The announcement of a new Spyro the Dragon game in more than two decades during the Xbox Game Showcase is aiming high with the confirmation that it will feature “true dragon flight” gameplay for the first time. Speaking of the challenge of introducing this mechanic to the dragon’s core kit in an interview with GameSpot, the developers at Toys For Bob hint that it’s unlike anything from any other game.
“One of the big challenges was that, as we were thinking about what other games even broach this kind of verticality and this freedom of flight, there’s not that many,” Toys For Bob studio head Paul Yan said. “Maybe the ones that come closest to mind are flight simulators … or maybe flying as an Ironman type of character, but it’s very, very different than trying to get the physicality of a dragon, and also the nimbleness of a small but mighty dragon like Spyro.”
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“It’s challenging and that there’s nothing out there to compare against, but it’s also a huge opportunity for us because this is a key differentiator for Spyro in this space and being able to move this way.”
Creative director Lou Studdert added that it was important that flying as Spyro felt like flying as a dragon. “He’s not a jet. He’s not a paper airplane. He is a dragon. It’s wing flap. It’s feeling the way you soar is very important to Spyro as a whole.”
Compared to past Spyro games that were primarily 3D platformers with gliding and a few linear flight levels, Spyro: A Realm Beyond is then promising the freedom of true flight, which means greater verticality in the level design.
“It’s opening up a new dimension to how we build the play space for Spyro,” says Studdert. “It’s really about making sure that the whole play space engages you with it, and it’s engaging you to interact with it and to have that augment or sustain or boost your flight … It’s still going to be engaging on the ground, but it is now adding that additional dimension to it, and how we make sure that we sustain that fluidity movement that is so core to a Spyro experience.”
Spyro: A Realm Beyond also sees voice actor Tom Kenny returning to voice Spyro after the devs decided to reach out to the voice of Spongebob Squarepants himself.
Spyro: A Realm Beyond will be coming in Spring 2027 to Xbox Series X/S, PC, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch 2.