Do you prefer the fantastical or more realistic worlds of the Rayman series?

[Tribelle2026]

Do you prefer Rayman 1, Origins and Legends' more fantastical worlds or the more grounded, realistic (for the most part) worlds of Rayman 2 and 3?

I prefer the fantastical worlds.

[Hugo]

The ubiart games are definitely freer in imagination. Like Alice in Wonderland there is a sense of "anything goes". If we were to speak in terms of art, one might compare the ubiart worlds to the works of Hieronymus Bosch. It is also true to Rayman 1 in that respect, even if the games are vastly different.

Rayman 2 has its roots in traditional fairytales, and all those tones and impressions from the past and present are consolidated into a rich, abstract art.

Rayman 3 feels like it wants to go in both directions and I consider that a bit of a failing, at least as far as the world goes.

I don't think I have a preference for either direction. One is novel and one is classical. But personally I find the ubiart games only shine when played with friends to share in the comedic quirkiness of the world. It doesn't engage me as a solo player.

[Greengoop]

Sizzling hot take, but I think Rayman Legends is better than 1/O in the sense of Whimsicality, and you can probably infer which one I like more from that

[Barakon]

Do you prefer Rayman 1, Origins and Legends' more fantastical worlds or the more grounded, realistic (for the most part) worlds of Rayman 2 and 3?

I prefer the fantastical worlds.

Rayman 2 & 3 are realistic? I thought they were just a different flavor of surreal.

I prefer the fantastical because that's something I consider a core aspect of Rayman & what makes it different from Mario or Sonic.
It's the platformer of the geeks who'd always doodle in the corner & talk about their game ideas at recess or in other words; autism the game. If not surreal, then what is Rayman? I feel like legends is the least of the fantastical games because the world feels so disconnected. It's like they were too busy appealing to Nintendo to remember/stick by their own identity. As a result the various levels feel disconnected & boring.

I mean the food world in legends is just food laying about in some massive unknown kitchen where everything is slowly decaying. Rather than being a food BIOME that's alive & somehow inexplicably keeps everything fresh or a vein of cavernous kitchens which all prepare enormous amounts of food that is carried out to exquisitely sculpted glacier castles that act as city state restaurants & hotels. The windworld is just some series of overgrown vines, rather than a musical BIOME which grows instruments out of the ground like trees or cacti. & don't get me started on OLYMPUS MAXIMUS, which might as well just be the STEREOTYPICAL GREEK level, much like how most desert levels in at least mario if not any other platformer has at least SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE STEREOTYPES OF EGYPT. Yeah in Rayman 1 there's that 1 background where you fight Mr.Skops, but at least there it's mashed with the greek laybrinth & IS AN UNDERGROUND CAVE WORLD! Yeah there might be tomb levels but you don't usually see egypt levels take underground. The only other game I saw that in is maybe heroes of might & magic 3.

THE ONLY WORLD I BELIEVE IS WORTH WHILE IN LEGENDS IS 20,000 LUMS UNDER THE SEA! Which is a spy movie villain lair in the sea of serendipity. I like it & some of the tower collapsing climb up levels cuz it shows how the world changed since origins & therefore another concept I find important for Rayman; How a constantly changing world. Yes I genuinely believe the soft rebooting every game does is a good thing & still consistant in universe. It's an absurd & chaotic world, so of course who's to say they're always gonna be in the same forest at the beginning, or the same region in the glade throughout, or even that the glade is gonna look the same in the next title. As long as the magic is still there & Rayman is still the main character it's a-o-kay!

Except in legends, it's the like the magic & whimsy is dying, & it's not important to the plot like it was in Rayman 2. In fact, there is no plot, there is no fairy tale this time, just a series of levels, & some pseudo micro-transactions. I like it when the nonsensical plot has a nonsensical effect on its nonsensical world & nonsensical characters because it sparks the imagination & endears me to the game! When you don't have that I wonder why am I even playing & get bored. If legends was about a series of smaller stories that happened in the various locations we got, & was almost episodic then maybe the paintings could have worked as pictures on a page of a picture book or something. Imagine if it was presented as "Polokus' nightmares cursed a glitterbook or choose your adventure book. Now Rayman & friends have to defeat the villains of said book to free the glade from its cruelty/escape its pages/ stop it from eating the heart of the world/to beat an in universe game because they think it's fun & giggles."

I mean I would have even accepted a more chill slice of life game where we got to have Rayman hangout & surf or something, or a game where you help various residents of the glade with smaller problems, like saving cats from trees & stuff. But no, Elas Mansay is back, is clone, yet is bowsering instead of sending an army of robots or brainwashed cyborg undeads or even lab grown monsters or tears in space & time after us. No seriously, why was he trying to kidnap that lady in Legends? I just wanna know why does this game feel so anti climactic or why it just went for the "evil bad guy kidnaps girl" instead of fully focusing on the set up of TOADY WORTY [WHATEVER GLOBOX IS] PILLAGERS ARE RAVAGING THE GLADE, GO STOP THEM! I would have been happy if Elas Mansay & his 4 clones were just the ones who lead that army of pillagers to claim lums & teensies as slaves that Rayman had to free or something. But what we got was too generic & a nuthin' burger to fit the franchise. It's not even that it's pointless, it's that it's too plain with no sense of journey. What I want from Rayman is a crazy & weird journey, even if it's something that's as simple as an auction, or a party, or a race, or even going 'round being some errand boy.

Tldr; Rayman is Ena & Ena is Rayman, touch grass & eat bass.

[Greengoop]

don't get me started on OLYMPUS MAXIMUS, which might as well just be the STEREOTYPICAL GREEK level, much like how most desert levels in at least mario if not any other platformer has at least SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE STEREOTYPES OF EGYPT.

Geez Louise much crack did you put in your ramen soup? It’s not supposed to be “stereotypical Greek” it’s supposed to merge myths of Greek mythology and the childlike dreamworld of Rayman. Mario’s desert world is Komodo Dragon shit because it’s just the same murky colour of brown with the most obnoxious platforming and enemies, that has nothing to do with Egyptian culture, history or geography. And whilst we’re on the topic of Egypt…

[Master]

Truth be told I don't necessarily mind the more fantastical, I really enjoyed the locales in Origins and Rayman 1 as much as I do the ones in the 3D games. I think for me personally it's the balance of how abstract vs recognisably "human" the influence feels. It's a bit of an oxymoron to say that I suppose, given that any environment in the series is going to take inspiration from a human perspective, but I think what bothered me about Legends' environments was how explicitly and narrow the human focus was, I like the inspiration to be more abstract or broad strokes (think the celtic imagery in Rayman 2, or the carvings in the deserts), rather than an explicit reference to something in particular.

I'm not going to pretend there's any sense of justifiable objective truth to my standpoint, more it's just my own personal preference. The presence of food items or instruments didn't really bother me much with Desert of Dijiridoos, Band Land or Gourmet Land, for instance.

[Mantidil]

Do you prefer Rayman 1, Origins and Legends' more fantastical worlds or the more grounded, realistic (for the most part) worlds of Rayman 2 and 3?

I prefer the fantastical worlds.

You could also include Rayman M / Arena among the more “realistic” worlds imo. Though maybe realistic isn’t the right word based on what was mentioned above.

No hate to the more cartoony, fantastical games like R1 and Origins/Legends, but I was first introduced to the series through the 3D games so that more grounded, fairy tale-esque world is my preferred take on the series.

[The Jonster]

THE ONLY WORLD I BELIEVE IS WORTH WHILE IN LEGENDS IS 20,000 LUMS UNDER THE SEA! Which is a spy movie villain lair in the sea of serendipity. I like it & some of the tower collapsing climb up levels cuz it shows how the world changed since origins & therefore another concept I find important for Rayman; How a constantly changing world. Yes I genuinely believe the soft rebooting every game does is a good thing & still consistant in universe. It's an absurd & chaotic world, so of course who's to say they're always gonna be in the same forest at the beginning, or the same region in the glade throughout, or even that the glade is gonna look the same in the next title. As long as the magic is still there & Rayman is still the main character it's a-o-kay!

Hahahahah this is my thought exactly! 20,000 Lums Under the Sea was the ONLY notable world for me In Legends that I really enjoyed! I just wish there were more levels that involved the sea (maybe there were more than 2 or I need to play Legends some more).

Geez Louise much crack did you put in your ramen soup? It’s not supposed to be “stereotypical Greek” it’s supposed to merge myths of Greek mythology and the childlike dreamworld of Rayman. Mario’s desert world is Komodo Dragon shit because it’s just the same murky colour of brown with the most obnoxious platforming and enemies, that has nothing to do with Egyptian culture, history or geography. And whilst we’re on the topic of Egypt…

Where is the "childlike dreamworld of Rayman" in Olympus Maximus????? I must question your authenticity of Rayman from Rayman Legends. Am I going to have to revoke your Rayman from Rayman Legends fan badge?

[Hunchman801]

I love the fantastical worlds we get to visit in Rayman 1, but they have yet to be made to work in a 3D game. The artwork drawn for Phoenix's Rayman 4 looked promising, but it never really made it past that stage.

At least, the realistic environments have been proved to work well in 3D with Rayman 2 and 3, while still feeling at times very oneiric and mysterious. I look forward to seeing more of those in future (3D ) Rayman games.

The ubiart games are definitely freer in imagination. Like Alice in Wonderland there is a sense of "anything goes". If we were to speak in terms of art, one might compare the ubiart worlds to the works of Hieronymus Bosch. It is also true to Rayman 1 in that respect, even if the games are vastly different.

What a coincidence, I was in Madrid just a week ago and got to enjoy The Garden of Earthly Delights for the second time while visiting the Museo del Prado again. Bruegel the Elder's The Triumph of Death is also quite something.

[Rsandee]

I liked them both and I would have also liked to visit the fantastical places in Rayman 4. One caveat: I never want to revisit Picture City because that's my Rayman 1 Vietnam.

[Greengoop]

Where is the "childlike dreamworld of Rayman" in Olympus Maximus????? I must question your authenticity of Rayman from Rayman Legends. Am I going to have to revoke your Rayman from Rayman Legends fan badge?

I guess the fact that it looks very vibrant and has weird visuals is what I meant. Hard to put into words so I just said that.

[RaypersonNikol]

I'm gonna say all of the above because I'm not picky. At least I hope I don't sound that way.

[Kiza/Raybox]

Well I'd tell both of them are in my fave list, which I already did moments ago

[Cho-Choo]

Hmm, i honestly like both (i'm not really picky lol), but i think my cup of tea would be the balance between the both.
Not so fantastic but neither so realistic, so i guess you could say i prefer a surrealims hybrid between the two.

Buuuuut at the same time i think i would go more for the realistic and i'm probably just saying that because i really love the Rayman 3 enviroments lmao

THE ONLY WORLD I BELIEVE IS WORTH WHILE IN LEGENDS IS 20,000 LUMS UNDER THE SEA! Which is a spy movie villain lair in the sea of serendipity. I like it & some of the tower collapsing climb up levels cuz it shows how the world changed since origins & therefore another concept I find important for Rayman; How a constantly changing world. Yes I genuinely believe the soft rebooting every game does is a good thing & still consistant in universe. It's an absurd & chaotic world, so of course who's to say they're always gonna be in the same forest at the beginning, or the same region in the glade throughout, or even that the glade is gonna look the same in the next title. As long as the magic is still there & Rayman is still the main character it's a-o-kay!

Hahahahah this is my thought exactly! 20,000 Lums Under the Sea was the ONLY notable world for me In Legends that I really enjoyed! I just wish there were more levels that involved the sea (maybe there were more than 2 or I need to play Legends some more).

Omg, same here, i wish they explored more the underwater enviroments in Rayman games in general (especially in Rayman 3, the fact that the underwater world went unused...sad :<)