Rayman Redemption Review

Written by serialexperimenter
Developer: @Raymanni
Release Date: 06/19/2020
Platform(s): PC
*Rayman Redemption* is a fangame that remakes and reimagines the original Rayman title created in Game Maker Studio. *Redemption* is a surprisingly faithful adaptation for a recreation in Game Maker Studio, with the physics feeling very similar to me, only a few thingss around the rings feeling noticeably different to me. While a faithful recreation of the basic physics and gameplay, it's a distinctly different game that reimagines a more modern take on the original Rayman game.

The original Rayman is a difficult game, with the later levels and most of the bosses causing me a lot of heartache as a kid. Redemption smooths a lot of these out. Rayman starts with most of his powers already unlocked, you do not have to unlock the ability to punch or use the helicopter hair anymore. The most dramatic change to his moveset is in the helicopter hair which now works like in the sequels, letting you slow your fall as long as you hold the jump button down. Additionally, you start off with more lives, have more HP, have infinite continues, and level layouts are made easier for the most part. Despite some of these changes to the difficulty, it is still very difficult in the late game and the bosses still continue to be healthsponges.

Redemption isn't exactly a replacement for the original game, it has a lot more differences than just a simple remake and is more of its own game. The original Rayman has about 18 levels, while Redemption has about 30 and the original levels have quite a few changes. The quality of these vary, but I appreciate it expanding on some of the one-off gimmicks from the original. Features like the super helicopter, bean sprouts, and moskito show up more often, and the Candy Chateau is expanded from the single level it was in the original game. I don't care for the dark level gimmicks where you only have rayman's fist providing light for the most part, but other new gimmicks such as the rainbow paint punches that create new platforms feel like they could have been in the original game.

A screenshot of the Toyland level

I do at times wish there were two version of this, one that was a more faithful version of the original with the extra lives and widescreen and one that contained all of this new content. While I do like a lot of the new content — the new world Playtopia looks a bit off in some of the backgrounds, but it does fit in style to the original game — the game can feel a bit unsure of its identity at times. Some decisions, such as removing some of the minor routing choices from the game feel strange, but as a whole I really enjoy Redemption's love for the original game and the series as a whole. There are new collectibles in each level and there are shops you can spend tings in. The shop with its unlockable skins (including the SNES prototype graphics) was a great addition.

If you enjoy the Rayman series, I'd recommend this game whole heartedly. I don't think it's a replacement for the originala or anything, but if you enjoy Rayman 1, this really scratches the itch of more content for Rayman 1. Ryemanni even made a new version of the old PC level editor that includes all of the features of Rayman Redemption and more. All-in-all a really cool fan project that makes me want to play the older Rayman games again.