Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is a platform game in which the player primarily controls either the titular character Crash or his sister Coco, who are tasked with saving the multiverse from domination by Doctors Neo Cortex and Nefarious Tropy.[1] The game's levels take place and progress along a linear map that is divided into ten "Dimensions", each with their own theme.[2][3] From this map, the player can switch between controlling Crash or Coco at any time.[4] The game can be played in two different styles, which can be selected before the start of a new game and can be switched at any time in the options menu. The default play style is "Modern", in which the player will always return to the latest checkpoint when the player character dies. In the other play style, "Retro", the player is given a limited number of lives (represented by a floating head of the character currently in play), of which more can be collected within the levels. If the player's last life is lost, the level will be restarted from the beginning. Neither the game's difficulty nor reward progress is affected by the differing play styles.[5]
The gameplay takes place from a third-person perspective, with some sections involving the player character running toward the camera or moving in a side-scrolling fashion.[6] Crash and Coco's basic maneuvers include jumping and double jumping, a spinning attack, crawling, sliding, and slamming onto the ground. They can also grind on, hang off and hop across rails, as well as run along designated walls.[7] Scattered throughout the levels are a wide variety of crates serving different functions. Crates generally contain Wumpa Fruit, which grant an extra life if 100 are collected in the Retro play style. Other crates contain an Aku Aku mask, which shields the player character from contact with a single enemy or hazard. Collecting three consecutive Aku Aku masks will grant the player character temporary invincibility from all dangers except falling down bottomless pits. While invincible, the player character can automatically kill enemies and break crates within a certain radius.[8] Within each level is a "Bonus" area that is accessed via a platform bearing a yellow question mark. Each Bonus area consists of a short side-scrolling puzzle sequence in which the player must break all the crates within the area. Dying in a Bonus area will not deplete a life in the Retro play style, and results in the player character respawning next to the Bonus platform within the level.[9]