The premise of Skylanders is already based on the classic childhood fantasy of watching your toys come to life. Now, Imaginators, the next installment of the popular toys-to-life video games, will take that premise one step further by allowing players to create their own playable Skylanders.
Players start by choosing one of ten battle classes (ranging from sorcerer to brawler, etc.) and then choose everything from their character’s hair to weapons and armor to the pitch of their voice. The keys to this process lie within the Creation Crystals, cylindrical toys players place on the “Portal of Power” game pad to begin creating. Once completed, the character file is saved into the crystals (think Pokéball) which can then be read by any other “Portal of Power.” So, not only does each Crystal serve as the physical avatar of these characters, but this gives the young Skylanders fanbase the ability to tote their crystals to friends’ houses to show off their latest creations.
As a tie-in, Activision is also releasing 31 Sensei characters toys. Once placed in the game, these figures serve as teachers to the newly born custom Skylanders, granting power-ups, new moves and other unlocks. 11 of these Senseis will be former villains from past games.
According to an interview with Time, franchise creator and Toys for Bob co-founder Paul Reiche is also considering bringing a few fan-made characters beyond the realm of the game. “In this year’s Imaginators, it’s ‘bring your imagination to life,’ but then it’s really ‘bring your imagination back to the real world.’ So we’re going to be offering a limited number of players the ability to build three-dimensional prints of their characters that are playable in the game,” said Reiche.
The game is currently set for release this fall on Oct. 16 on Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Wii U. The standard starter pack, which features the game, one “Portal of Power,” one “Creation Crystal” and two sensei characters, is currently priced at $74.99, with a “dark edition” running for $99.
Check out the official gameplay trailer below and revisit our feature on the 10 best classic Skylanders here.