Back in early April 2018, Activision teased Spyro remaster, then a couple days later, revealed that this remaster was actually happening. It was soon given launch date of September 21, 2018 but eventually delayed to November 12, 2018. With October coming to a close, the date is coming up fast for our favourite purple dragon to show off some old moves in a new way. And finally, the launch trailer for Spyro Reignited Trilogy has arrived:
The video trailer shows us the original three Spyro games; Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage, and Spyro: Year of the Dragon, that had come out between 1998-2000 back on the Playstation. And, you heard that right, that is Tom Kenny (Spongebob Squarepants, Adventure Time) revising his role as Spyro 20 years later.
But, the video also shows off completely remastered visuals, cleaner and crisper graphics, amazing backgrounds, and our familiar crew of characters, as well as a few clips of in-game graphics and the changes between them. Blink, and you’ll miss it.
Here’s a couple of screenshots to really get the feel for the updated look.
But there is one thing to notice about the updated graphics and cast of characters, and the video highlights this: all the Elder Dragons have changed. In the original series, the 80 collectible Elder Dragons all looked the same save for a different colour, but even then it all blends together into something indistinguishable. So what did Paul Yan, co-director of developers Toys for Bob, say and do?
“We didn’t approach [the games] with, ‘How can we add all these new ideas?’ It’s really about, how do we understand the truth of them and then bring that up and find opportunities to embellish and add more lushness and detail?”
They decided to redesign each of the Elder Dragons. Each one will have its own personality, its own look, and some of them will even act, appear, and sound more like the bayou Louisiana-inspired home that they’re from. This brings a new experience for collecting the dragons instead of saying ‘Alright, which of the same six or seven lines will this one tell me, or will it actually give me information I probably already know?’
Gameplay for the remastered trilogy looks like it’ll be roughly the same, with maybe a few nuances coming in. But that will have to be discovered when the game releases. Spyro Reignited Trilogy is available for pre-order now for $40 USD and will be released on November 12, 2018 for PS4 and XBox One.