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Yooka-Laylee Kickstarter passes £1.5m, free DLC promised at £2m

Playtonic shows its one-eyed trouser-wearing snake.

There's a new £2m Kickstarter stretch goal for Yooka-Laylee, the crowdfunded spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, that will unlock the game's first full-priced DLC for free to all backers.

Buddy platformer Yooka-Laylee yesterday passed its £1.5m Kickstarter stretch goal, which unlocked a fully orchestrated score.

Its developer, new British indie and ex-Rare developer refuge Playtonic Games, stressed the DLC will only enter production after all of its work for Yooka-Laylee is done - so the add-on won't be shown off prior to the main game's launch.

Playtonic also took the opportunity to reveal a new NPC character: a one-eyed trouser-wearing snake. He's named Trowzer.

"Trowzer is a business-snake whose career never took off," Playtonic revealed. "Not that he knows it - the smug, serpent salesman thinks he's the bee's knees (not that he has knees), and for a little dosh he'll teach you some of the slick moves he picked up on the high-stakes sales floor."

The game's funding drive still has 35 days to go, but is already nearing a total 10 times its initial £175k target - which it reached in under 40 minutes.

Playtonic is founded by and filled with ex-Rare employees, whose aim is to recreate the kind of small-team project worked on by their former employer back in its 1990s heyday.

Eurogamer recently visited Playtonic and went hands-on with Yooka-Laylee via a pre-alpha build.

Cover image for YouTube videoThree minutes of very early Yooka-Laylee gameplay (Hands-on Impressions)