes are being entirely redone, with new cinematics and expanded voice work to better frame the campaign as one continuous adventure rather than a loose collection of stages. The connected-world approach aims to make progression feel like traversing one grand journey instead of hopping between isolated paintings. Online four-player co-op is the other big hook, finally letting friends share chaotic runs without sharing a couch. For newcomers, these features make Rayman Legends Retold the most complete and convenient way to experience the game in one package.
Remake vs Remaster: Who Is This $40 Package For?
Rayman Legends Retold sits in an awkward place in the remake vs remaster spectrum. It is more ambitious than a simple resolution bump, but not as transformative as projects like Dead Space or Resident Evil 2, which rebuilt older, clunkier games from the ground up. The original Rayman Legends is still on Steam and modern consoles, often discounted, and its gameplay and visuals remain strong. That makes the USD 39.99 (approx. RM190) price harder to justify for veterans who already own it, unless online co-op or the new world is essential. For nostalgia-driven fans, Retold risks feeling like paying a premium for features that could have been an upgrade. For younger players who ignore “old” releases from 2013, this is arguably the ideal entry point—but that audience might not be emotionally invested enough in Rayman to spend mid-tier pricing on a decade-old design.
A Gorgeous Platformer Searching for Its Core Audience
As a pure platformer, Rayman Legends Retold sounds poised to remind players why the original is often ranked among the genre’s best. Tight controls, inventive musical stages, and playful level ideas survive intact, now wrapped in prettier visuals and supported by online co-op and an extra world. The puzzle is strategic rather than mechanical: Ubisoft is trying to grow Rayman as a mascot by re-presenting his strongest game, yet doing so with a mid-range remake that neither targets nostalgic collectors nor budget-conscious newcomers with complete clarity. For those who skipped Rayman in the past but love platformer games like Super Mario Bros. Wonder or Astro Bot, this could be the perfect way to discover a classic. For everyone else, Rayman Legends Retold is a polished, colorful Ubisoft remake that may feel more like a nice-to-have upgrade than a must-buy reinvention.
