Yooka-Laylee

This is a very strange game. I played it years ago and didn't like it. I've lately been trying to go back and re-play games that I never finished. Having re-played it, it's complicated to decide if it is good or bad.
This game leans very heavily on nostalgia, but it executes the imitation of a 90's era collect-a-thon very well. The visual style is very nice, the characters can be charming at times, and there are some fun themes to explore in the settings of the levels. However, when the game starts, it is very bad. The game wants you to unlock moves, per the style of the game it's imitating, but it doesn't give you enough options at the beginning. The lack of moves and options for the first half the game makes it just not fun. Additionally, the levels are too large. I don't mean that there is too much to do; rather, I literally mean that there is too much space. All the content is spread out, so the enjoyment is low-density in each map. They should have reduced the area of each level by 4X and spent a lot more time adding clearly visible landmarks through the levels for orientation (especially in the first level).
As the game goes on, you get more movement and combat options, making it more fun to play. The later stages (level 4 and 5) are also much much better the first three stages. This led to a strange experience of hating the game at first, to merely not enjoying, to feeling neutral, and to eventually really enjoying it by the time I got to last 10% of the game. Obviously, this is way too late and you can't expect the player to get through 90% of a sub-par game to get to the good stuff. When you get there, it is good stuff though! I feel conflicted because I genuinely had a great time at the end, but if you asked what I thought, most of the time I would have ripped the game apart.
All these things considered, I'm not fully sure how I feel about the game. I do believe it is a good game. It just takes way too long to become good. It tried too hard to emulate games of the past without understand exactly what made them tick, and that dedication to the past caused problems in the early parts of the game. If you like 3D platformer collection games, this is one of the better choices if you can get to the end of the game! If you are uncertain at all about this game, it's most likely a pass for you. But if you think you'll really like it, then try to stick with it a while so that you can get to the good stuff.

A very fun and charming 3D platformer that, while still having most of the same issues as games from the era, manages to perfectly capture that nostalgic and fun feel of classic 3D platformers in a fun way.

Having fun with this game so far. Cute little collect-a-thon platformer (obviously inspired by Banjo-Kazooie and other games like that from the late 1990s / early 2000s). I have to say though, the character voice acting is annoying as all hell... I get that it is trying to recreate the style from the classic games, but it's way too much. Definitely turn the voices down / off.

If you want a modern banjo kazooie game, this is it. It's got some nice QOL features and some modernization to smooth out the sharp parts of the experience from the earlier games. To get all the quills(-cough- notes) you no longer need to get them all in one attempt. The platforming is really well done and precise. It feels good, and it's rare that you miss a platform or something because of the camera or controls.
I waited a long time to play this one because of the somewhat mixed reviews I heard, and I shouldn't have.

100% this game twice now... Still holds up well. If you're thinking about trying this game, I'd recommend waiting for the remake.

This isn't nearly as bad as people say. In fact, it's quite good! It's a Banjo-Kazooie clone, warts and all. In my opinion it lacks a lot of the charm of its spiritual predecessor, but makes up for it with slightly better gameplay. I'd rank it a step beneath Banjo-Kazooie for sure, but the people acting like it's some sort of travesty are exaggerating. I was in the mood to play B-K but I don't have any present means to play it anymore, and this definitely scratched the itch.
I wouldn't buy it for full price, but it goes on sale a lot and I got it for only $5 and it was absolutely worth it.

Extremely underrated platformer, with very slippery controls, which take some getting used to, but after getting a few powerups the game opens up a lot. It feels like it could have done with a bit more polish with the controls, as games like super lucky's tale do it much better, and the camera seems to have a mind of it's own, but the gameplay is really fun, especially later on in the game, as i'm near the end at the time of this review.