I’ll be honest, I was a little skeptical when I first saw Rayman Legends Retold. If you’re familiar with my writing, then you’ll likely know my complicated feelings towards Ubisoft’s games, and Rayman is particularly sacred to me—being one of the first games I played on the Nintendo 64, and a long-time favourite franchise. However, I remained open to the idea since, while I absolutely ADORED Rayman Origins when it launched in 2011, I was never really sold on its successor.
So I was intrigued when Ubisoft offered us the chance to sit down with Rayman Legends Retold to get a proper look at how they were bringing the 2013 original into the modern day. What I got to experience was certainly promising—maintaining the spirit and fun of the original, while adding a lot of new things and giving the game a fresh, new look that feels both distinct and respectful to its origins.
After a bit of preamble, I jumped straight into Rayman Legend Retold’s recreation of the game’s third world, “Fiesta de los Muertos,” now called “Mystic Mesa.” Now, unlike its predecessor, I actually only played the original Rayman Legends once, but I was genuinely amazed at how easy it was to get right back into the groove of things—like slipping on a pair of sturdy yet well-worn jeans. Despite being built in a new engine and adopting a whole new art style, the game still feels quintessentially like its predecessors.
“It does make sense that Rayman Legends Retold would get a glow-up like this, since the original was already adding more details and a painted aesthetic to its predecessor’s visuals.”
While the preview build was still a work in progress and some of the kinks still needed to be ironed out, every jump, glide, punch, and slide still felt as solid as its predecessor. Even with the increased graphic fidelity and added animation frames, it still maintains the feel of those single-frame motions that made the originals feel so precise and responsive. I think it’s fair to say a little more work could be done to really tighten up the experience, but from what I played, it still felt great.
Part of the preview included getting to try some of the new levels featured in Rayman Legends Retold—specifically one of the new Dragon Flight levels. These levels play similarly to Rayman Origins Mosquito Flight stages, shifting gears from a precision platformer to an intense Shoot ‘Em Up. However, whereas those levels were a complete 2D affair, these lean into the game’s new visual style by utilizing a range of dynamic camera angles.
The level began in a third-person perspective, then shifted to a top-down one, before shifting back—all punctuated by sweeping scenery that ran the gamut from a food-based fever dream, to Mexican-inspired architecture and rustic streets, to flying around a posing Luchador in a ring filled with lava—or possibly hot sauce. It was a moment that really drove home the biggest change of all in Rayman Legends Retold: the visuals.
It does make sense that Rayman Legends Retold would get a glow-up like this, since the original was already adding more details and a painted aesthetic to its predecessor’s visuals. And while I’ll always have a soft spot for the simple, cartoon style of Rayman Origins, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t add an interesting layer of dimensionality to the game—maintaining the fun and silly vibe while also adding a sense of grandeur to it.
And the game uses the new camera angles and visual style to pretty interesting effect in some levels. During my playthrough of the new “Macarena” Music Level, the demoist who was watching alongside me in case I needed any help mentioned how great it was to watch someone who was good at the game (her words, not mine) since she was able to focus on the elaborate background animations that highlighted the scene.
Watching back the video recording of my gameplay, I totally understood what she was saying, not just in that level, specifically, but many others. The added background details, use of more realistic lighting, and higher fidelity bring Rayman’s world to life in a way not really seen before. Honestly, it’s kind of a shame my demo was limited to the Mystic Mesa because seeing some of the earlier levels of Rayman Legends in the new style—like the ruined castles or toad-filled swamp—would’ve been a real treat.
“The added background details, use of more realistic lighting, and higher fidelity bring Rayman’s world to life in a way not really seen before.”
While it still needs a bit of polishing and maybe a bit of refinement, what I got to experience with Rayman Legends Retold left me pretty excited for the official release. It’s great to see an iconic character like Rayman getting the love and attention he so rightly deserves, and there’s clearly a lot of love and effort going into this remake—which explains why the release date got pushed from October 1st, 2026 to December 3rd 2026. If the developers can tighten up the experience and put that last bit of shine on, I think fans of the series will have something to really look forward to.
Rayman Legends Retold launches on Nintendo Switch 2, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S.
