If you somehow missed the news, Rayman is back – at least with a remake. Ubisoft has returned with a brand new take on the series’ most recent mainline release, Rayman Legends.
It’s actually been thirteen years since we originally saw Rayman Legends. Ubisoft has now returned to this one with a full graphical overhaul that’s now in 3D / 2.5D. Things don’t stop there though as the team is adding a bunch of new content to the original experience.
To learn more about what fans can expect, we recently caught up with Ubisoft Milan production director Alessandro Arndt Mucchi and realization / animation director Marco Renso. The two talked about why Rayman Legends is back, how it came to be, the engine, new content, Kung Foot and more.
Below is our full discussion:
Rayman Legends is already considered to be an acclaimed game. So what was behind the decision not only to remake the game, but to do it in 3D?
Alessandro: So what we are doing right now, we are basically setting the starting point for the future of Rayman. We wanted to talk to our fans and also open the doors to all of the new people who didn’t have the chance to play Rayman in all the time has passed from the last game, which is Legends since its release in 2013.
So why Legends? Why remake it with this ambition? There are two pillars we have on this topic. The first one is on gameplay side. Legends is very solid on gameplay, so it felt like a good place to start from to rebuild the future of Rayman. The other pillar is on the world building and the story and the lore.
And Legends, it’s kind of two-folded on this front, because on one end, it’s offering you a look into a very diverse world, the Glade of Dreams, the world of Rayman. But on the other end, it’s offering you this look in a bit of a disjointed way. The story is a bit all over the place. You jump from one place to another. So we felt, hey, there’s a super rich story here, super rich lore here. We can tie it all together and retell the story of Rayman Legends.
And this is why we picked it for the 3D side of it. I think that Marco can give you a few more hints.
Marco: Yeah, the choice of 3D is because it brings challenges, but also opportunities. We wanted to bring a feeling of adventure into the game and immerse the player into the Glade of Dreams, which is a beautiful universe. And 3D allows us to, for example, push the perspective, bend the levels, and also with the cutscenes, to make the characters feel more alive. So for us, it was the perfect choice, as Alessandro was saying, also looking at the future.
Can you guys talk a bit more about the origins of the project? How did it come about to give Rayman any sort of a new game in the first place, since it’s been so long? And how long has this actually been in development?
Alessandro: So the idea started late 2023 in Montpellier, and Milan joined soon after, at the beginning of 2024. Basically, there was a meeting, a fortunate meeting, between people from our two studios. We were both looking towards building something similar, and we discovered that Montpellier was starting this project. And it was like, you know, the Spider-Man meme, where the three Spider-Men are pointing at each other. It was like that. So they were like, “Really? Yes, let’s do it!” And so we got together, and we built it.
Did the team ever consider developing a brand new game instead of a remake?
Alessandro: Well, creative people have tons of ideas, and we are always thinking about building new things. But what we wanted to do now was really setting it – it felt like the right step ahead, looking at the future. So we wanted to set the starting point. We wanted to tell everyone, the players, “Hey, this is Rayman. You may remember it in a way, but this is really what we see for the future of Rayman.” And then the future is full of things, as it is always.
How did we go about translating the art style from 2D to 3D, and what sort of challenges were involved with that? Like, what engine is the game using?
Marco: The engine is actually using two engines, because for the visual aspect of it, for new levels, it’s the Snowdrop engine. But inside there is also the UbiArt Framework, which is the engine where the original game was made. And the choice was to stay faithful to the original feeling of the game. So we wanted to be sure that they could stay consistent. The original game was, as you mentioned, a beloved game. It’s a fantastic game. We wanted to keep what made it special. But on the other hand, make use of Snowdrop and its capabilities to push visuals, audio, so we have ray tracing, volumetric clouds, and so on and so forth.
Regarding challenges, there are quite a few. As I was mentioning, the fact that in 2D, you can cheat a lot, because everything is flat. In 3D, not so much, because we’re actually in space. So one of the things we wanted to do, while making use of 3D, as Alessandro was mentioning, was bending the levels and making use of perspectives, also moving the camera. This gives a feeling of immersion, but also it shows you stuff that you usually don’t see in 3D. Certain angles and the assets have to work from a 3D perspective. Same with characters, like they’re flat in 2D, super expressive.
Through 2D drawings, you can basically do whatever you want. Translating into 3D, it’s a challenge because they’re 3D meshes. How can we make them so expressive, reach those extreme poses, but then make sense when you turn them around? I mean, characters like Globox or the Teensies, with this big nose/face. The original one, they have the two eyes on the same side – that cannot really work in 3D. So there are all these challenges that you need to find a solution for. But on the other hand, once again, 3D allows us to have nuances, close-ups, cutscenes, to really get you close to the world and the characters in a special way.
So what can fans expect from the Nintendo Switch 2 version? Can you confirm the game’s frame rate, resolution, any features like mouse controls?
Alessandro: Yeah, targeting 60 FPS. This is what we are targeting right now. We are not really discussing at this stage resolution or specific features. We aim to have content parity with the other platforms. And I think this is what we are discussing right now.
Is Michel Ancel working on the project? If he is, what’s his involvement? We’re really curious on that one.
Alessandro: Michel is the creator – one of the two creators of Rayman. He was consulted at the beginning, but he’s not part of the creative process, which is 100% in Milan and Montpellier.
Rather than just stopping with giving the game a 3D remake, you’ve also decided to include new content. Can you talk about any of those additions?
Marco: Yeah, we added new content. Part of it was like dragon rides to give this feeling of a connected world to allow the players to, instead of using menus or just a portal to get from one world to the next one. Also, for the first time, to travel through these realms and see part of this beautiful environment and also a little bit of the characters, showcasing the bosses. So it was an opportunity to make this world feel connected. Part of this is also the hubs, which again, hubs were present in the previous game, but here we reworked them to make the player part of the world.
And also we added new musical maps, which are fan favorites, or at least they are for me. So we have new ones coming and also a new realm with a new ending, which is something quite exciting.
Has anything been removed from the original game? Like is Kung Foot back?
Alessandro: Kung Foot is back and it’s not only back, but it’s evolved. It’s what we’re calling Kung Foot Evo.
We put more emphasis in it. There are new animations, new… and now I’m stopping myself because I’m not sure how much we are divulging about what’s new, but there are new things. There’s a… we can say power-ups and the arena is changing.
So yes, there’s extra care put into it. And I can tell you it’s as much fun as it was before. We have a tournament – we had a tournament recently and it was crazy to see the people cheering for their teams, like it was the finals of the World Cup.
So a lot of fans are going to be wondering where Rayman really goes from here. There was a retro collection earlier in the year and now this remake. Is this sort of the start of bringing Rayman back to the forefront again? Can we see brand new Rayman games in the future?
Alessandro: Yeah, as I said at the beginning, we see this as the brand new start for Rayman. We are not yet saying what’s in store for Rayman, but we have plans. We are definitely looking at the future.
Some of the most famous stages in Legends were the music stages, which included covers of Black Betty and the Eye of the Tiger from Rocky 3. These stages needed players to hit enemies and platforms at specific points in time to the music, and that surely has to be a little bit more difficult to recreate in a 3D space. Can you tell us more about that?
Marco: Yes, you’re right. Given the pacing of those sequences, the fact that you need to keep a high speed for Rayman, readability is a key factor in those. And also the fact that there’s a lot going on in the new ones. I cannot wait when we are able to share those, because on some of them we went a bit crazy. We had a lot of fun with those. So yeah, they’re challenging, but as I said before, one of my favorites, both as a player but also developing them. It’s just super fun.
Well, thank you for that. I have one final question – a lot of developers are often asked about having their characters in Smash Bros. Rayman has previously appeared as a trophy and as a spirit, so would you be interested in seeing him as fully playable in the next game for Smash?
Alessandro: As a player? Yeah, sure (laughs).
Marco: Exactly. As players, we would. Yeah, yeah. For sure. Absolutely (laughs). I know there’s also, I think, a Twitter account?
Alessandro: Yes, there’s a dedicated Twitter account.
Marco: Yeah, like Rayman for Smash or something.
Rayman Legends Retold comes to Nintendo Switch 2 on October 1, 2026. You can find our hands-on impressions here and gameplay here.
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