Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is getting a free demo this week

Playtonic's colourful 2.5D platformer Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair will be getting a free demo on Steam this week, which you'll be able to grab on January 23. Playtonic tweeted the announcement on their Twiter, saying it's a great opportunity for players to try before they buy. 

The studio also tweeted that the demo would include an assortment of levels, a "Pagie Challenge," a bunch of tonics for Yooka to try that offer special perks, and the titular Impossible Lair itself. Playtonic also specifies that all progress made in the demo carries over if you decide to purchase the main game. You can spend as much time as you want with it, too, as there's no time limit. 

Impossible Lair is the second game in the Yooka-Laylee series, which started back in 2017. The spin-off sees Yooka and Laylee leave the world of 3D sandbox behind and take on 2.5D platforming. We played Impossible Lair back in June and called it "basically Donkey Kong Country on PC."  James described it has a near-perfect recreation of the DK's weight and momentum, which is no surprise since some of DK Country's creative talent worked on Impossible Lair. 

Playing as Yooka with Laylee ready to jump in and help out, you must roll, dodge, and jump though a number of side-scrolling levels avoiding capital B's minions, picking up a bunch of collectables, and freeing the royal bees.

See more

The Impossible Lair tasks Yooka and Laylee with thwarting Capital B's plans once again who this time wants to control the bee civilisation. To stop his plan, you'll need to help Queen Bee by freeing her royal Beetallions. 

Rachel Watts

Rachel had been bouncing around different gaming websites as a freelancer and staff writer for three years before settling at PC Gamer back in 2019. She mainly writes reviews, previews, and features, but on rare occasions will switch it up with news and guides. When she's not taking hundreds of screenshots of the latest indie darling, you can find her nurturing her parsnip empire in Stardew Valley and planning an axolotl uprising in Minecraft. She loves 'stop and smell the roses' games—her proudest gaming moment being the one time she kept her virtual potted plants alive for over a year.