A Kickstarter campaign for the successor to the Banjo-Kazooie game, called Yooka-Laylee, went live on May 1, proving to be an instant success.
It took only 38 minutes before the campaign reached its funding goal of $265,000. At the time of writing, there were over 23,000 backers and the campaign had reached over $1.2 million.
"The Playtonic team would like to sincerely thank you for your incredible support. From day one your response to our studio has amazed us—and now we can give you a bigger game, on your games platform of choice," said the team behind the game. "But it's not over yet: Crowdfunding will help us increase the scope of Yooka-Laylee, and if we do even better we'll be able to deliver some real dream features like a fully orchestrated soundtrack and simultaneous, physical release on all platforms."
The game has been so successful in its first day that it may end up taking the title of the most funded Kickstarter game ever, with the current champion being Exploding Kittens, which reached $8,782,571.
Much of the success of the game likely comes from who is developing it. Many of the developers have worked with game company Rare, which developed games like Donkey Kong Country and GoldenEye 007, all immensely successful games. Part of the team also worked on Banjo-Kazooie itself, which was released back in 1998. Since then, there hasn't been a follow-up to the game.
The game will include five worlds for gamers to explore, and players will even be able to expand these worlds by spending items that they collect during gameplay. Arcade machines are also hidden throughout the game, enabling users to play mini-games based on old-school arcade games.
"Using an arsenal of special moves like Yooka's tongue grapple and Laylee's tactical sonar blast, players will explore—and expand—gorgeous 3D worlds drawn up by esteemed environment artist Steven Hurst (Banjo-Kazooie series, Viva Pinata) and through skill discover the plethora of delicious collectibles hidden within," said the company on its Kickstarter page.
The game is expected to be released in 2016 to PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Wii U. The PC, Mac and Linux versions of the game will be released by October 2016, with the console versions coming a little later.
Backers can pre-order the game for only $15 for a PC version, or $22 for a console version of the game. Only time will tell if this game is as good as the original Banjo-Kazooie, but the game is sure to make you feel nostalgic!
