Rayman Redemption

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Rayman Redemption is an unofficial remake and reimagining of the the original Rayman game, made by Ryemanni and released in 2020 for PCs running Microsoft Windows. Its final update, version 1.1.4, was released later the same year.

This reimagined version of Rayman 1 features nearly all content from that game and focuses on expanding it as well as refining its gameplay, story and difficulty.

The graphics remain mostly the same, using assets from Rayman 1, its ports and prototype versions, as well as spin-offs, such as Rayman Designer. Additionally, entirely new assets were created in the style of the original game. Rayman Redemption adds support for widescreen view and modern screen resolutions. While classic 4:3 is supported, the reduced visible range in this mode makes some locations awkward.

The soundtrack from the original Rayman remains intact aside from a few exclusions, and many additional tracks and sound effects were added. Some of the tunes return from Ryemanni's earlier game - Rayman: The Dark Magician's Reign of Terror.

Noteworthy changes include an entire new world known as Playtopia, new levels in most returning worlds, expanded and unified level design, new enemies and bosses including a true showdown with Mr Dark, customization through skins or Ting sound effects, new objects and power-ups, and Rayman starting with all of his abilities unlocked. A system of achievements and accompanying bonuses is present.

Development

Ryemanni (known on the forum as Raymanni) announced the project in a Rayman Pirate-Community forum thread on 17th May, 2018. Game Jolt was chosen as the distribution platform with updates and notifications being posted throughout the game's development and for post-release updates .

Rayman Redemption uses the GameMaker engine. It has been verified to work on Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 and 11. A demo was released on 15 June, 2019, and the first full version on 19 June, 2020, after 3 years in development . The final build, 1.1.4, was published on 18 November, 2020.

Plot

Rayman Redemption's plot remains the same as the original game, but with additions and some differences such as the inclusion of new characters, the Toontotems and a greatly changed and expanded final part of the story involving Mr Dark and the Great Protoon.

The game features every world and level from the original Rayman, but also adds some new ones such as Playtopia, Final Showdown and Dark Legacy.

The Dream Forest

The first world of the game is the Dream Forest, a lush jungle. Rayman's journey begins in a region known as Pink Plant Woods.

Band Land

The second world of the game is Band Land, a landscape composed of music and musical instruments. The first region Rayman passes through is Bongo Hills, an area relatively close to the ground, and with many drum platforms. Next, he reaches Allegro Presto, an airy location composed mainly of slippery sheet music.

Blue Mountains

The third world of the game is the Blue Mountains, a cold mountain range. The first level is Twilight Gulch, where Rayman finds himself chased by Mr Stone, the gigantic rock creature who is the boss of the Blue Mountains. The next area is the Hard Rocks, where no notable events occur.

Picture City

The fourth world of the game is Picture City, a landscape composed of artwork and art supplies. The first level is Eraser Plains, where Rayman encounters Space Mama, the boss of Picture City. She battles him while wearing a Viking costume, on a stage made to look like the sea.

The Caves of Skops

The fifth world of the game is the Caves of Skops, a series of dark but colourful underground caverns. The first level here is Crystal Palace, where nothing noteworthy occurs.

Playtopia

The sixth world of the game is Playtopia and is one of Rayman Redemption's new locations, a landscape mostly composed of various toys. The first level is Child's Play, where nothing notable occurs.

Candy Château

The seventh world of the game is Candy Château, a landscape composed of sweets and crockery. Rayman Redemption many new levels Rayman has to go through before the returning Mr Dark's Dare, with the first being Tasty Reception.

Final Showdown

The eighth and final main world of the game is Final Showdown, first available after Band Land as "???" before Mr Dark's first defeat. This world was inspired by the original game's SNES prototype.

Dark Legacy

A bonus ninth world added in Rayman Redemption and inspired by the world of the same name from the Game Boy Color version of Rayman.

Extra

Additional zones available in Rayman Redemption unlocked throughout the adventure. This includes the Magician's challenges, Betilla's garden, the shops, the Casino and the Breakout minigame. It also includes The Dark Magician's Challenge, one of the Magician's bonus levels, which is its own small bonus world and a throwback to Flint Jail from Rayman The Dark Magician's Reign of Terror.

Gameplay

Just like Rayman 1 and Rayman The Dark Magician's Reign of Terror, Rayman Redemption is a 2D side-scrolling platform game. The game takes place in a valley which is made up of eight different worlds with a few extra locations, some of which are natural (the Dream Forest, Blue Mountains, the Caves of Skops and Dark Legacy), while the others are 'imaginary' (Band Land, Picture City, Playtopia and the Candy Château). Each of these worlds excluding Final Showdown, Dark Legacy and the extras contain four levels, each with six cages with Electoons to find.

Rayman Redemption features three modes acting as a permanent difficulty setting for a save file: Classic, Casual, and Demise, the latter introduced in version 1.1.0.

• Classic behaves similarly to the original Rayman, with limited lives.
• Casual is a modern mode giving the player infinite lives. In this mode, lives cannot be bought in the Shop and will give the player some Tings instead when collected.
• Demise is a difficult mode introduced to challenge the player to the best of their abilities. In this mode, lives are limited can only be recovered by buying them in the Shop. Rayman starts with only one life point, which can still be increased by four, for a maximum of five default health points. Big Powers and Lives are rigged, damaging Rayman when he collects them. Cheat codes and checkpoints become unavailable, but the latter are still visible in levels and can be customised as usual. Due to these changes, the game is far more difficult and it is not possible to earn every achievement and a skin through usual means.

Replays

All levels (except Mr Dark's Dare) can be replayed an unlimited number of times, in any order. Unlike the original game, bosses and chases are always available, and same goes for dialogs and story events, excluding a few such as the corrupted version of The Lonely Cliff. Cages that have been broken will reappear as golden empty cages, awarding Rayman some Tings instead when broken. Gifts and Magician tokens which have already been obtained reappear as transparent versions of themselves, but won't reward Rayman with anything when collected. In some cases, backtracking is necessary, because certain items are out of reach until Rayman frees some particular Pink Helpers. Unlike Rayman 1, lives respawn later in levels and the player has infinite continues, making it far easier to keep a high number of lives.

List of powers and power-ups

In Rayman Redemption, Rayman starts with all of his abilities from the original game and never loses the grimace. He can also still climb and crawl. Instead, he can gain access to new areas by freeing the Pink Helpers and interacting with them and will receive new permanent upgrades and temporary power-ups. Shop upgrades can be turned off in the game's settings.

Permanent

• Grimace: Rayman can grimace to get rid of tall Livingstones which are scared of this. An achievement is also tied to this ability.
• Telescopic fist: Rayman's main power, which allow him to punch enemies to defeat them. It can be temporarily powered up by Golden Fists and Speed Fists.
• Hanging: Allows Rayman to hang onto ledges.
• Grappling fist: Rayman can use his fist to grapple onto pink rings which are scattered around the place, allowing him to reach high places and cross wide gaps. He can also use it to grab lives from afar.
• Helicopter: Rayman can use his odd-looking hair as a helicopter which only allows him to glide, and prolong his jumps. Unlike the original game, Rayman can glide indefinitely, similarly to its sequels.
• Running: Rayman's ability to move faster than walking. It also makes his jumps a lot longer and faster.
• Ting magnet: A shop upgrade allowing Rayman to attract Tings which are very near to him.
• Better power-ups: A shop ugrade which gives Rayman more extra health when collecting a Big Power.
• Cage locator: An upgrade bought at Joe's Wares pointing at cages located in the current section of a level.
• Item locator: An upgrade bought at Joe's Wares pointing at Magician tokens and gifts located in the current section of a level.
• Pink rings: Flying rings imprisoned in the Dream Forest's Toontotem. Freeing them will allow Rayman to grapple to them.
• Pink springs: Flying springs imprisoned in the Blue Mountains' Toontotem. Freeing them will allow Rayman to bounce on them.
• Pink poles: Flying poles imprisoned in the Caves of Skops' Toontotem. Freeing them will allow Rayman to climb on them.

Temporary

• Magic seed: Given to Rayman after helping Tarayzan and found later in some specific areas, Rayman plants seeds to help him reach ledges and escape floods or rising lava.
• Super helicopter: A potion that allows Rayman to actually fly with his helicopter hair.
• Paint fist: A rainbow fist power-up allowing Rayman to create temporary platforms out of paint on some background walls.
• Shrinking: Touching Blue elves makes Rayman tiny, which is useful for accessing areas which were too small for normal-sized Rayman to go through. He returns to normal size when he touches another Flying blue elf.
• Keys: Four coloured keys, allowing Rayman to open a door if he has the proper key.
• Master key: A unique key necessary to get past the Master Door in Brain Games.
• Invincibility: A power granted by the Great Protoon, making Rayman invincible and allowing him to defeat any enemy by touching them.

Power-ups

• Tings: Small blue bubbles used as a currency in the shops and are required for an achievement. Rainbow Tings, introduced in Rayman Redemption, will yield more Tings when Rayman grabs them.
• Powers: Comes in either a small red atom with a P on the front, or a large red one - the former gives Rayman one or two units of health, while the latter replenishes his entire health and gives extra health points until the next level or if he loses a life. In this game, big powers can keep increasing Rayman's health even further if he collects more. A very rare golden power is added to Rayman Redemption and has the same effect as the big power, at the difference that it gives Rayman far more extra health and acts as a Golden Fist and triple Speed Fist. Big powers are rigged in Demise mode, damaging Rayman.
• Speed Fist: Allows Rayman's fist to fly faster and further than normal. Picking up a second speed fist will further increase the speed and range, and a third one will improve the fist again. Losing a life will make it drop by one level. In Rayman Redemption, speed power-ups also affect Bzzit's projectiles.
• Golden Fist: Allows Rayman's fist to turn golden and be twice as strong. In Rayman Redemption, gold power-ups also affect Bzzit's projectiles.
• Life: Gives Rayman an extra life, as well as restoring his entire health. They are rigged in Demise mode and will damage Rayman.

Levels

The game contains 37 levels, 6 of them are bonus Bzzit levels, a new type of stage where Rayman will get to ride Bzzit again and earn extra Magician Tokens. Six extra areas are also available, with 24 bonus challenges from the Magician.

The Dream Forest

• Pink Plant Woods
• Anguish Lagoon
• The Swamps of Forgetfulness
• Moskito's Nest

Band Land

• Bongo Hills
• Allegro Presto
• Gong Heights
• Mr Sax's Hullaballoo
• Mosquitoes' Sonata (Bzzit)

Blue Mountains

• Twilight Gulch
• The Hard Rocks
• Mr Stone's Peaks
• Tempest Terror (new)
• The Highest Peak (Bzzit)

Picture City

• Eraser Plains
• Pencil Pentathlon
• Art Block (new)
• Space Mama's Crater
• Riding the Rainbow (Bzzit)

The Caves of Skops

• The Crystal Palace
• Eat at Joe's
• Molten Depths (new)
• Mr Skops' Stalactites
• Between a Rock and a Hard Place (Bzzit)

Playtopia

• Child's Play (new)
• The Playhouse (new)
• The Lair of the Chessmaster (new)
• Brain Games (new)
• Playful Flight (Bzzit)

Candy Château

• Tasty Reception (new)
• Choco Chambers (new)
• The Sweet Spot (new)
• Mr Dark's Dare
• The Candy Armada (Bzzit)

Final Showdown

• The Lonely Cliff (new)
• The End of the World (new)

Dark Legacy

• The Final Challenge (new)

Extra

• Magician's Challenges (new)
• Betilla's Garden (new)
• The Shop (new)
• The Casino (new)
• Joe's Wares (new)
• Breakout Minigame

The Lonely Cliff has two different variations, with the second one only being available during the end of the story when Mr Dark corrupts the world map.

Every bonus level from Rayman 1 has been excluded from Rayman Redemption, but the Magician offers instead three new bonus challenges for every world returning from Rayman 1 as well as Playtopia. Three extra trials are also available in his shop, one of which is a throwback to the Flint Jail world from Rayman The Dark Magician's Reign of Terror, while the other two pits Rayman against the bosses. All of these challenges are unlocked through the Magician tokens found throughout the game.

Soundtrack

The game features most of Rayman 1's PlayStation soundtrack, as well as some sounds and music taken from other games such as the main theme from the Atari Jaguar version of Rayman. The new tracks of Rayman Redemption were composed by Ryemanni, some of which are inspired by some pieces from a few versions of the original Rayman. This new soundtrack has been made available to download on the game's Game Jolt page, including three early versions of some tracks as an extra.

Reception

Rayman Redemption was received extremely favourably, being regarded by many players as one of the best Rayman games both fanmade and official and as the ultimate version of Rayman 1. Critism tends to focus on the difficulty of the final worlds and a few bonus challenges, considered rather unforgiving, albeit most of the game is viewed as considerably easier than the original.

See also

• Rayman The Dark Magician's Reign of Terror
• Rayman ReDesigner

External links

• Game Jolt page
• Discussion page