Similar to its predecessors, the core gameplay revolves around solving puzzles, platforming, and fighting enemies.[1] As the title is a toys-to-life game, players can put Skylanders toy figurine onto a Portal of Power, which will then allow players to control the figurine-represented character in-game.[2] Creation Clash, a remake of Skystones which was introduced in Giants is featured in the game.[3] The game supports local multiplayer.
One of the newest additions are "Imaginators", which are characters created by the player. At the beginning of the game, players can select a battle class (Knight, Smasher, Sentinel, Swashbuckler, Brawler, Sorcerer, Quickshot, Ninja, Bazooker, and Bowslinger) and elemental class (The ten elements of the Skylanders series), which determines their fighting style.[4] While the battle class cannot be reset within the game itself, unofficial methods exist to completely reset the Creation Crystal via the use of older Skylanders games on the Wii and Nintendo 3DS. Afterwards, players can customize the names, voices, fighting abilities, appearances, colors and sizes of their Imaginators. For players who do not wish to create a new character, they can use a mechanic that automatically generates an Imaginators randomly, or use any existing Skylanders featured in its predecessors. The Imaginators created can be shared to other players. Body parts, which are classified into four types, namely Common, Rare, Epic, and Ultimate, can be found when players are exploring in the game. These new parts can be used to customize the player's existing Imaginators, which can be modified at any time.[5] Creation Crystals are where the Imaginators are stored. With the crystal, players can transport their custom Imaginatiors to all video game consoles the game is released for. In addition to Imaginators, the game also adds 31 more typical Skylanders into the game. These new characters are called "Senseis", and they are extremely powerful, as they are extremely refined in their respective classes. 11 of these Senseis are villains who had appeared in previous Skylanders games. They also have the ability to perform a special attack called "Sky Chi". These Senseis lead the Imaginators, and involve in helping them to unlock their abilities, techniques, weapons, and level-cap. Senseis are optional, and players can complete the game without using them.[1]
Both Crash Bandicoot and Doctor Neo Cortex appear as guest characters with their own level, Thumpin' Wumpa Islands. This level has iconic gameplay features present in previous Crash Bandicoot games.
