Cradle of Creation

After viewing the opening cinematic, you immediately begin working through this stage, which is later accessible from the level hub. This relatively simple stage introduces various mechanics, so pay attention to the descriptions and revisit it later if you need a refresher on the basics.

Start forward and smash the crates for loot. Past the debris, you find your first enemies. To their right, on a slightly raised ledge, you can also find a Treasure Chest near some ferns. Press the buttons indicated to break its locks and grab the loot inside. As for the enemies, simple melee attacks eliminate them quickly. You can also break the nearby bamboo gate to clear a path to the left. Start along the path and the landscape crumbles. Now there is a stone block at the base of the trail. Push it forward to drop it into a groove so that you can keep going.

The enemy you encounter here generates more of the weaklings you killed a moment ago. Bash through them and take out their source. Then proceed left by pushing the two blocks to form a bridge to the next ledge. Notice the blue arrows that appear on them, to let you know where each block can be pushed.

Now you arrive at the Voracious Clearing. Take out the pod plant that is positioned near a locked gate. An opening now appears to the left. Enter that cave and find an Imaginite chest resting on a currently unreachable column. To access the chest, run forward to the back wall, where the coins are positioned in a circle. You can run left, like a hamster in a wheel, and your action lowers the column so you can open the chest. Do so to snag its contents. Then Spyro drops a key, which you automatically grab when you pass over it. Exit the cave with the key.

Use the key to open the gate. A pad bounces you upward, to the Cliffs of Emergence. Here, you see three blocks to your right. Ignore them for a moment, though. Head left through a gate you can break apart. Grab the treasure and the ledge falls apart. You drop to a hidden ledge, where you can grab the Ambush Soul Gem that teaches the Nature's Revenge ability. Hop over the nearby ropes and head to the bounce pad to the right. Let it carry you to high ground once more. Now you can tend to the three blocks that you saw a moment ago. Push the left block forward, then the right block goes to the left, and finally you can push the back block off the cliff to provide an opening. Drop down to the lower ledge.

Ahead, you'll see a large stone ball with purple panes. Push it forward so that it starts rolling forward and down a hill. It will crush some enemies on your behalf and clear an obstruction. Keep following it to the Stone Hollow area, and defeat the enemies that greet you. Then push the stone ball left and let it settle into a pressure plate, which produces a stone bridge to your left.

Start across that bridge carefully, as large boulders will roll at you first along the left, then the right, then the left again. Move out of their way as you advance. On the far side of the bridge, your approach causes Spyro to point out a Brawler Shrine. Then it's time to head to the left, to the Balcony of Formation. Rush the plants and destroy them with melee attacks, paying attention to the weaklings they generate only as necessary. Once you defeat the plants, the whole platform drops a level and the opening to an underground ruin appears. Enter it.

Head up the steps and collect the Level Star resting near the top, which should level up your character. Then keep going and you arrive at the Maze of the Mind area. Progressing through it is simple. Head forward and the path branches. Treasure waits to the left, and a switch to the right. Step on the switch to make a nearby L-shaped gate pivot so you can proceed. Continue up and toward the left to reach a second switch, which makes the gate to the the right turn vertical. You can continue in that manner, stepping on the switches to spin gates. They lead you to an opening to the right, which you can use to escape the maze and satisfy another level objective.

Now you arrive in the Circle of Ascension, where Sensei-type characters are strong. Cross a circular arena area and strike the gong to summon a group of enemies to the first Gong Battle. Enemies appear and creep toward you. Rush to them as they appear, hitting them with strikes and prioritizing the larger mechs. You want to eliminate them quickly so they can't fire rockets. Keep at it until you mash everyone to bits. That causes a chest to appear that contains common Imaginite. Then you are left facing three gates. You must pass through them in order from left to right, and a brief trial awaits you behind each gate.

Behind the first gate, you find the Puzzle of the Id challenge. It takes place in a side-scrolling room. Bounce pads line the floor, and another one floats back and forth overhead. Bounce from the floor to the floating platform, and from there you can easily keep bouncing as you gather three glowing discs that travel in circles in the air. After you snag the last of them, bounce up to the high ledge near the top of the room and proceed through an opening to reach a chest. Then you can step on a glowing portal to the right to warp back to the room with the three gates.

The second gate now opens. It leads to the Path of Adaptation. In this area, you face floating chunks of square flooring. There are short barrier walls suspended in the air, so what you need to do is advance while jumping over the barriers as needed in order to remain on the panels. Cross the first gap by using the first two sliding panels in that manner. Then open a Treasure Chest to your right for some treasure. Head left next, to find another series of the sliding panels. It's tricky, but you want to advance along the first two out of that set of three panels that are positioned not far from the chest that is your goal. Before you make a move for the chest, though, let that second panel carry you left past the barrier, and then you can head toward the screen to find another panel that allows you to reach a ledge where you can obtain the Barbella Soul Gem, which teaches the Taken For Granite ability. Grab that, then cross over to the chest and open it so that you can return to the lobby area and pass through the final gate.

Behind that third gate, you find the Bridge of Regression. Here, bounce up to high ground and proceed along a raised walkway. Pistons rise and drop pretty regularly as you proceed. You can ride them down to the lower level to tend to enemies and sometimes find loot. The first piston leads to the Sorcerer Legendary Selfie Frame, an item you will want to collect. The second piston descends to let you grab a Sorcerer Imaginator Soul Gem, which you also want. It teaches the Sorcerer's Circle ability. Keep moving onward, using the higher walkway (those pistons don't drop to anything particularly interesting), until you drop down at the walkway's end and find the chest.

Now you receive notification that you have completed each path. Press toward the left now, and you reach an intersection with a bounce pad. You can let it carry you upward to a higher ledge. As you land on that ledge, christened the Visualization Chamber, gates rise and you must defeat more enemies like the ones you encountered after ringing the gong. Defeat them quickly, then head toward the platform's back side where an arrow appears. Press the buttons indicated on-screen to produce a bridge, which leads to a new ledge with sliding blocks.

Head left on this ledge for the area's final locked Treasure Chest and for some life-restoring popcorn, then right to find hexagonal ledges floating in space. They ascend and descend slightly, but you can use them to safely cross to another platform and chest. Open the chest and you initiate a Snail Challenge. You need to rush after a snail, collecting the Imaginite he leaves in his wake. There are 23 pieces. Once you grab the last one, a new chest appears that you can open for still more Imaginite. Then you should head to the back side of the platform and assemble another bridge with your mind.

Cross that bridge to reach the far ledge, which triggers a cutscene and then the area boss battle.

Once you win the battle, another cutscene follows. A chest drops from the sky, and you can open it to receive your rewards for clearing the stage. You get more loot or less loot, depending on whether (in addition to satisfying Story objectives) you have completed the available Collections, and cleared any Dares. Then you are taken automatically to the level hub.