The entire premise of the game: the Sorceress has been kidnapping dragon eggs so she can kill the dragon hatchlings and cut their wings off to make an immortality potion for herself. A kids' game, implying mass genocide and infanticide? Damn, that is pretty dark.
It gets worse: in the Reignited trilogy, some of the elder dragons have artificial wings, such as Zander, with wings made of magic crystal, or Marco, with strapped-on mechanical wings. Were they survivors of the Sorceress's evil schemes long ago?
The Sorceress turns minions into bosses to fight Spyro (akin to Kamek in Yoshi's Island). At least one was forced into it, despite struggling and pleading for mercy.
Frozen Altars has a lot of giant snowmen that Spyro must defeat with lasers; getting too close to one results in them grabbing Spyro, shaking him and throwing him away. All while sporting a demonic Slasher Smile.
Buzz, Spike, and Scorch were all rhynoc soldiers who got transformed, in one case against their will. What they become is so far from their original forms that you have to feel bad for them.
Buzz's boss theme stands out by sounding, not bombastic or epic like Crush and Gulp from Ripto's Rage, but rather morose and melancholy, appropriate in context when you consider how Buzz was once a Rhynoc gardener, turned into a mindless monster and sent on a mission that ends with his violent and painful demise.
Spike was a particularly creepy case. Not only is he That One Boss, but his design and music theme is one of the most unsettling. His intro cutscene is absent in some versions the game, given the events occurring it almost comes off as an act of mercy to little kids (he not only willingly transforms into him under the promise of eating Spyro, but Bianca looks terrified of him and just as the cutscene ends he lets out a hellish roar at the screen).
Scorch is frightening for a number of reasons: he has a Nightmare Face, his boss fight takes place inside a dead whale's corpse...heck, even his theme music is menacing. "A monster to end all monsters" indeed.
The Flying Geckos in Enchanted Towers, who start of as small harmless-looking things on the ground, but suddenly grow into big flying monstrosities with huge mouths full of razor-sharp teeth as soon as you get close, glaring at you and spitting fireballs.
Some of the NPCs have... rather disturbing intentions for the dragon eggs. Moneybags was planning to sell it back in Avalar for a fortune, essentially child trafficking for all intents and purposes, the Mountain Goats in Sheila's Alp were planning to smash the egg on each other's houses as a prank, and perhaps worst of all, Sgt. Byrd suggests to Spyro that the egg he has "would go great with some bangers and mash", essentially saying straight to someone's face that babies of their species are delicious. Yikes.
The scene when Hunter springs a trap meant for Spyro. He falls into a cage and then we hear the Sorceress laugh offscreen. One has to wonder she was going to do to Hunter had Bianca not set him free.
Zoe's message if you're playing a pirated or otherwise hacked version of the game. Her straightforward out-of-character speech, which is delivered in a tone that seems less chipper and willing to help, creeped some players out. It's made even creepier by the game having no music during dialogue... and that's not even getting to all the bizarre "problems" that the Anti-Piracy measures inflictnote Including randomly crashing the game, switching up the languages, disabling certain abilities (up to and including pausing), scrambling which doors take you to which levels, quietly deleting level progress and things you've collected, taking away your health so you die in 1-2 hits, and ultimately resetting all of your save data if you play all the way up to the Final Boss. should you persist anyway.
Zoe: (unhappily) I'm sorry, Spyro, but you seem to be playing a hacked version of this game. This may be an illegal copy. Since this copy has been modified, you may experience problems that would not occur in a legal copy.
The game's weird behaviour when hacked is eerily reminiscent of a "haunted game" style Creepypasta. Many people report that when playing as a kid they had no knowledge of the crack protection and its effects and thought that their game was possessed.
Bubba the Firefly's warning to Spyro before he battles the Wizard boss:
Bubba the Firefly: The tea lamps are lit! Now I'll tell you the secret of what's in this house! A creepy wizard lives inside but hates the light. He has awoken. He swore to destroy whoever lights the tea lamps. Better you than me.
Bianca's warning to Spyro once he arrives in Evening Lake after defeating the boss Spike. The sheer conflict and desperation in her voice once she's seen just how mad the Sorceress has become.
Bianca: Listen to me, dragon... Spyro... this is serious now. The Sorceress is planning a trap for you and if she catches you... Believe me, you don't want to know what she's gonna do. Look, I promise to take good care of the rest of the eggs. I mean it, just take Hunter and go back home before... before... I can't say it, just go!
A milder example, but in Evening Lake, there is a whale swimming around who, when approached, will open its mouth to suck Spyro inside where he will find a dragon egg. In the original games, the whale looks about like you would expect, with a very standard and even somewhat cute design. In the Reignited Trilogy, however, the whale's redesign looks bizarrely horrifying. [1]
if you're playing a pirated or otherwise hacked version of the game. Her straightforward out-of-character speech, which is delivered in a tone that seems less chipper and willing to help, creeped some players out. It's made even creepier by the game having no music during dialogue... and that's not even getting to all the bizarre "problems" that the Anti-Piracy measures inflict note should you persist anyway.
