Although Rayman feels like a series that has been around for decades and never gone away, the last mainline release was 13 years ago. Some mobile runner titles and the 30th anniversary version of the original game have been released since, but 2013’s Rayman Legends was the last brand-new game to see the light of day.
Now, Ubisoft Montpellier is remaking the brilliant 2D platformer, and I spoke to Loïc Gounon, Brand Producer on Legends Retold, about why the remake is the start of rebuilding the franchise.
I asked Gounon why the team decided to fully remake Legends, instead of just remastering it. “I think one thing we wanted to start is rebuilding the IP, relaunching Rayman for real,” he said, “and we felt Legends constitutes the most complete version of the world of Rayman in a way, in terms of the set of characters, the variety of elements.”
But he also believes there is more that could be done to improve Legends beyond simply making it look prettier, as a remaster would achieve. “Looking at it, even though it’s a 92 Metacritic, when you objectively ask, ‘What was the story?’ You’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t really know.’ Or where’s the ending? Or where’s the UI? And suddenly, even though it’s a very good game, there was room for improvement, and that’s what led us more towards the remake road than a remaster.”
Ubisoft Montpellier wants Legends Retold to just be the start of the franchise’s rejuvenation. I asked Gounon whether he’d like to see more games like Legends, more like the 3D platformers from 20 years ago, or something new. “I would say a bit of everything,” he replied.
“If the franchise is successful, I will not say no to anything. Basically, I think there have been successful 2D [games] that are now becoming 2.5D that have their own benefit. You know, having fun with friends from one to four players, easy to pick up, etc. Now, Legends has a bit more story, and there are the more engaging games like Rayman 2 and Rayman 3, that are more adventurous, exploration-based. I think both formats work well, and could still work well in the future. So even though we also explore spin-offs, mobile, etc, I think at least those two main lines of the franchise could make sense in the future, so then we’ll see where that game is taking us and what we want to do next.”
So while Gounon is excited by the changes being made to Legends, he’s also open to where the series will go after it. I’d love to see another 3D platformer, which takes inspiration from the ingenuity shown by the likes of Astro Bot and Mario Odyssey, and I’m glad Ubisoft is open to all the possibilities, too.
