As of this post, I've completed the game 100%, including Steam achievements.
Now that I've had the full experience, I can provide an honest review on the game.

=====The Nostalgia=====
It's great. It's nostalgic. It's a visually pleasing game. And it's definitely one to play.
Granted it may not be THE perfect platformer or one that may hit all the notes right, it's still, in my opinion, a worthy game in its entirety.

I grew up playing the original Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie during the days of Rare and Nintendo 64 (I emulated Conker's Bad Fur Day via Dolphin too). There was a fine mix of obsessive collecting, open fields with simple and multiple pathways to proceed, characters that breathed life into the games, and unforgettable tunes we hum to ourselves.

Playtonic and Team 17 did their best to revive the glory days into a more modern design with vivid colors, high resolution textures, yet retain the same charm and inspiration from the good ol' days.

=====The Game=====
+ I rate it anywhere from 85%-100% and definitely recommend this game.
+ Feel of 90s nostalgia
+ The mechanics (including movement and controls), characters (fun and lively), sounds (BG music and effects), levels (size and complexity), visuals (lighting, depth of field, hi-res textures) and progress throughout the game (from start to finish) are substantial
+ Overall gameplay can feel very reminiscent of the past.
+ Wide and vivid worlds

- Bits of Yooka-Laylee will feel original yet unoriginal.
- Despite bringing back memories of the past, Yooka-Laylee may not be a game you'll look back to years from now.

=====The "Ugly"=====
- Collectibles (especially the quills) are scattered and have almost no pattern or are grouped well (example: In Banjo-Kazooie, music notes would be in a row, clustered, or spaced out depending on the environment. If you collect as you go, missing notes would generally mean that a particular area was not discovered or triggered. In Yooka-Laylee, quills are easily missed and are sometimes placed in bizarre places. Don't you just hate it when your progress is something like 99/100 (or 199/200)? There's a tonic for that, but it doesn't resolve the problem in the first place.)

- Expanded Worlds is an awesome concept, giving you a sample of the world and what to expect of it, and then expanding and opening up to more adventure. [For instance, have some pagies to open a world. And for a few more pagies, you can expand it to collect even more.] Sounds great. This works perfectly for the first world. But the concept falls apart instantly when you open the second world and so on ("I have enough pagies to expand now; of course I'll do it!"). What happens from there is that you experience a world beyond from what you were suppose to initially experience; went past the before and straight into the after. How do we know what the world looked like before? I'm not going to start another game to see the worlds post-expansion. Why? I've finished it.

- *AT THE TIME OF THIS POST* There's a special tonic that no one can use, even after achieving 100%. "64-BIT", says to be "coming soon" and "Go Retro!". It is locked and may be considered DLC. There's a Nintendo Switch version in the works, so the DLC may come out then. One part of it makes sense (once the game is out on desired platforms, release the DLC), but another part of this makes the game feel incomplete (making a game with a feature we can't use while working on something else).

=====The Price=====
I purchased Yooka-Laylee when it was on sale. It's up to you if you want to pay the full $40 price tag, but still worthy of your wallet for sure.

=====Overall=====
You can nit-pick the tiny things and make it seem like a big deal, but you can't deny that Yooka-Laylee is a worthy game in it of itself and is a reminder of what things were like before. It's fun, beautiful, well rendered, and plays rather smooth. This is one I appreciate, and I'm sure it's a game that others can appreciate as well. It's a blast from the past, brought into modern daylight. It may not be the best, but it's what we have that brings us close to our happy past.

As of this post, I've completed the game 100%, including Steam achievements. Now that I've had the full experience, I can provide an honest review on the game. =====The Nostalgia===== It's great. It's nostalgic. It's a visually pleasing game. And it's definitely one to play. Granted it may not be THE perfect platformer or one that may hit all the notes right, it's still, in my opinion, a worthy game in its entirety. I grew up playing the original Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie during the days of Rare and Nintendo 64 (I emulated Conker's Bad Fur Day via Dolphin too). There was a fine mix of obsessive collecting, open fields with simple and multiple pathways to proceed, characters that breathed life into the games, and unforgettable tunes we hum to ourselves. Playtonic and Team 17 did their best to revive the glory days into a more modern design with vivid colors, high resolution textures, yet retain the same charm and inspiration from the good ol' days. =====The Game===== + I rate it anywhere from 85%-100% and definitely recommend this game. + Feel of 90s nostalgia + The mechanics (including movement and controls), characters (fun and lively), sounds (BG music and effects), levels (size and complexity), visuals (lighting, depth of field, hi-res textures) and progress throughout the game (from start to finish) are substantial + Overall gameplay can feel very reminiscent of the past. + Wide and vivid worlds - Bits of Yooka-Laylee will feel original yet unoriginal. - Despite bringing back memories of the past, Yooka-Laylee may not be a game you'll look back to years from now. =====The "Ugly"===== - Collectibles (especially the quills) are scattered and have almost no pattern or are grouped well (example: In Banjo-Kazooie, music notes would be in a row, clustered, or spaced out depending on the environment. If you collect as you go, missing notes would generally mean that a particular area was not discovered or triggered. In Yooka-Laylee, quills are easily missed and are sometimes placed in bizarre places. Don't you just hate it when your progress is something like 99/100 (or 199/200)? There's a tonic for that, but it doesn't resolve the problem in the first place.) - Expanded Worlds is an awesome concept, giving you a sample of the world and what to expect of it, and then expanding and opening up to more adventure. [For instance, have some pagies to open a world. And for a few more pagies, you can expand it to collect even more.] Sounds great. This works perfectly for the first world. But the concept falls apart instantly when you open the second world and so on ("I have enough pagies to expand now; of course I'll do it!"). What happens from there is that you experience a world beyond from what you were suppose to initially experience; went past the before and straight into the after. How do we know what the world looked like before? I'm not going to start another game to see the worlds post-expansion. Why? I've finished it. - *AT THE TIME OF THIS POST* There's a special tonic that no one can use, even after achieving 100%. "64-BIT", says to be "coming soon" and "Go Retro!". It is locked and may be considered DLC. There's a Nintendo Switch version in the works, so the DLC may come out then. One part of it makes sense (once the game is out on desired platforms, release the DLC), but another part of this makes the game feel incomplete (making a game with a feature we can't use while working on something else). =====The Price===== I purchased Yooka-Laylee when it was on sale. It's up to you if you want to pay the full $40 price tag, but still worthy of your wallet for sure. =====Overall===== You can nit-pick the tiny things and make it seem like a big deal, but you can't deny that Yooka-Laylee is a worthy game in it of itself and is a reminder of what things were like before. It's fun, beautiful, well rendered, and plays rather smooth. This is one I appreciate, and I'm sure it's a game that others can appreciate as well. It's a blast from the past, brought into modern daylight. It may not be the best, but it's what we have that brings us close to our happy past.