Rambling about the Rayman Remake
Back in October 2024, it was rumoured and quickly confirmed by Ubisoft that they are indeed working on some kind of project in the Rayman franchise. While I was convinced the rumour was for both a remake and a new game, going back to the topic it seems it was only ever a remake. Not that I’m complaining of course.
This article was originally going to be about which of the three original titles would be seeing the remake treatment but given that the apparent codename for the project is ‘Project Steambot’, it’s pretty obvious it’s going to be Rayman 2 (in which the main enemy faction are robot pirates). The question then becomes, which one?
Much like Resident Evil 4 or the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Rayman 2 has seen a ton of rereleases. The difference being that the different editions of Rayman are substantially different. They all follow the same general plot but some are more expanded than others.
Take for example the PS2 version, Rayman Revolution. This is the version I played and the one I want them to remaster as it is easily the best - full voice acting (though I do like the ‘Raymanese’ of other titles, basically Simmish), expanded levels, new levels and it’s all connected by an open* world known as The Front. The Front isn’t open in your traditional modern way but in that there’s three hub worlds stitched together which let you enter levels at any time. If the player wanted, they could run from the exit of the tutorial, the Woods of Light all the way to Rainbow Creek - the third and final hub. Obviously there’s some loading screens but still. Even better yet, the levels that were cut from other versions - The Walk of Life, The Walk of Power and Top of the World - are included as mini games.
The version they don’t want to take from is the PS1 version which significantly cut down on the games content and is widely considered to be the worst version of the game. There is also the versions that appeared on the N64 and Dreamcast, which had different versions of a level select menu - the Hall of Doors and Isle of Doors respectively. I wouldn’t mind if these were the versions we got but I can’t reiterate enough how much of an improvement that Revolutions world was comparatively.
It’s interesting to note that original creator Michel Ancel is returning to the project as a creative consultant. Ancel’s controversies aside, this says to me that this remake is going to be more than just a fancier remaster and might make some bigger changes to the game. I only say this as Ancel wasn’t brought on for the 20th anniversary edition of Beyond Good and Evil which is his other baby, so this must be important.
Before now, I would have been happy for them to just port the original game onto modern platforms, give it trophies and a £25 price tag and I would have swooped on it. Now, with the remake being all but confirmed and being headed by the Milan team (who made the Rayman DLC for Mario & Rabbids 2), this has shot up to be one of my most anticipated games. I sincerely doubt it releases in 2025 but a reveal this year and a release in 2026? I’m counting down the days.
