Some video game characters never really disappear. They may spend years quietly in the background, waiting for someone to remember why they were special, but when they return, there is an immediate sense of familiarity. Spyro is one of those characters. That cheeky purple dragon has been part of gaming culture since the late 1990s. While the brilliant Spyro: Reignited Trilogy reminded us how much charm the original adventures had, fans have been waiting a very long time for a genuinely new adventure.
That wait is finally coming to an end with Spyro: A Realm Beyond, the first original Spyro adventure in nearly two decades. Developed by Toys for Bob, the studio behind the wonderful Reignited Trilogy and Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, the new game looks less like a simple continuation of the past and more like an attempt to work out where Spyro can go next. Most excitingly, Toys for Bob isn’t simply bringing back gliding. Spyro can actually fly.
That one change has the potential to completely alter how a Spyro game feels. The original games gave us short bursts of freedom, but true flight could transform the familiar collectathon formula into something considerably more expansive. With a new realm, new abilities, bigger environments and an invasion threatening the world, Spyro: A Realm Beyond could be the adventure that finally gives the character room to grow without losing the personality that made him so beloved.
A New Realm for an Old Friend
At the heart of Spyro: A Realm Beyond is a simple idea. Spyro has been stranded in an unfamiliar realm, one filled with strange environments, ancient ruins and vast areas waiting to be explored. The world is threatened by the Scavs, an invading force that brings a mix of mechanical and beastly enemies into Spyro’s colourful surroundings. This gives the story a reason to push our hero into unfamiliar territory while allowing Toys for Bob to create a world that isn’t simply another collection of places we’ve already seen.
That sense of discovery is particularly important for Spyro. The original trilogy worked because every world felt like a playground rather than a corridor from one objective to another. You were encouraged to look behind buildings, climb onto ledges, chase down fleeing creatures and poke your nose into corners simply because you suspected there might be something there. A Realm Beyond appears to understand that curiosity is a huge part of Spyro’s appeal, with interconnected hubs, floating archipelagos and subterranean vaults promising plenty of places to investigate.
There is something genuinely appealing about seeing Spyro loose in a much larger environment. Instead of reaching the edge of an area and being told that your little dragon has gone as far as he can, true flight could turn the horizon itself into an invitation. The question will be whether Toys for Bob can fill that extra space with meaningful discoveries rather than simply making the world bigger for the sake of it.
Finally, Spyro Can Really Fly
Let’s be honest, though. The feature everybody will be talking about is flight.
Spyro has always been associated with flying, even if the reality of his adventures has usually been closer to controlled gliding. There were dedicated flight stages and moments when Spyro could soar for a limited time, but the fantasy of simply taking to the skies whenever you wanted has always been tantalisingly out of reach. A Realm Beyond finally appears ready to make that fantasy a core part of the experience.
The description promises full 360-degree aerial traversal, with Spyro able to build momentum, dive, climb and perform barrel rolls as he moves through enormous environments. That could make simply travelling from one part of the world to another feel like an adventure in itself. If the flight physics are as fluid as they sound, there is every chance that taking off from a mountain, diving through a cloud bank and sweeping around a floating island could become one of those simple pleasures that makes you forget whatever objective you were supposed to be completing.
More importantly, flight isn’t being presented as a separate gimmick. It appears to be woven directly into exploration and platforming. That means level design will have to accommodate movement in every direction, which could produce some wonderfully creative challenges. Spyro games have traditionally been about learning how to move through a space, and giving players genuine aerial control opens up an entirely new dimension to that idea.
The Collectathon Spirit Lives On
For all the new ideas, thankfully, Toys for Bob doesn’t appear to have forgotten what makes Spyro, well, Spyro.
Collecting gems remains central to the adventure, with colour-coded gems scattered across the world alongside rescued inhabitants and ancient Dragon Relics. That may sound familiar, and that’s precisely why it works. The pleasure of a Spyro game has never simply been about completing objectives. It is about spotting something shimmering in the distance and deciding that you absolutely have to find a way to reach it.
The prospect of thousands of gems spread across these much larger environments sounds exciting and slightly dangerous. Collectathons can easily become overwhelming when quantity takes precedence over quality, so hopefully the distribution of collectibles will encourage exploration rather than turn the game into an exhausting checklist. The best Spyro levels made you feel clever for discovering something hidden, and that sense of reward will be vital here.
Rescuing realm denizens and hunting down Dragon Relics should also give exploration a little more purpose. If these activities are properly integrated into the environments, rather than simply scattered around as icons waiting to be ticked off, they could provide plenty of reasons to revisit areas with newly acquired abilities.
Spyro’s Breath Gets an Upgrade
Spyro’s fire breath has always been one of his defining abilities, but A Realm Beyond is giving it a considerably broader role. Unlockable elemental variants include ice, lightning and force blasts, giving Spyro new ways to interact with the environment and deal with enemies.
This could be one of the more interesting additions, as it might introduce a light puzzle element to the traditional platforming. An icy blast might interact with the environment differently from fire, while lightning or force could open routes that aren’t immediately obvious. Done well, these abilities could encourage players to think of Spyro’s powers as tools for exploration rather than simply different flavours of attack.
Combat is also being expanded through encounters with the Scavs. Spyro can still charge and breathe fire, but aerial dive bombs and platforming arenas suggest that battles will be designed around his newfound mobility. That sounds like a natural evolution rather than an unnecessary attempt to turn Spyro into an action hero, although the balance between combat and exploration will be worth watching closely.
A Beautiful New Take on Spyro
Toys for Bob has already shown it understands how important Spyro’s visual identity is. The Reignited Trilogy modernised the original games without sanding away their personality, and A Realm Beyond looks set to build on that approach with Unreal Engine 5.
The vibrant fairytale aesthetic remains intact, but the environments can now benefit from more advanced lighting, volumetric clouds, detailed dragon scales and dynamic environmental effects. The idea of flying through thick clouds and leaving visible trails behind Spyro sounds particularly lovely. Even more impressive could be the changing lighting as he moves from shadowy canyons into bright mountain peaks.
This is where the game could really benefit from modern hardware. Spyro’s worlds have always been colourful, but there is a huge difference between looking at a beautiful landscape and actually being able to fly through it. If Toys for Bob gets the scale right, the visual spectacle could become part of the adventure rather than merely something to admire.
The audio design sounds equally promising. Gem collecting needs that satisfying little clink, flame attacks need a sense of impact, and Spyro’s personality has always been helped enormously by expressive voice work. Tom Kenny returning to voice Spyro is therefore particularly welcome. His performance is so closely associated with the character that hearing that familiar voice again should provide an immediate emotional connection for returning fans.
The Scavs Bring a New Threat
A new Spyro adventure needs more than scenery and collectibles, and the Scavs appear to provide the central conflict.
The blend of mechanical and beastly forces gives Toys for Bob plenty of scope for enemy design. Spyro has never been a particularly brutal character, so hopefully the Scavs will remain suitably playful within the series’ colourful tone. The most interesting encounters could be those that require players to combine movement, elemental abilities and aerial attacks rather than simply charging into enemies repeatedly.
The real test will be variety. Spyro’s best enemies have always been memorable because they fit their environments and force you to approach them differently. If the Scavs can offer that same personality while also making use of Spyro’s new flight abilities, they could become a surprisingly strong part of the revival.
A Spyro Built for a New Generation
Perhaps the most encouraging thing about Spyro: A Realm Beyond is that it doesn’t seem embarrassed by its heritage. There is no attempt to make Spyro darker, grittier or unnecessarily serious. Instead, Toys for Bob seems to be asking a more sensible question: what would a Spyro game look like if the developers were given the freedom to build on everything that came before?
The answer appears to be a larger world, greater freedom, more abilities and genuine flight, while keeping the collecting, exploration and colourful personality intact. That is exactly the kind of evolution the series needs. Spyro doesn’t need to become something completely different. He simply needs somewhere new to go.
And perhaps that is why this announcement feels so promising. After all these years, Spyro isn’t being brought back merely to remind us of the past. He is being given the opportunity to create a new one.
Preview Verdict
Spyro: A Realm Beyond has a lot riding on its tiny purple shoulders. The Spyro name carries enormous nostalgia, but nostalgia alone won’t sustain a completely new adventure. Fortunately, Toys for Bob appears to be taking the right approach, preserving the fundamentals while introducing one enormous change that genuinely has the potential to reshape the experience.
True unrestricted flight could be transformative if the level design fully exploits it. The expanded realms, elemental abilities, collectables, and Scav encounters all sound promising, while the return of Tom Kenny adds another familiar voice to what could be one of 2027’s most welcome comebacks.
There is still plenty to see before we can know whether A Realm Beyond can reach the heights of the original trilogy or the Reignited Trilogy. For now, though, the purple dragon is heading in exactly the right direction. After nearly twenty years without a completely new mainline adventure, Spyro finally has a chance to spread his wings, and this time there may be no ceiling above him.
