New Spyro Ditches Gliding for True Dragon Flight

For 18 years, Spyro has been grounded. Sure, the original trilogy let you glide between platforms, and a handful of dedicated flight levels gave you a taste of real airborne freedom, but moment-to-moment gameplay always pulled you back to the dirt. Spyro: A Realm Beyond, revealed yesterday at the Xbox Games Showcase, is changing that could redefine what a Spyro game actually feels like.

Toys for Bob, the studio behind the Spyro Reignited Trilogy and Crash Bandicoot 4, is calling the new system "active dragonflight." Associate creative director Lou Studdert was blunt about what that means: "This is not select levels where Spyro can fly; this is not just a light glide. The player is going to be able to move from the ground, to the skies, whenever they like. It's a whole new way to play Spyro." Studio head Paul Yan went further in the Xbox Wire interview, saying the team's "biggest ambition" is giving players "the freedom and fantasy of dragon flight, to be able to take the skies at a moment's notice and make interesting and active decisions to flow through the spaces as you charge on the ground and now soar through the air."

Then he dropped the line that caught my attention: "This is such a significant addition to the game, and we've built a whole world around that promise."

Building an entire world around a traversal mechanic is a massive design commitment. It means the levels, the collectibles, the enemy encounters, the environmental puzzles all have to account for a player who can leave the ground at any moment. When Eurogamer pressed Studdert on what makes the flying "active" rather than passive, he pointed to environments that react to how you fly, with surfaces and geometry that propel you further, narrow gaps you can dive through for speed boosts, and terrain that rewards reading the space rather than just holding a button. That sounds closer to something like Gravity Rush than a traditional platformer, and I'm excited by the ambition.

What Spyro's Actually Becoming

This feels like the biggest mechanical leap a classic 3D platformer has attempted since Super Mario Odyssey added Cappy and restructured its entire sandbox philosophy around possession. Spyro's glide was always a tool for extending jumps and crossing gaps. Replacing it with persistent, freely initiated flight doesn't just add a new ability; it changes the relationship between the player and the level geometry. Every platform, every hidden alcove, every enemy placement has to be designed knowing the player might approach from any angle, at any altitude. If Toys for Bob has actually pulled that off, this won't just be a nostalgic revival. It'll be a different genre of game wearing Spyro's skin.

The cinematic announce trailer shown at the showcase was light on extended gameplay, but the brief footage did show Spyro transitioning seamlessly from a ground charge into full flight mid-run. The game is being built in Unreal Engine 5, and there's a new antagonist wielding a twisted staff with a glowing pink gem who appears to be corrupting the Dragon Realms. Yan teased that this villain "will challenge Spyro's abilities and push him to new emotional depths," suggesting a story with slightly higher stakes than the originals, though the studio emphasized it's still rooted in the joyful, whimsical tone the series is known for.

Tom Kenny is returning as Spyro's voice, which is a smart call for continuity. And yes, someone asked about the sheep. Studdert confirmed through laughter that "sheep play a very important role" in the franchise, though he couldn't officially confirm their presence since none appeared in the trailer. I'll believe it when I headbutt one.

The backstory of this game's existence is almost as interesting as the game itself. Toys for Bob spent years doing support work on Call of Duty: Warzone after the Reignited Trilogy, a period Yan described as "challenging." The studio eventually split from Activision, and Spyro: A Realm Beyond is the product of what Yan called a lot of "soul searching" about what Toys for Bob actually wants to make.co.uk/tag/microsoft/) and Activision are publishing it despite the studio going independent says something about how much confidence there is in the project.

Spyro: A Realm Beyond is targeting a spring 2027 launch on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2, with day-one availability on Xbox Game Pass. No exact date yet, but a spring window typically means April through June.