Before I begin to tell my dragon's tail, I would like to point out that I did not play Spyro growing up. I hadn't heard of it before. I also didn't have a console at all till my sister pulled an old TV games console out of an old shoe box well into my teens. Thus, all my opinions and impressions on Spyro: Reignited Trilogy are going to be seen as a player playing Spyro the Dragon for the very first time. Bear with me.

After playing through a small number of more modern PS4 indie-type games, and the way my friends (and even my editor, Sam) spoke about Spyro, I had high hopes on what it would feel like to play the little heroic dragon that is so highly praised. I am hardly disappointed.



When putting the disk in, Spyro: Reignited Trilogy wouldn't start up because the console didn't have enough space to download and install. Turns out, you need around 65GB free space available and will have to download, update and install all three games before getting to play any of them. I was under the impression that each game would be installed individually, but I should've known better having been able to pick which demo to play at rAge 2018 in the game's menu. I chose to play Year of the Dragon (the third game in Reignited Trilogy) as the demo, and have obviously begun to play the original Spyro the Dragon now.

The download is pretty big and it takes a while to install. I would suggest leaving it overnight, especially if you have a throttled line. Your inner kid can wait one more sleepy to enjoy the adventures again.

Once I was into the game, the fun did indeed begin. I got through eight to ten levels and found 18 dragons before calling it a day. I know I have missed a few dragons – I didn’t know the game that well yet – and hope that I can go back at a later stage the find them all.

Spyro as a main character seems to be a cheeky little blighter that’s always up to mischief. He has that naughty, but cute little grin on his face when I swivel the camera around, and peeks over the ledges in curiosity more than fear. I like you, little dude, you have a splash of quirky insanity about you, as you head on into the fight with an evil mastermind (I hope).



As for the villains (and other creatures that want to make you into dragon steak), there is no other way of describing their tongue-in-cheek antics. I supposed this, as in the original game, is a way to keep the game light-hearted and fun for all, and Toys for Bob have succeeded in not making them at all scary. You know you're going to burn them to a crisp or headbutt them to kingdom come, but scary is not in their repertoire.

These are the things that really stood out for me as I played this properly for the first time.

Water kills you if you land in it. At least, it seems to at this early stage of the game. I was pretty sure I saw some play through with Spyro in a tub of water. Intriguing. However, the purple lava, you seem to be able to jump through it fast enough and survive. Perhaps it’s a trick I didn’t learn in water but did in lava?

It's okay if I die! I managed to pick up extra lives the further I played. This made my day because I'm still clumsy with the controller and am very proficient in falling off the edge.



For me, it was useful information, but for the returning player, the tips the dragons give after you release them may be a reminder on how to play the game. At some point, the tips became words of encouragement instead, which I really felt gave Spyro a little more confidence. Though to be fair, Spyro doesn't need it, he seems to be a very confident fella already.

The loading screens are interactive. You can breath fire and flap as if you were to jump while flying. A sweet touch to something that can be annoying if too long.

If it's a wood chest, you can flame and headbutt it. If it's silver and metal-looking, flaming it doesn't do anything. I mean, it seems to be very tough to internet mockery- I mean, it's very resilient to heat.

The semi-automatic saving system in the game and that these save points – found on rescuing the dragons – is conveniently placed around the levels makes me incredibly happy. I have played games where they were in such inconvenient places and so scarce that I feared playing for too long - not at all with Spyro.



While I did test out Spyro at rAge 2018, I did so on the Xbox One, not the PS4. Incidentally, the controls do feel different as I find the controllers feel different in my hands (did I really expect anything less?). At first, it felt really strange and the character was moving all over the place due to the sensitivity of the analogue - certainly no fault of mine. But, as I progressed, I didn’t stray too far from the course I wanted to follow and the countering mechanics seemed simple enough to learn right into muscle memory before moving into the new area.

Comparing Spyro: Reignited Trilogy to a previous indie game that I had camera issues with, I much prefer how it moves around the character as I make my way through the levels. The camera doesn’t suddenly hide Spyro or snap into the back of the character, and the use of the right analogue stick to shift the camera while moving with the left analogue makes gameplay a little smoother. It is a more modern advancement on the PS4, considering it wasn’t available back on the PS1, and while I didn’t have the opportunity to experience this in the original game, this quality of life improvement is one we can all enjoy. There is an option in the settings menu to have an Active or Passive Camera, but I cannot tell the difference between them.



As for the mechanics, I'm not sure whether I enjoy the repetitiveness between what Spyro can do and what the villains can do to Spyro, and I wonder if this may be the one flaw carried from the original into this mechanically copy-pasta-rasta remake. I'll always either get splatted on the floor or swatted away, and Spyro only has two offensive attacks. Will I be able to combo these as the game progresses? I really hope to see so.

At this very point, I must say that I do enjoy the overall atmosphere and good feeling that the game gives me as I play through it. It has resulted in many laughs, and as I grow fond of Spyro, I think I can understand why this little dragon is as loved as he is by the community.