What should Rayman be?

[RayGamer99]

One thing that Rayman's world is not known for is its consistency. While most of his games, and at least all of the mainline ones, have shown the Glade of Dreams as a fantasy world, the way that they do that has varied from game to game.

Rayman 1 built its world with a blend of natural locations and more colorful and whimsical. Meanwhile, the sequel leaned hard on the former and took the world in a more magical, mysterious, and grounded direction while leaving the more surrealistic stuff behind. Rayman 3 took a similar approach to Rayman 2, but through a somewhat more comedic lens. Fast forward eight years, a few scrapped sequels, and too many Rabbids later, and Rayman Origins returns to Rayman 1's approach of natural landscapes and surreal environments. Rayman Legends takes a similar approach to Origins while also featuring elements of our world's culture and, well, legends.

Now that the franchise is over 30 years old, I want to hear from you guys: where should it go from here? What kind of world and characters should become the standard for Rayman? How would you guys shape an ideal, "perfected" form of the Glade of Dreams?

Would you want it to bring back the characters from previous games - and if so, which ones? - or should they mostly feature new faces and only keep the staple characters? Would you revert the characters from Rayman 1 back to their limbless designs, or do you think that only the nymphs need design changes? Do you like the humor of Rayman 3 and/or the UbiArt games, or should the series take itself more seriously like Rayman 2? Do you wish that the worlds and human characters of Rayman Legends never existed, or would you rather keep them in the Glade? Should each new game keep introducing new enemy factions, or should they decide on one or two villains (Mr Dark, the Dark Teensy, Razorbeard, etc.) to be recurring threats? And what should we do with the Rabbids?

To put it another way: in your minds, what should Rayman be going forward?

[Hugo]

R2 is my favourite by a large margin, and if I had the privilege of directing a new Rayman game, R2 would be the foundation for its vision.

I have great respect for the original and its expressions of pure phantasy. It is within R2's grounded scope that we can reach such surreal heights; you can't really do it the other way around. I would cite the Odyssey as an example: it is a serious, epic adventure set in a world we can relate to, yet Odysseus frequently encounters the bizarre and supernatural.

What I am trying to say is, you can have supernatural within the scope of the natural, but not really the other way round. The psyche is capable of interpreting metaphors and even seeing somewhat dimly into the future, but it cannot do this without plain old matter as its vehicle. So this is my 'logical' argument for R2 as a foundation, aside from me just liking it more.

I would implement those surreal elements in the form of enemies and environments, while keeping the overall tone like R2.

As for R3, while I enjoy how lighthearted it is, the main thing I'd want to import are its combat mechanics - in fact I'd want to build on them and make them even better. I'd like to keep the scoring system. I'd want to find ways to challenge players who have beaten the game and want stricter requirements to fulfil.

I don't think everyone should be limbless. This was born out of limitations that, by happy chance, led to Rayman having an iconic design. But it is precisely because it is iconic, that having limbless enemies or even other allies diminishes the effect. It has become Rayman's identity. Out of sheer chance he is this way, and life is much like that. We are all born ourselves, and though we inherit billions of traits from our ancestors, you are the only you that can ever exist.

[Hunchman801]

While I also love the pure fantasy of Rayman 1, it was more of a one-time thing, and the series departed from that style starting with Rayman 2. I agree that it wouldn't really make sense to discard everything after the first game and make everyone limbless again.

Personally, I think Rayman 3 would be the ideal foundation for the future of the series, while still integrating the best aspects of the other games. From Rayman 3, we should definitely keep the diversity of realistic environments, the humor and the combat mechanics. I also loved the cohesive feeling of being on a continuous grand journey all along.

However, I would want to include magical and mysterious ancient places, like the sanctuaries from Rayman 2. This would provide the perfect opportunity to balance the irreverent humor with mystical, serious, and darker passages, greatly enriching the overall tone of the game.

I also really liked the 3D renditions of Rayman 1's fantastical worlds that were made for Phoenix Studio's cancelled Rayman 4. Including a few of those would be a great way to add more variety to the Glade while acknowledging the universe of the first game.

Now what about the UbiArt games, you'll ask? Well, ditch the tone, for a start. No goofy humor, no pig latin, and no nymphs in skimpy clothes. All of that must go.

The 2D gameplay in those games is great, but I want Rayman to return to 3D, so it isn't as relevant here.

I do think some of the environments from Origins could be successfully adapted into 3D. But the ones from Legends are direct pastiches of real-world human legends, and I just don't think they belong in Rayman's universe. Neither do humans, and yes, that includes Barbara.

Am I gonna get my way? Probably not. But can a man dream? He sure can.

[Droolie]

I think Rayman should be whatever the team behind the game they're making wants their game to be.

There is really not much point trying to go for consistency with earlier games, I think. There is none, and has been none ever since Rayman 2. Any attempt at it has been superficial at best. So just do what you want. Whether the devs want to show us places based on human legends, or whether they want to show us fantastical places unlike any we've ever seen us before. Whether the characters have limbs or not. Whether the gameplay is a pure platformer, whether it's a racing game, whether it's dancing minigames and first-person shooters. All of these can be good, even great games. All of it can be Rayman. And for all of it, there will be Rayman fans who disagree that it's Rayman and want something else.

So I guess the question is not what Rayman should be, but what game you want more of, or what kind of game you would make if you were in charge.

So ignoring what would be cheaper or what would actually sell, here's what I would do: I would completely ignore Rayman 1, Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends, and not try to think hard about continuity with Rayman 2 or 3 either. I would however try to match the latter games in tone.

Rayman 2 has my favorite Glade of Dreams, and Rayman 3's world is quite nice too, so I would absolutely build upon that nature-filled world with the occasional temple or mystical place.
I liked the "nature vs industry" theme of Rayman 2 a lot, and since this would have made a return in Rayman Raving Rabbids I would have really liked to see that.
I do not want to see any kind of rendition of Rayman 1's fantastical worlds or UbiArt worlds as this simply does not fit with that kind of natural world -- unless, of course, it's meant to clash. If the fantastical elements are part of the "industry" created by the enemies, then that might be an interesting way to have this kind of environment.
Specifically, I would really like to see another Rayman game with Eric Pélatan's art.

As for enemies, I want a single big threat - like an organized army. Robo-Pirates in Rayman 2, Hoodlums in Rayman 3, Rabbids in Rayman Raving Rabbids. All of these are goofy, yet scary (the rabbids moreso in the prototype and first CGI teaser). Make it like that. And in tune with the "nature vs industry" theme, make the effects of their invasion visible in the world. Give us a reason to beat up those enemies and tell it not just through words - we've seen by now that Rayman doesn't need much of that - but through the world itself.
I don't want to see more than one "main antagonist group", as that feels a bit directionless. I can't say groups like the Toads or Jacquouilles or Darktoons, or the antitoons from Rayman 1, ever felt like any kind of threat at all. They are also just there, doing nothing, with not much of an impact on the world.

I like the idea of bonding with characters who can help you reach new places and fight off this big threat. This was in Rayman 2 with Ssssam, Clark and Globox and from an early draft, we've seen they were planning for Polokus and Ly to have roles like this as well. In RRR, they tried to make this a core part of the gameplay, with a spider helping you climb a giant robot so you can destroy it from the inside, or a bird to fly to new heights, or an anglerfish to explore the depths of the sea.
I don't like superhero stories. Rayman is not alone in his world, but only part of a bigger resistance. I want to see these ideas return and expanded upon.

Most of all, I want good music that understands and fits the tone the game is going for. I don't want the music to "sound like Rayman", but instead like the game that is being made. As you can guess I would probably want to bring back Eric Chevalier, too.

Anyway, that's just my thoughts. It doesn't sound like any of this will ever happen again with this series, and that's okay. I'll most likely play what they put out, if I think it looks worth it - and if not, there is an insane amount of great games to enjoy outside this series.

[Dark Skink]

You know I always wanted to make a reimagined version of the games with focus on the lore.

[Hunchman801]

Droolie's post makes me realize I did not say anything about the antagonists. I would like to see a new enemy faction, in the same vein as the Robo-Pirates and the Hoodlums but a different one. Making the old enemies return would feel lazy and unimaginative, but maybe the new ones could at some point leverage sone of the leftover technology from previous antagonists as a nice way to pay homage to them?

[Kiza/Raybox]

I mean, all the interpretations are beautiful but I prefer Rayman 3 looks of the Glade of Dreams since all the magic and mysteriousness is seen THERE the most. I'd even live there if I could. Plus this kind of glade looks, sounds and feels like home to me. I'd also like to see the Shadows, the darkest clones of anybody, and I mean ANYBODY! We have Dark Rayman, sure, but what if his footsteps made the Shadow Clots? Shadow Clots would be forming into anyone from the main cast, for example. I'd like to know if the idea of Dark Rayman being in R3 (don't confuse with Raymesis, I see them as different entities) and spreading dark clones while chasing Rayman is good or mediocre.

Anyway, yes, I'd like R3 looks the most.