The Eternal Night is a notoriously difficult game, and new players will likely find themselves dying frequently. It turns out that this game has a few attributes that can be manipulated to make the game a lot easier. Not glitches, and actually intended elements, but not always obvious. I thought I'd compile a few general pointers for people just picking up the game either casually, or with intent to speedrun to help those struggling get through it. A lot of this is obvious, but it's important to reinforce these techniques and encourage their use in general gameplay.

1. Magic and melee lags are independent - mix them up! You may have noticed when playing that when you reach the end of a melee combo, you cannot attack for a while. For example, if you complete a combo in mid-air, you need to wait until you reach the ground again before you can attack. Unfortunately, attacking in the air slows down descent massively. It is possible to make the most of this down-time though. It turns out that the "lag" (as it would be called in Smash) is independent between magic and melee attacks. That is to say, you can use magic when you're unable to use melee and vice-versa. In the early game, it works quite well to use an air combo and use the flame breath until you can attack again. This halves the number of cycles required to kill enemies! It also works incredibly well with the ice breath's secondary attack, but this does cancel the knockback it gives enemies, so be careful.

2. There is no such thing as overusing dragon time. Dragon time initially comes across as intended for easing the (relatively) fast-paced platforming sections, but is incredibly helpful for some of the more difficult combat sections. As you will have noticed, Spyro is slowed down by dragon time too, but the relative decrease is much lower than with the other objects. As a result, not only is it easier to react to situations, but you can get further from an attack. The most significant use I've noticed is against ravage rider at Fellmuth Arena, where you can slow time to escape flames or avoid cannonballs when the ship crosses the arena floor. If you're speedrunning the game, it may seem counterintuitive to slow time, but losing 5 seconds is much better than losing minutes to a death. Use it as much as you need to, but pay attention to the hourglass - when that runs out, you won't be able to use dragon time, and it's slow to reload.

3. Air attacks protect Spyro - prioritise them over ground-based attacks. The advantage of air attacks against ground attacks is that they are circular. This makes them incredibly useful. Not only do they protect you from incoming attacks, but it means you can attack multiple enemies at once. It's optimal, not only in terms of speed but also safety, to keep as low to the ground as possible when attacking. This is done by switching between the circle and cross inputs as quickly as possible. By rolling your thumb between the two continuously, you can chain these attacks with minimal lag. It's a great way to deal with loads of enemies surrounding Spyro.

4. Interrupt fights to pick up gems. If your health is low, you're probably going to die unless you stock up again. If you see any red or green gems and your meters are low, use dragon time to escape your current conflict and pick them up immediately. Don't try to be a hero. I'll say here that you can actually die from full health - there are no invincibility frames when Spyro gets hurt, and you can get hit by combos pretty hard (especially when you consider how slowly Spyro recovers from hits).

5. Different enemies are weak to different elements. This is self-explanatory, and it just comes down to learning them. A lot of the time, the most recently learnt breath is the most powerful, but there are exceptions. Notable weaknesses are cannons to Earth attacks and ghost pirates to snowballs.

6. Thunder is overpowered in White Isle. The last level, White Isle, has ridiculous combat sections. The thunder element is by far and away the most useful, and almost all enemies here have a weakness to it. I find it incredibly helpful to save all upgrade points until Thunder is unlocked, and upgrade it as much as possible. Spamming triangle with dragon time is a great way to abuse invincibility and deal lots of damage, but watch your magic usage. This strat is also usable for killing the Elemental Dragon in a single cycle!

7. Fury temporarily increases damage output. When you use any of the elemental furies, Spyro is buffed for a short while in addition to the immediate damage dealt to enemies. The difference is actually quite substancial, and you shouldn't be afraid to use it if you're in a difficult situation. Be careful with furies though - you don't get them back if you die. Skabb 2 becomes a lot easier, as Earth Fury takes around a third of his health; but for your sake, make sure it's the last third. The damage buff is nice, but not worth dying for.

8. Sword and shield bosses are literally free. Bosses like the executioner in Fellmuth Arena, Skabb 2, and the elemental spirits, are incredibly difficult to fight head-on. The best thing to do is a combination of the tech mentioned above, while dancing around them. Slow down time, and go in an anticlockwise direction (or clockwise for Skabb 2) and use a combination of melee and elemental attacks. Be sure to get out of there before dragon time runs out, because they can kill you pretty quickly. It does become a waiting game when dragon time gets low, but safe strats are really worth it in this instance.

There is obviously a lot more tech in the game, but this is the most relevant from my observations. Obviously, I don't expect a surge in this game's activity at any point, but this might come in handy for anyone that miscellaneously wants to play.

If you have any questions about the game, feel free to contact me - "Xen0va" - on Discord. Good luck!