It was released for Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in April 2017, Nintendo Switch in December 2017 and Amazon Luna in October 2020.

The game follows chameleon Yooka and bat Laylee on their quest to retrieve a magical book from an evil corporation.

Yooka-Laylee received mixed reviews, with critics divided on whether emulating its predecessors was enough to make it a successful game, or whether it was purely trying to capitalize on nostalgia.

[12] Collectibles by the name of Mollycools are given to Dr. Puzz, an octopus scientist, in order to give Yooka and Laylee various transformations that grant them abilities.

After collecting 100 Pagies, Yooka and Laylee eventually confront and defeat Capital B in his office, where they learn that Hivory Towers is merely part of a bigger association named V.I.L.E.

They joined under the Twitter handle Mingy Jongo, the name of a boss from the second Banjo game, Banjo-Tooie, with cooperation from ex-Rare designers, including composer Grant Kirkhope.

Playtonic announced that they were planning a spiritual successor to the Banjo-Kazooie franchise titled Yooka-Laylee, formerly codenamed Project Ukulele.

[9] Yooka-Laylee features 3D worlds by environment artist Steven Hurst, who also worked on the Banjo-Kazooie series as well as Viva Piñata.

[7] Originally, character art director Steve Mayles imagined Yooka as a lion, but eventually made him a chameleon and created Laylee as a bat, because of how their abilities could accommodate the gameplay.

[30] The inclusion was announced by Shovel Knight developer Yacht Club Games following the release of Yooka's character trailer in September 2016.

[30][31] In March 2017, YouTube personality Jon "JonTron" Jafari, who was set to voice a character in Yooka-Laylee, had his voiceovers removed from the final game after making racist comments on a Twitch livestream.

[37] Shortly after Yooka-Laylee's release, Playtonic announced further updates to the game to address criticism of the in-game camera and controls while adding additional features and various other improvements.

[38] The game is published by Team17, who also assisted Playtonic with localization, product certification, quality assurance, marketing and general non-developer tasks.

It is currently the highest-funded UK video game in Kickstarter history, passing the previous record held by Elite: Dangerous,[44] earning £2,090,104.

In the same update, Playtonic Games announced that the Wii U version had been cancelled, with development duties moved to the Nintendo Switch.

[47][48] It was later explained that the decision to cancel the Wii U version is unrelated to the console's poor commercial performance, and that some of the developers expressed reluctance to do so.

[50][51] Limited Run Games announced to release physical copies for the Nintendo Switch in North America, starting in August 2018.

[54] Additionally, Playtonic Games was focusing their development efforts on the PC and Wii U versions, and originally giving the latter platform "the right attention" due to greater demand from Kickstarter backers, as well as nostalgia factors.

Steven Bogos of The Escapist positively referred to the game as "Banjo-Threeie", calling it "a nostalgic ride through time, bringing the collect-a-thons from the N64 era into the modern age".

[70] James Kozanitis of GameRevolution felt that Yooka-Laylee improved on the gameplay and structure of classic titles, in particular the relevance and importance of the collectables.

[61] Marty Sliva of IGN called Yooka-Laylee "a good reminder that this genre, once thought to be dead, still has some life left in it".

[65] Kallie Plagge of GameSpot similarly praised certain aspects such as the collectibles and non-linear structure, while also criticizing the uncooperative camera and in some instances convoluted level design.

[11] A spin-off, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, in contrast to the 2017 original, is the game set in 2.5D levels resembling those of the Donkey Kong Country series, although it does contain a 3D overworld.