Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is the eighth Crash Bandicoot series game, though the fourth chronologically. The game retains the series' core platforming gameplay and adds new elements through the use of the Quantum Masks, who can alter levels and provide means to traverse or overcome obstacles. It also includes additional game modes for replaying levels, and the ability to control five characters, three of whom – Cortex, Dingodile, and Tawna – have their own unique gameplay and levels.

Following his defeat in Crash Bandicoot: Warped, Uka Uka attempts to liberate himself and his acolytes Doctor Neo Cortex and Nefarious Tropy from their prison in the past. His latest effort rips open a hole in the fabric of space and time, and causes him to pass out. Cortex and N. Tropy swiftly escape and discover that the rift they use links their universe to the rest of the multiverse. They now want to make use of it to conquer all dimensions. It’s up to Crash and Coco to save the day.