How to Train Your Dragon is a game from the Dreamworks movie of the same name, which is in turn based on the book by Cressida Cowell. The game takes place after the movie, when the Vikings holds the Thor's-day Thursday festival, finished off with a large dragon tournament. Players get to play as the human characters Astrid or Hiccup (both featured in the film). There are three main elements to the game: exploration, training (building a stable and training the dragons) and fighting other players in dragon combat.

During combats the dragons are controlled directly and they fight in a 3D environment, using melee and fire attacks. Fire is built up through a meter for each successful attack, resulting in powerful fire-based strikes. There is also a blocking mechanism and each dragon has its own combo tree with special effect depending on the species.

During the exploration phase Hiccup or Astrid have to train the dragons. They can be customized to make them unique. Through training and winning tournaments statistics such as strength and speed can be improved. They also need to complete quests and collect food to keep the main parameters (food, heal, mood, rest and trust) at a high level to get the best performance in combat.

Multiplayer modes are entirely centered around the fighting aspect of the game. Dragons from different console versions of the game can be imported to challenge a friend.