Spyro and Cynder are tethered together with mysterious green energy chains created by the Dark Master before being carried away while Sparx is found by Hunter of Avalar, who was watching them from the shadows. The game begins three years later, after The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night with Spyro and Cynder, who are now teenagers, being broken free of their crystalline prison by mysterious enemies known as Grublins. Once off, normal attacks and other elemental powers will be allowed. The player must use an element of a designated color that matches that of the mask in order to knock the mask off. Their masks make them invincible to normal attacks. In addition to normal enemies, there are elite enemies, which are enemies that are stronger than normal enemies. The Fury Gems from previous titles have been removed (replaced by dark crystals that can drain magic if they're not destroyed), and the Fury Meter now goes up depending on the number of times Spyro or Cynder scores attacks on enemies. The green gems give the dragons magic, allowing element attacks. Along with Blue Gems, there are also Red gems, which restore lost health. Blue Gems power up Spyro and Cynder, allowing them to upgrade moves. The more times the player hits the enemy the more Blue Gems the players will earn. They also have another feature called melee combos. Along with the standard power ups that gems will bring, Spyro and Cynder can both equip pieces of Dragon Armor that they find. Spyro retains his command of fire, electricity, ice, and earth (all of which he now has access to from the start), while Cynder controls poison, fear, wind, and shadow, powers that were given to her when she was controlled by the Dark Master.

This time, however, the game has more freedom by exploring larger areas and collecting items in order to progress through the game. In previous titles of the Legend of Spyro series, Spyro must travel through the level and defeat enemies in a linear fashion. The environments are much larger than in previous games, and a majority of them have a bit more exploration to them. The co-op feature allows players to have the option of completing the game as either Spyro or Cynder, along with giving them the power to switch between Spyro and Cynder, giving them more freedom to explore the world in completely new ways.

The game also features a co-op mode with Cynder. This is the first Spyro game that allows a player to fly at any time they want (free-fly mode). The gameplay is more advanced than previous titles in the series.

Legend of spyro dawn of the dragon