DreamWorks Dragons: Dawn of New Riders (2019)

How To Train Your Dragon is, in theory, a movie franchise rife for decent video game adaptations. With plenty of lore, world building and material to draw on across both the TV and film platforms, it’s surprising then that the games haven’t managed to take advantage of this as much as they should. Despite some fun dungeon crawling mechanics and a simple, original story, New Riders fails to deliver a compelling and memorable experience, devolving too often into the usual tropes you’d expect from this sort of movie tie-in.

Still, DreamWorks Dragons: Dawn of New Riders is the rare movie tie-in that doesn't flagrantly lean into a reliving of the film. Dawn of New Riders tries to do something else entirely, and that's admirable in its own way. There's a decent time to be had -- especially for youngsters -- and its flaws and shortcomings don't grate too much, thanks largely to a relatively short runtime. But, because it forges its own path, Dawn of New Riders won't make a lasting impression on the How to Train Your Dragon canon.

Dragons: Dawn of New Riders mostly keeps it simple and fun with an easy to follow story and gameplay. It is not the most complex action game but makes uses its licensed property creatively. So instead of looking like forced tie-in, it feels more like a proper spin-off to the movie.

Simple but stylish, Dawn of New Riders is nothing new but a lot of fun, especially for fans of the series.

Seeing as I finished it in just over 4 hours I can't say it's worth the price of admission. It might be one to wait for until it goes on sale.