Digging Through My Steam Backlog: Spyro Reignited Trilogy

Welcome to part one of my attempt to dig through my Steam Library, sometimes I find my thoughts on these games too big to put into a tweet so we're kicking it to the blog. First on the docket, Spyro Reignited Trilogy. Now I'm not comfortable with giving Activision my money given the... everything going on. But the fun thing about your Steam Backlog is that a game could spend ten years in the library before you touch it. In Spyro's case I bought this in 2020 so I feel less icky about it now. Now three games sounds like a lot, and I was concerned about that as well. But it turns out I shouldn't worry though as there isn't much meat on these bones and only one of the games truly engrossed me.

What helped me get through Spyro Reignited easily is that it's like Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy in that the core mechanics don't change between games. Spyro is a Mario 64 style platformer with a glide for traversal, fire breath for attack, and charge for speed and attack. You enter a world, find the levels, and scour those levels for maguffins and treasure. But Spyro's abilities make the level design stand out and chaining a charge into a glide is actually really fun even if it can get frustrating at times.

And you'll have plenty of time to master the movement because Spyro 1 is as simple as a game gets; all of Spyro's dragon friends have been turned to stone, go save. And these levels are fairly short and barren, there's practically no variety in objective. Outside of environmental differences there's nothing different between Spyro 1's levels; they're all similar in that you're dumped in a level and told to find Dragon Statues. The levels all start to blend together towards the end and the lack of objective variety kills Spyro 1.

I can imagine this is also worse in the original version as opposed to Reignited. In the original the dragons Spyro saved had no real personality and all blended together. Meanwhile in Reignited they all have fun and unique character moments that make each stand out. It actually makes saving all the dragons worth it just to see what character moments you get.

On a related note, I also like the character of Spyro; there's an honest earnestness but snark to him that gives the series a slight irreverent edge. If I'm honest I'd say characterization is probably the series' strong suit as we'll see later on. However, Spyro 1 suffers from trying to figure out the formula for how the Spyro series should work, something made evident by the sequel and just how much it improves things.

Speaking of which, Spyro 2 is the picture-perfect definition of a sequel; take what worked from the first game, excise what doesn't, and build off that foundation. Spyro 2 doesn't just dump you in small almost barren levels with no clear goal other than "Find Shit". Rather Spyro 2 gives you a specific objective and forces you to navigate an obstacle course to accomplish your objective with side objectives on your way. Usually this involves helping the characters in that level but the way you do so changes by level, which allows for a lot more variety in Spyro 2 than Spyro 1 ever had.

Another major improvement is that while I mentioned that each level was populated by unique creatures, Spyro 2 also gives Spyro an actual supporting cast. They're fun too and a step up from the one note dragons of the first game who were really just maguffins to give Spyro an excuse for adventure. Except Moneybags, fuck Moneybags, all my homies hate Moneybags.

Just like in Spyro 1 though, I think the boost from original to Reignited really did the cast favors and if you don't believe me go look at Elora's Original vs Reignited design. I know some people hate the idea of these redesigns for complicating what was once simple, something that rears its head in Spyro 3 as well. But those characters only look that simple because of the PS1's processing power requiring the devs to use simplistic design. So, if we can give added detail and and polish to these characters why don't we?

That said it isn't just a boost in processing power and fidelity that makes Spyro 2 Reignited's presentation great, the boost in cinematography also helps. These cutscenes feel like an actual animated movie as opposed to the very static standing around and talking of the original. The cinematography and way characters move helps them stand out from one another much more. No one benefits more from these improvements in design and presentation however than Ripto.

The main villain of Spyro 2, Ripto, is a massive improvement on the villain of Spyro 1. Who is so non-existent in that game that I just now realized I forgot to mention him. You honestly weren't missing much; especially compared to Ripto who is this great mix of diabolical and pathetic at the same time. You hate to love Ripto but love to hate him too and it's part of the strong characterization that makes Spyro 2 so good.

So good in fact that Spyro 3 doesn't really change much from 2; in fact, Spyro 3 is pretty much Spyro 2 but slightly worse. To understand why we need to back to Crash Bandicoot, namely Crash Bandicoot 3. Crash 3 introduced new powerups that permanently changed how Crash played and introduced new level design to accommodate those changes. Sure Crash 3 copies Crash 2's box smashing and gem finding formula, but the new abilities shake things up and make repeat playthroughs fun.

Spyro 3 meanwhile tries to shake up the formula by adding new characters to the cast who can be played; like a Rocket Launcher wielding Penguin on a jetpack or a giant Yeti who smashes things. The problem is that these characters exist in their own walled off sections of levels and therefore don't really change what Spyro is actually doing, which is pretty much what he was doing in 2 just copy and pasted. I'd also argue some of the charm is gone, though that's mostly because the villainess of Spyro 3 does not live up to the bar that Ripto set.

So yeah, out of this trilogy the only one I can see myself going back to is Spyro 2, a genuinely fun game with a lot of charm and personality. Spyro 1 meanwhile is too limited and barren while Spyro 3 is just Spyro 2 with a gimmick that doesn't add enough gas to the tank. I'd say I didn't waste my time though and the games are all worth at least one playthrough, even if only one of them truly engrossed me.