Spyro is finally back with a brand new game with next year’s A Realm Beyond, but it technically isn’t Spyro 4 – at least in name. Toys for Bob recently commented on the naming decision.
You may remember that when Crash Bandicoot was brought back with a brand new game, we did end up getting Crash Bandicoot 4. However, Toys for Bob is going in a different direction with Spyro: A Realm Beyond.
Speaking with Kinda Funny, associate creative director Lou Studdert explained that the team wants the upcoming title to be a place that anyone can start from. If it was called Spyro 4, it could have caused some to feel that they might need to know the original games.
Something else to keep in mind is that Spyro: A Realm Beyond is trying out a new approach to the series. The biggest example of that is how you’ll now be able to fly with Spyro at any time.
Studdert explained:
“For Crash 4, for us that represented a very direct continuation from those original games and it was a bit of making a stance of hey, we really revered these original games. The games that came later were really great, but they got away from the foundational type of gameplay that was those original Crash games that we were returning to. And so some of it was a bit of a an expectations and level reset of, hey, these are going to play very much like the original trilogy of games and not so much like, you know, Mind Over Mutant or the the more 3D open space era where it was more, you know, you’ve got full stick control, your more Mario 64 inspired exploring areas.
For Spyro, we wanted to make sure that with a number four, that comes the expectations of, hey, you may want to know these original games. Spyro is very important to us given the gap of time between new games to make sure that this is a welcoming entry point. This is a a place that anyone could start.
So yes, it has reverence to the originals. It has references. It has things that will satiate the deep fan base. But at the same time, we want to make sure it was clear to everyone who’s coming into this, no homework required. And it is a new experience. It is playing in a new way, in a way that maybe Crash 4 was more tied to us returning those original games.”
Spyro: A Realm Beyond is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 next spring. Toys for Bob previously spoke about Spyro’s updated design for the game – read about that here.