Rayman 4: Darkness Returns

Rayman 4: Darkness Returns (also known as Rayman 4) is a 2024 3D platform game published by Ubisoft and developed by their Montpellier & Milan subsidiaries. It is the sixth mainline title in the Rayman series and is a direct sequel to Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc. The game was released for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows (through Steam and Mac) and Nintendo Switch. The game's story follows Rayman (on a path of redemption) and his friends as they travel through the Glade of Dreams and into the Nightmare Vale to stop the returning Mr. Dark and the new Seven Deadly Sins from taking over the Glade of Dreams and infecting their friends.

Rayman 4 was annouced in E3 2023 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X & S and PC and was planned for release during Holiday 2023. However, the game was delayed to March 2024 in order to finish the game on time and was also made to run on last generation consoles and to add a multiplayer mode.

Rayman 4 received critical acclaim upon release. Critics praised the game's story, visuals, level design, controls, soundtrack, overall gameplay, and the large amount of content, with some calling it one of the best platforming video games ever made, Additionally the game was nominated for multiple awards and sold nearly 5 Million Copies.

Plot
See also: Characters of Rayman

Following their respective defeats from Rayman, Mr. Dark (in the original 1995 game) and The Magician (in Legends) tries to escape from the Nightmare Vale (a banishment area for Nightmares and villains). The latter failed once again, but accidentally opened a portal to another part of the Vale, which houses the Seven Deadly Sins and the Darklings, an evil race of Nightmares, who vow to spread despair and chaos everywhere in the Glade of Dreams. They make a deal to free themselves from the Nightmare Vale by using the power of the Magician and seven Deadly Sins, but the Magician unfortunately failed once again, leading to Mr. Dark thinking of another plan.

Meanwhile, Rayman has longed to live the glory days as a hero once again, but has been resting and hasn't done something greater, when suddenly, a group of Hoodlums and a Xowar have been spotted in the plains by Ly the Fairy (who hasn't talked to Rayman in a very long time). Rayman defeats them easily, but sees that a dark force up in the mountains, Ly warning him that it's a powerful source which only the Fairies can stop and he cannot stop them by himself. Rayman disobeys her orders and goes to the Mountains, finding a portal to the Nightmare Vale and accidentally letting out Mr. Dark, The Magician, Darklings and seven Deadly Sins into the Glade of Dreams after being tricked to let them free. Ater a short battle between the seven Deadly Sins and Mr. Dark, Rayman gets defeated and loses a majority of his powers.

He is then woken up by friends Murfy, Globox and Barbara who tell them that people all around the Glade have been captured by the Darklings, coming clean and telling them that he caused them to escape. While Globox forgives him, Murfy (more so jokingly) and Barbara are more critical of him doing this. Despite this, Ly warns them that Polokus and the Nymphs are in danger from Mr. Dark's army in the Citadel of Wonders. They make it to the Citadel where the Darklings have already destroyed the entire Citadel, captured the Nymphs, Fairies & Teensies there, and having infected Polokus in a dark energy which is supposedly incurable, giving Rayman the Elemental Masks and a Silver Lum to aid him on his journey, and to also save the Nymphs across the Glade to open the Nightmare Vale. Rayman apologies for unleashing the Darklings, but Polokus forgives him, saying that everyone makes mistakes and should always rectify it no matter what and Rayman will do so no matter the sacrifice. Polokus tells the heroes goodbye and turns into a giant Nightmarish monster right shortly, unbeknownst to them.

The group explore the Glade of Dreams to find all seven Fairies while also encountering the seven Deadly Sins who are guarding the Fairies. At the start of their journey, they meet Clark the Giant who has once again been poisoned by the Darkling energy which turns them evil, just like Polokus. Rayman vows to find a cure for the infection, but told by his friends is incurable (even by Murfy who is reading the Dreampedia on his phone for anything and says there's nothing), being determined to save Clark and Polokus after having caused the mess.

The group first save Ly the Fairy from Wrath, who heard of the state both Clark and Polokus are in, and tells them that there is a cure, but is from her younger cousin, Tily the Fairy, who hasn't been heard from in quite a while after the events of Rayman Arena, as her last citing was in the deeper parts of the forest where supposedly the Robot Pirates have resided. Rayman and Ly go there and find her with the help of Sssam the Snake, who tells them that she's been captured by the Pirates. They make it into the largest pirate ship where Tily is being held captive, saving her after a run-in with Admiral Razorbeard. Tily (who is now a teenager) gives Rayman a Silver Lum that allow him and others to cure anyone under the dark influence through the use of energy orbs similar to his magic fist in the original version of Rayman 2. The two of them visit where both Clark and Polokus were in and battle them, using the orbs to cure two of them, who thanks Rayman, leading them to go on the journey to cure the infected, defeat the now remaining six Deadly Sins and save the Nymphs and Teensies scattered across the Glade of Dreams, during their journey, Rayman & Ly rekindle their relationship after left somewhat ambiguous at the start of game, Ly, Murfy and Barbara forgive Rayman for his actions. After saving all the Nymphs, all 6 of them open the portal to the Nightmare Vale.

Gameplay
Rayman 4: Darkness Returns is Platform Game in which the player primarily controls the titular character, Rayman, on a journey of redemption to save the Glade of Dreams from the evil Mr Dark, The game's levels are placed throughout 3 different interconnected Hub Worlds, The Valley of Fantasy, The Citedel of Wonders and the Nightmare Vale, after a certain part in the story, players are free to tackle any level in any order, similar to a Mega Man game.

Players travel through each level, fighting enemies/darklings, collecting lums (more akin to Rayman Origins & Legends) and rescuing imprisoned Teensies, at the end of each level, the player fights one of the 7 Deadly Sins and save a Nymph which will give the player a Silver Lum which will allow them to grow a new branch on the skill tree. Certain segments also see players riding a mosquito or any other vehicle, where players can shoot enemies or inhale and fire them.

Rayman has all of his usual powers for almost the entire game, He can sprint for a short amount of time, use his helicopter hair, wall-jump or wall-run, strafe and shoot his telescopic fist, Rayman can fully charge his fist to induce more damage, and can curve his shot but he can lock-on to enemies and quickly dodge their attacks, there's also finishers which allow Rayman to beat the enemy in a short Minigame (or quick time event) but has to come up close to them and is a timed event, if the player doesn't initiate the Minigame in time or fails them, the finisher will not be available.

Lums, which first appeared in Rayman 2, are once again collectible items in the game. However, the Lums in Rayman 4 are somewhat different. They don't appear in a specific amount the player has to collect (like in Rayman 2, where the player had to collect 50 in almost every level) but rather in different amount in every single level. The player can obtain them by either find them floating around, defeating enemies, finding them inside bulb-o-lums or bushes, or by collecting Skull Coins, Lums are also akin to the point system in Rayman 3 where players can gain Lums through fight enemies by using unique combos or not getting hit for a short amount of time, the game denotes this using a Groovy! Counter which shows a system of how well the player is doing by using words such as: ''Groovy! Awesome! Outstanding! Stylish! Smooth! Great! Good! Solid! Substandard! Meh! ''which are said by Murfy, depending on what the word is the lums will be gained from combat will have a multiplier applied on. Lums can be used to upgrade character's skills on the skill tree which can give players new abilities and upgrade pre-existing ones. Along with Lums, Players can also collect Silver Lums, which unlock new branches in the skill tree when saving Nymphs, Skill Coins which can be used as a currency in shops to buy skins & power-ups, Teensies which can give players Skill Coins, a Health increase or a large amount of Lums and can open smaller and harder levels in the Citadel of Dreams, and Dark Crystals which warp players to the Nightmare Vale and gives them a short 2D pixel Art challenge similar to Rayman and 2D Sections from Super Mario Odyssey, once players have completed a Dark Crystal segment, they collect the crystal and can trade it in for Concept art, Music and Bestiary throughout the series.

A new addition to the game is the Elemental Masks from Rayman 2: The Greater Escape, Rayman can put them on and use their powers in both combat and platforming. However, they have a meter which will be depleted once he uses them and will only come back once shortly, Unlike the remake, Rayman won't just wear the mask but his entire attire will change, Fire allows the player to burn items and throw fireballs towards enemies, leading them to burn to a crisp faster than using fist-to-fist combat and can also him to air-dash and charge his sprint to become into a fast fireball for a short time, Water allows the player to breath underwater for longer and throw bubbles to enemies which will trap them. It also allows Rayman to perform the Rain Dance, which will grow plants and control the weather, Air will make a mini-tornado that shrinks down enemies and special platforms to access them, like the Vortex power-up from Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc. Rayman can also Spin Jump, which makes him invincible and glide a lot slower for a bit, but will completely deplete the meter, Earth will allow the player to carry heavy objects faster and can bring giant rocks from the ground to throw them at targets, Ice allows the player to freeze enemies and water, which makes Rayman capable of walking on them, Lightning allows the player to use electrical powers and a lightning grapple hook which will stun enemies when grabbing them, similarly to the Lockjaw power-up from Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc and Cole McGrath from the inFamous games.

Rayman 4 also introduces the ability to control other characters in certain segments in the levels or the open world, such as Globox who is more focused on platforming, can inflate inside of hovering, use his tongue to stick on certain objects, stay underwater without drowning, drink Lum Juice to fly or to burp/fart bubbles out to trap enemies for platforming or combat and can get his kids (who are spread across any segment he's present in) to do tasks for him such as fight enemies, form different structures, get items and more while Globox can throw them around as a projectile attack, However Globox is very vulnerable to enemies and can die in fewer hits than most playable characters, in-turn while enemies are nearby Globox will run significantly faster with a scared face, Barbara, who is more focused on hack n slash combat with her Axe (which retains the same framework for Rayman's combat), using it as a boomerang which the player can control, she can use her wings of her helmet to hover and has a variety of combos using light, ranged and heavy attacks similar to God Of War, Additionally, players can find different Weapons (such as a Spear, Bow, Ball and Chain, Sword and Shovel) Barbara can use and upgrade them. Ly the Fairy who is more based Rayman 2's gameplay involves on more slower puzzle segments along with 3rd Person Shooter gameplay similar to Ratchet & Clank, using different energy orbs such as normal, fast (with a higher frequency but lower damage), big (lower frequency but higher damage) and elemental for combat, she is also very acrobatic, fast and can fly freely for a short amount of time and Murfy who has on-rails shooting segments similar to Star-Fox.

Development
Rayman 4  started development after the Rayman 2 Remake was nearing completion and was directed by Davide Soliani, whose goal was for this installment to be his best work. He aimed to create a game that both allowed newcomers and returning players to have fun in terms of interesting world and level design, with also a more complex combat system by providing various difficulties and challenges while also acting as a send-off to the Rayman series. The development team also intended for the game to be a direct continuation and finale for the original trilogy in both narrative and gameplay.

The development team also wanted to take elements from the cancelled version of Rayman 4, more specifically the levels, having more of an art direction based on the UbiArt games but in 3D, similar to some advertisements for Rayman Legends, The team's previous experience with the Rayman 2 remake allowed them to settle on a direction defined by clear shapes, soft gradients, and an off-kilter quality that gave the remake a whimsical and playful feel; the team then took this core direction and amplified it for Rayman 4 to create a more wild and chaotic aesthetic that better reflected the series' irreverent yet fantastical tone. The team's statement for the setting was to create a colorful and dangerous universe unrestricted by the hardware limitations of the original games.

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The plot was written by David Neiss, who returns from Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc and a newcomer, Tim Schafer (founder of Double Fine Productions and known for LucasArts' games like Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island and many others; Psychonauts was influenced by Rayman 2: The Great Escape, with it and Beyond Good & Evil having been streamed by Double Fine's developers alongside Ancel a few years earlier). Both wanted to create a more cohesive world and a perfect balance between the comedic humour from Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc and the more dire, serious tone from Rayman 2: The Great Escape, while also writing a perfect finale to the series, but can still be open-ended if Ubisoft wanted the series to continue. The Game's main theme is redemption and how everyone makes mistakes and should be at least have the chance to be forgiven.

The game was announced in E3 2023 with a full trailer and a demo present in the event, the trailer showed off a few of the environments, the story, the multiple playable characters and the combat with a Holiday 2023 release date for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X & S and PC. The demo allowed players to play 3 levels of the game, The Prologue, The Assault of the Citadel of Dreams and Finding Tily, both of these garnered a very positive reception among players and fans who praised the visuals in particular.

It was originally set to be released in the Holiday of 2023. However, in October it was reported to be delayed to the first quarter of 2023. In December, a demo of the game was released on the digital stores, including PlayStation 4 and Xbox One stores. The official release date was revealed to be March 2024, with Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One Ports coming later in the year.

The game serves as a tribute to the series' creator Michel Ancel, after he left the company and gaming industry to focus full-time on a wildlife sanctuary in 2020.

Reception
Rayman 4: Darkness Returns received highly positive reviews from critics and fans alike, highly praising the gameplay, depth of it's combat, portrayal of its returning characters, and handling of the narrative and story with the controls. Amount of content and replay value, visuals, music and voice-acting were also commended, though the open-world mechanics and multiplayer received criticism. The game succeeded sales expectations and managed to sell over 4 million copies worldwide.