A guide to unlocking all the State Changes.
Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair is a light and fun game with some exciting levels showing up pretty much right off the bat. One of its most interesting features though, is the addition of State Changes, things you can interact with on the overworld to affect the play of previous levels, completely changing how players approach them.
Each of the game’s chapters has a variant, though unlocking them can be unintuitive. That’s where this guide comes in.
Chapter 1: Capital Causeway – Chaos: Much later in the game, you will get to a lighthouse; talk to the fisherman nearby, then return to the area near chapter 1. Climbing the yellow tents near the waterside will let you speak to the fisherman, unlocking the State Change (remember to snag the Tick…Tock tonic while you’re here!).
Chapter 2: Factory Fright – Flooded: This one is a bit more involved. From the chapter 3 entryway, head north, hang a right, then go south. A water berry bush is there; use it to rehydrate all the plants to the north, then use the rehydrated water berry to rehydrate the plants to the left. Use the bouncing flowers to keep heading left (be sure to grab another water berry and move quickly) and rehydrate a final flower. Bounce to the top, go all the way south to the bottom, and hang the last left. You will find a Pagie, who tasks you with completing a Space Invaders styled challenge level, after which Flooded will unlock.
Chapter 3: Wild Web Woods – Wilder: Remember where you grabbed the first water berry for the above? There is a bomb berry bush near there (to the right and north, past the chapter 5 entrance) you can rehydrate. Grab the bomb, run quick, and chuck it at the destructible block near the water berry bush. Grab the block from the end of the ensuing cave, drag it back to the switch near the entrance, and climb up. Us the nearby bomb bush to drop the switch to the ground, then flip it! It’s less complicated than it sounds.
Chapter 4: Frantic Fountains – Frozen: Unlocked immediately after the completion of chapter 4 by your kindly Queen Phoebee.
Chapter 5: Gasping Glade – Grown: Directly to the north of the bomb bush used to unlock chapter 3’s Wilder State Change, there is a cage with a key; pay 1000 quills to open the cage and take it to the locked door southeast of you. There are a series of simple puzzles inside, after the completion of which a bomb bush shows up. Use the bomb to shatter Rampo’s teeth and water flows outdoors (you may need to hit a switch out front if you haven’t already), growing chapter 5!
Chapter 6: Sawblade Evade – Stuck: Retrieve the honey for the cranky pot directly north of chapter 6’s entrance (located through a series of doors unlocked by taking a circuitous path to the right after burning the bramble in the forest and Buddy Stomping the tree you end up on). She’ll gunk up chapter 6 for you.
Chapter 7: Production Path – Panic: Available immediately after playing chapter 7 normally (you get deposited on the entrance to this State Change).
Chapter 8: Windmill Way – Windy: You unlock this area after fixing Fannee the fan by spending 1000 quills to unlock her missing parts in the adjoining area. The first is easy enough, but the second requires you to follow the wind stream of the other fans to the top of the map, going left into the adjacent forest area (the same way you did for chapter 6). Go directly south after entering, move the massive block along the predetermined path (it can’t deviate from the wind paths very much), and set it on the switch. The second piece is directly northeast of you.
Chapter 9: Urban Uprise – Updraft: Unlock the critical nearby the underground entrance of the desert area. Use it on the locked door and place the pipe in its proper receptacle. Go back outside and rearrange some other pipe pieces that are now out of place and voila! More wind.
Chapter 10: Ropeburn Bridge – Rerouted: Proceed as you would for chapter 9’s State Change unlock, but after placing the pieces back where they go, us the water berry to quench the fire nearby. Proceed through the chimney and the relatively linear area until you reach the swinging platforms. Hit the switch, and you may now enter Rerouted as you swing.
Chapter 11: Conveyor Chaos – Crosswire: Complete this area’s Pagie challenge; it will unlock a red staircase. Descend it, slam the switch in the pool, and enter the underground area this reveals. Complete the series of simple puzzles using mechanics you’ve seen before (fire berries to destroy brambles, water to rehydrate other plants, bouncing on flowers), and you’ll reach a switch; smack it for your reward.
Chapter 12: Buzzsaw Falls – Frozen: Unlocked as soon as you get here, slide on the frozen lake until you get to the book.
Chapter 13: Cliffside Quest – Cold: Rehydrate the flower next to Nimbo, then heat him with a scorch berry to unfreeze the lake. Push the nearby block/crate, so it stops your sliding at the chapter entrance. Refreeze the lake, and enjoy!
Chapter 14: Hazard Hanger – Hung: You need to complete two Pagie challenges for this one; the first to the north of the area under some trees that form an archway. Flip the switches in the newly unlocked area to a smashable wall. Then use the key that drops to open the cage on the ledge below with another Pagie inside. Complete their challenge and flip the newly accessible switch, cross the bridge, and hit one more switch. That’s it.
Chapter 15: Turbine Trouble – Tidal: Near the level entrance is some bramble; use a scorch berry to destroy it, then use the bomb berry bush that was trapped inside to destroy the destructible blocks nearby. Drop the bridge down, grab another bomb, and destroy the nearby sandcastle (near the two shopping carts).
Chapter 16: Queasy Quay – Climb: Bomb the stone blocks under the nearby bridge (in the river bed) the same as above; swim down the switch and flip it. Easy as pie.
Chapter 17: Boom Bloom Blast – Breakthrough: Enter the lighthouse (near where you talked to the fisherman) from the rear and hit the switch. Go back to the main door, make your way through via the platforms, and arrive at the top. Shove the shopping cart down, activating the stage change. This one is a bit of a pain as you have to come up here every time you want to do this one.
Chapter 18: Pumping Plant-Powered: Go to the far right of this area and retrieve the crate, dragging it back to the talking crate. Enter the door, navigate the platform to access the gate, and solve a simple puzzle in the new area. This one is more time consuming than difficult.
Chapter 19: Scareship Shootout – Smoggy: Completing the Pagie challenge of this area will drop some ledges. Climb these and use the crate to make a path for yourself through the wind tunnels. Go hard north until you hit a new room with a container. Move it onto the grid, then use the switch to drop it down below; this will futz with the furnace, unlocking the State Change.
Chapter 20: Scareship Scroll – Docked: This one is a bit involved. Jump on the cart to the far left of the area in the overworld, hopping onto the book, then some flowers to hit a new area. Inside are switches, which will drop a crate, similar to the above. Much like unlocking chapter 19’s State Change, you need to drop a crate to the floor below. Unlike it, you will need to do this multiple times, culminating in dropping it into a cart, lighting up lights along the way. Once the three lights are on, and the crate has descended to the bottom, place it in front of the moving cart to stop its progress, and access the final State Change.
Hopefully, this makes your journey to the Impossible Lair a bit easier!
