A 2D platformer from 2013 feels dated now, even if it plays beautifully.
More than a decade after Rayman Legends earned its place among the finest platformers ever made, Ubisoft is offering it a second life — not as a faithful port, but as a full reimagining in three dimensions. Arriving October 1 across PlayStation 5, Switch 2, and beyond, the remake asks a question that echoes through the broader arc of the games industry: can something beloved be transformed without losing what made it worth loving in the first place? That the Switch 2 runs this experience at 60FPS with ray-tracing — matching a dedicated home console — suggests the answer may lie as much in engineering ambition as in creative fidelity.
- Ubisoft is not simply re-releasing a classic — it is rebuilding Rayman Legends from the ground up in three dimensions, a choice that carries real creative and commercial risk.
- The central tension is whether adding a third axis of movement will preserve or unravel the precise, rhythmic feel that made the 2013 original so celebrated.
- The Switch 2's ability to match Xbox Series S performance — 60FPS with ray-tracing on a hybrid portable device — is the unexpected technical headline buried inside a nostalgia story.
- Ubisoft's strategy reflects an industry-wide retreat toward proven IP, trading the uncertainty of original games for the safer ground of reimagined franchises with built-in audiences.
- The full verdict is suspended until October 1, when players will determine whether this remake earns its existence or merely borrows the goodwill of the game it replaces.
Ubisoft is not bringing back Rayman Legends as a port — it is rebuilding it entirely in three dimensions. Arriving October 1 on PlayStation 5, Switch 2, and other platforms, Rayman Legends Retold is a full reconstruction of the 2013 side-scrolling classic, a game that earned its reputation through mechanical precision, visual charm, and a soundtrack that felt inseparable from the act of playing it. More than a decade later, Ubisoft has decided it deserves a second life in a new dimension.
The multi-platform launch reflects the industry's current calculus: legacy franchises carry value, and audiences will return to familiar worlds if the presentation justifies it. But the technical story belongs to the Switch 2. The hybrid console — part portable, part home system — runs the remake at 60 frames per second with ray-tracing enabled, matching the visual target of Xbox Series S, a dedicated home console. That parity is a deliberate engineering statement about where portable hardware is heading.
The decision to remake rather than create something new is itself telling. Proven franchises offer studios a lower-risk path forward, allowing them to apply modern technical capabilities to design foundations that already work. Rayman Legends had the levels, the characters, the musical identity. What it lacked was the three-dimensional space contemporary audiences expect.
The deeper question — whether the shift from two dimensions to three preserves the original's feel — remains open. A platformer lives or dies by its responsiveness, its rhythm, the way a jump lands. Early impressions suggest Ubisoft has been careful, but the full picture waits until October 1, when the remake arrives at a moment when Nintendo's new console is still proving itself and publishers are testing the outer limits of hybrid hardware.
Ubisoft is bringing back one of the platformer genre's most beloved entries, but not as a simple port. Rayman Legends Retold, arriving October 1, is a full three-dimensional reconstruction of the 2013 side-scrolling classic, rebuilt from the ground up for current hardware. The original Rayman Legends earned its reputation as perhaps the finest entry in the series—a 2D platformer that balanced mechanical precision with visual charm and a soundtrack that felt like an extension of the gameplay itself. Now, more than a decade later, Ubisoft has decided the game deserves a second life in three dimensions.
The remake is launching across multiple platforms, including PlayStation 5 and Nintendo's upcoming Switch 2 hybrid console. That multi-platform approach reflects where the industry stands: legacy franchises have value, and audiences are willing to revisit familiar worlds if the presentation justifies the return. What makes this particular remake noteworthy is not just that it exists, but how it performs on hardware that, by conventional standards, shouldn't be able to handle what Ubisoft is attempting.
The Switch 2 version is the technical story here. The hybrid console, which sits somewhere between a portable device and a home system, is running Rayman Legends Retold at 60 frames per second with ray-tracing enabled—the same visual fidelity target that Xbox Series S, a dedicated home console, achieves. That parity is not accidental. It represents a deliberate engineering choice by Ubisoft to prove that the Switch 2, despite its less powerful processor, can deliver a visual experience comparable to its more expensive competitors. Ray-tracing, the rendering technique that simulates realistic light behavior, has become a marker of current-generation graphics. Getting it to run smoothly on a portable device signals something about where console technology is heading.
The decision to remake Rayman Legends rather than create an entirely new entry speaks to a broader industry trend. Franchises with proven track records are being dusted off and reimagined for new audiences and new hardware. It's a lower-risk strategy than original IP, and it allows studios to leverage existing design foundations while applying modern technical capabilities. Rayman Legends already had the level design, the character work, the musical identity. What it didn't have was the three-dimensional space that contemporary gaming audiences expect.
What remains to be seen is whether the transformation from two dimensions to three preserves what made the original special. A platformer's feel—the way a character responds to input, the rhythm of jumping and timing—is everything. Add a third axis of movement, and you're fundamentally changing how a player experiences the game. Early impressions from those who have spent time with the remake suggest Ubisoft has been thoughtful about this transition, but the full picture will only emerge once players have the game in their hands on October 1. The remake arrives at a moment when Nintendo's new console is still proving itself, and when publishers are testing the limits of what's possible on hybrid hardware. Rayman Legends Retold is both a nostalgic return and a technical demonstration—a bet that audiences want to see where their favorite games go when given a second chance.
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Why remake a game that's already considered perfect? Why not just make something new?
Because the original design was already solved. Rayman Legends had level architecture, pacing, character work—all of it was refined. What it didn't have was the visual language of modern gaming. A 2D platformer from 2013 feels dated now, even if it plays beautifully. A 3D version lets you preserve the core while speaking the language players expect today.
But doesn't moving to 3D fundamentally change how the game feels? Doesn't it risk breaking what made it work?
It absolutely does. That's the real risk here. A platformer lives or dies on feel—how responsive the controls are, how the camera moves, how you judge distance and timing. Add a third dimension and you're relearning all of that. Ubisoft clearly believes they've solved it, but we won't know until people play it.
What's the significance of the Switch 2 running this at 60FPS with ray-tracing?
It's a statement. Ray-tracing is expensive—it requires serious processing power. Getting it to run smoothly on a portable console at the same frame rate as a dedicated home system like Xbox Series S proves the Switch 2 is more capable than skeptics expected. It's Ubisoft saying: this new Nintendo hardware is legitimate.
Is this the beginning of a trend? Will we see more classic games remade in 3D?
Almost certainly. If Rayman Legends Retold succeeds commercially and critically, publishers will take notice. There are dozens of beloved 2D games sitting in archives right now that could be candidates for the same treatment. This is a test case.