Rayman Legends Retold

[Droolie]

Starting at 1:46 here is some interesting footage showing how the game is being made: https://youtu.be/9spxjtLvm_4?t=107
It still runs on the UbiArt engine internally, but the depth planes UbiArt runs on are mapped to curved surfaces in Snowdrop and enhanced with all kinds of 3D stuff. The way this pipeline was created, the developers' tools enable them to run the original UbiArt levels and the newer Snowdrop versions at the same time.

Whether or not this functionality will be available in the final version is anyone's guess. It seems the developers didn't have an answer to give when asked by VGC:

Some players, of course, may prefer the classic 2D look. Given that the two art styles play side by side so seamlessly in-engine, I ask whether players will also be able to toggle between the two art styles at will, Halo-style. “We don’t have an answer to give you on that at this time,” I’m told, somewhat cryptically. Read into that what you will.

Personally, I think it will be very difficult for them because they would have to make acceptable 2D versions of all the new stuff (hub, new levels, real-time cutscenes...), aside from the dragon sections obviously. Since they haven't marketed this switching system yet, I don't expect it. They would want the world to know if such a feature was coming.

Anyway, all this means modding will be quite difficult. To mod a level, you'd have to change the data used by the 2 different engines. I'll obviously try to add support for this (and Origins Enhanced) to my level editor ubi-canvas, but from my experience with Mario+Rabbids, Snowdrop is quite annoying modding-wise as there aren't any good tools for it yet. Even if there were, it would be a pretty tough extra step compared to the original Rayman Legends. Unfortunately, the PC version of this game will also use Denuvo, which will make this hybrid engine harder to reverse-engineer.

By the way, the video linked above describes how the tools/pipeline is mostly handled by Ubisoft Montpellier, whereas the assets, animations etc. are handled by Ubisoft Milan. That makes a lot of sense, as the new designs and cutscenes already felt very Sparks of Hope-y to me.

Some more new info in Julien Chieze's hands-on video at 13:13: https://youtu.be/ft7osnWQdrQ?si=1HFKkoiHF4A9hW__&t=793
They were told that the new villain or new story might be important even for the future of the series.
The power of light you gain in the Land of the Livid Dead makes the gameplay a bit more puzzle-like, allowing you can slow down or modify certain elements in the level.

[Sabertooth]

That's definitely the colosseum. I love the new map. It makes absolutely no sense in context of each game's storyline, but I don't care. They're making something resembling an effort to embrace the established world and history of the Rayman series, for the first time ever in a way many of us thought Origins was trying to do (only to be proven wrong when the game came out), and I'm optimistic.

Does a platformer video game series need a story and lore? No. Are Rayman's previous attempts at story and lore great? Of course not. Yet I don't care, because I love it. Sometimes things are good because they're good things, and other times they can be good just because you like them. Whether or not the former is true in this case is irrelevant to me now because the latter definitely is.

[BlueGoop222]

According to this article, it seems the fate of Rayman 4 does, in fact, rely on the sales of Rayman Legends Retold. Admittedly, the game does have a lot going for it - the huge glow-up the game's gotten, the enhanced edition of Origins being included with it, the whole package being $40 - but considering Ubisoft's habit of having sky-high sales expectations and deeming games like Sparks of Hope or the OG Legends "underwhelming" when they don't sell a billion units, we'd best cross our fingers and hope as many people support the franchise as possible.

Otherwise, we might be waiting another 13 years just for them to remake Legends again and for that to underperform in their eyes, and so the cycle will continue for all eternity...

Bro this is the 6th Rayman… and I’m really excited for it, it looks good!