SK Future: N.Sanity Island and Open Zone Gameplay Description
As N.Sanity Island comes into view of the Starship Phonix, the Soul Princes reflect on everything they've been through regarding the Guardians. "And here we are checking on our Guardian of Fun, Crash Bandicoot. It's taken less time than I thought to get them freed from the Sins… Ratchet, ready to land?" Ratchet nods, and upon landing, Coco, Crunch, and Aku Aku are there to greet the Soul Princes. "Soul Princes. It's great to see you again. Bentley, did you get my message?" "The slideshow is prepped and ready." "Good. We'll fill you guys in. I heard you recruited an army?" "Led by one of Crash's friends, actually. Does the name "Skylander" mean anything to you?" "Actually, yes. There was that incident right around Crash's 25th birthday that caused them to have to come over…" "Let's hope we don't need them. Anyway, where's the last place you saw Crash? After what happened to the other Guardians, let's just say that we're getting worried about him…" "Last I heard, he was headed for the top of N.Sanity Peak. He hasn't been up there since the adventure with the Quantum Masks, but he heard rumors that a videotape of the time he was working for Cortex was in that general area… it could be a goldmine of info." "Let's go get it then. And if we take out a Sin while doing it, I won't complain…"
SKSKSK
Cut to gameplay as Coco fires up a teleporter and we head to a LOADING screen before entering into the N.Sanity Island Open Zone, lots of Twinsanity influence here. Coco asks, "It's a long way to the peak… does anyone want a ride on my scooter?" Sora jumps on to said scooter, Ratchet takes off in his hoverboots, Sly and Connor Ninja Spire Jump across some cliffs, Rayman and Drayke get ready to chase down another Treasure Chest, Link gets on his Spinner, and Kaden holds onto Sonic as Siccion runs beside him.
You could beeline for the peak, but there's a lot of content in open areas in Soul Kingdom. I think now would be a good time to talk about that. Remember when the Soul Princes were talking about their past adventures? I like the idea of turning "storytimes" into another collectable, each a playable flashback to big moments in the Soul Princes' past, with commentary from the other jewel holders giving you extra bits of narrative telling you "here's why this is an important thing to know about this character." I imagine they're triggered similarly to Breath of the Wild's memories. By the time you finish all of them, some being optional side quests and others for main story purposes, you have a good idea of what all the Soul Princes went through in the past, even if you aren't a fan of, say, Sonic. (Not everyone grew up with Sega…) I've already talked about the Treasure Chest Chases, and there's also little mini platforming challenges similar to Bowser's Fury, some character!specific and others able to be done with any of the characters. I like to think of these open worlds as similar to Mario Odyssey Kingdoms, just with crossover opportunities around every corner. The Galaxy Map on the Phonix is similar to the current Destiny 2 Director, just less overwhelming/confusing. I feel like that's enough rambling about gameplay, and what do you know? The Soul Princes have been climbing the peak while I was giving out all this info… and at the top, Crash Bandicoot digging through some crates. But when he turns around, it's a dark version of him possessed by the Sin known as Avanitia. And he's equipped with the Dark Matter Spin from Crash 4.
AVANITIA-POSSESSED CRASH BANDICOOT
DARK GUARDIAN OF FUN
Anyway, with the Dark Matter Spin you are absolutely not attacking the possessed Crash head on, so what do you do? Exactly what you would do if you were playing a Crash Bandicoot game: be cautious and wait for an opening, and hopefully you won't need too many respawns. You'll die a few times though. This is a Crash Bandicoot themed level… eventually you bring the health of Dark Crash down to zero, and Crash falls to the floor as the Sin gets away. Bentley calls Coco over. Sora comes over with her. "Heal! That should do it. Although I think Bentley would tell you to be careful when you're out and about… speaking of Bentley, has anyone seen him?" Sly responds with, "He's been working on some sort of top secret project for the last little while, whenever we've had a break on the Phonix. Actually, he's told me it's nearly done. Do you guys want to go check it out?" "Absolutely. We could use a reward for saving the last Guardian…"
The Soul Princes start walking back to the Phonix, waiting to see what the genius turtle has in store for them.
End chapter.