Rayman Legends Retold aims to put vibrant new paint on familiar platforming magic

Ubisoft has given Rayman Legends a facelift, but the excellent feel of the classic platformer is still intact with a few new bells and whistles.

Well, the Teensie is out of the bag. Rayman Legends Retold is happening. It’s a 2.5D remake of the original with a few new features to show for it, and recently, I got to play a hefty helping of an early version of the game. It feels great and is still silly as all get-out, and that’s what matters to me, but I also think the additions to the original adventure are shaping up to be a good time.

Dark times in the Glade of Dreams

The events of Rayman Legends Retold are pretty much on the same page as the original. The evil Magician has gained enough nightmare power to bring nasty times to the Glade of Dreams, which includes kidnapping magical Teensies, and so Rayman, Murfy, Barbara, and the remaining Teensies set out to save the day.

I got to play about a dozen levels of Rayman Legends Retold, running across the two biomes. The 2.5D art style might be jarring at first, but it does keep the charm of the characters intact and expressive. It grew on me the more I played, and it’s neat to see the reimagined vast world in this style with new details and a little extra spice where applicable.

What I feel everyone will be happy to hear is that the platforming was delightfully familiar. Rayman still has the options to punch up, left, or right, or do a ground pound, as well as sprinting, hovering in air, jumping off walls, swimming, and grabbing vines to swing on them. And it all feels smooth as silk. I was playing on a remote session where there was naturally internet connection input lag, and it still felt polished and satisfying to handle (which feels like it bodes well for the online co-op).

The levels and worlds are filthy with collectibles, secrets, and optional challenges, too. The goal in any level is just to get to the end, but there are Teensies hidden throughout that add to an overall amount you need to unlock further content and progress in the game. You don’t have to get all of them, but figuring out where each one is hiding is part of 100 percenting the game. Plus it unlocks bonus content and challenges, some of which are pretty tough. I thought I had a particularly hard one figured out, but it put me in my place several times over and I had to move on for the sake of time. I was, nonetheless, having fun figuring it out.

There’s new content in Rayman Legends Retold as well, and one of the new features that was heavily shown were new dragon riding levels. Rayman and pals get dragons at some point and you have to ride them through levels, grabbing collectibles and dodging danger along the way. They’re mostly cinematic on-rails segments that feel kind of like Star Fox levels and getting hit reduces the amount of Teensies you get at the end, so playing them perfectly will be a rewarding challenge. I did enjoy the spectacle they had for us in those levels, but they were also a relatively small part of what I played.

No longer relegated to DLC

Rayman finally has his own game again, and it’s feeling good. Of course, how could it not when it’s chasing after the vibes of one of Ubisoft’s best games ever? I was impressed with what I saw so far. The 2.5D style grew on me fast as the charm of the characters seeped through, and the platforming feels as deliciously on-point as it ever did. We still have a lot to see, but if Ubisoft can deliver the full package at the level that this small taste played, I think we can all look forward to falling in love with Rayman Legends all over again.

This preview is based on a PC remote-play version in a secured playtest with the publisher. Rayman Legends Retold comes out on October 1, 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

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