As all but confirmed, the newest Sonic game, now officially titled Sonic Frontiers, had its first proper reveal at The Game Awards. It showcased both CG footage of Sonic running from mysterious robotic enemies, and some seemingly in-game environmental shots which definitely take things to a far more realistic art-style again.
Check out the trailer below:
We also have a couple of key tidbits courtesy of GameInformer; the director is once again Morio Kishimoto, also director of Sonic Colors on Wii, Sonic Lost World on Wii U, and Sonic Forces, with the producer being Sachiko Kawamura. And making his long awaited debut in the games, the main writer is none other than Sonic comic legend; Ian Flynn.
We have a quote from the PR email that adds more:
“Sonic Frontiers is a huge leap forward for the franchise, delivering an evolved gameplay experience that can be enjoyed by longtime Sonic fans and action-adventure enthusiasts alike,” said Takashi Iizuka, Creative Officer at Sonic Team USA. “With the effort of the talented developers at Sonic Team Japan, we’ve created an all-new style of gameplay experience for Sonic the Hedgehog, where players will be able to explore lush and expansive landscapes with Sonic’s signature speed and abilities. There’s sure to be lots of twists and turns around every corner in ‘Sonic Frontiers,’ and we’re excited to unveil more information about the game over the coming months.”
Worlds will collide in Sonic the Hedgehog’s newest adventure. An experience like never before, accelerate to new heights and experience the thrill of high velocity open-zone freedom. Battle powerful enemies as you speed through the Starfall Islands – landscapes brimming with dense forests, overflowing waterfalls, sizzling deserts and more! Planned for Holiday 2022.
The game is developed by Sonic Team and will released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, and PC in holiday 2022. You can visit the game’s official website here.
UPDATE: We have updated this story to remove a passage referring to story elements of the game, originally reported by Polygon, which a SEGA PR rep said included incorrect details. Polygon’s article now no longer features this passage or information.
UPDATE: We have also removed reference to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions being backwards compatible versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This was originally included due to the way the logos were presented, but at this time we do not have any information regarding how SEGA will or will not differentiate these versions.
Wow, kudos to Ian Flynn for finally being involved with the mainline Sonic game. Despite not having too much to say about the game’s aestetics (Breath of the Wild much?) seen in the trailer, I’m really into seeing what kind of story this game is gonna have.
Very, very interested, but man if they weren’t gonna show gameplay they might as well have waited! Still, I’m very happy with some of the news. I’m sure the writing will be a step up, and it’s cool to see Sonic in a realistic environment again (I just hope they make it interesting and fun).
Well it’s definitely open world (or atleast has open world elements) and the areas looks nice but kinda empty (for a lack of better word) and they don’t really give me the impression that they belong in a Sonic 3D game. Thats all I can say about the game right now, gonna need to see more.
Pretty interesting that Flynn will be charge of the writing. Is this the first time he is involved in a Sonic game’s writing?
Omg. Ian is doing the Story!?
They removed the Synopsis from the Polygon Article. Too Early to be revealed or incorrect?
About time. Ian Flynn knows how to write a good story for Sonic.
Nice to see Ian finally getting to write for a Sonic game
Exciting and quite promising! If this can surpass the unofficial Sonic Utopia build in at least some ways I’ll be happily surprised. I’ll withhold judgement until we know a lot more about the core gameplay mechanics.
Ahh, appealing to long time Sonic fans in the PR. You never get tired of seeing it. Whether it’s Sonic 4 or Sonic Forces, Sega is always so sure that long time Sonic fans are going to love their next game.
That aside, happy to see that Ian Flynn is working on a game. Not so thrilled that Morio Kishimoto is the director he is working under though. Colors was a hit, but the other Sonic titles he’s worked on have not exactly been what I want from the franchise. I can’t say I’m optimistic about the actual gameplay at this point based on this teaser and what may have been leaked before, but I hope I’m wrong and this is a fantastic game. Nothing would make me happier than this game blowing my expectations out of the water and becoming a classic.
Hmm… Sonic Origins wasn’t officially revealed at the Game Awards 2021. Oh crumbs! (that what Huxley Pig says in the show of the same name). I sure hope SEGA will have more information on Sonic Origins that might still happen at the end of the year (if not sooner anyway).
I really hope there isn’t millennial writing that you would normally see in Gravity Falls, DuckTales (2017), etc., where characters use self-aware meta humor.
I swear to god, if this is just Sonic Omens and its the freakin Infinty engine, I…
I’m gonna bust the angriest nut!
It’s open world! Yes!
Hopefully this is “competent story writer Ian Flynn” and not “Cram every possible reference you can fit into the story Ian Flynn”
Hopefully “longtime Sonic fans” doesn’t mean Colors onward. And literally means Adventure onward. I don’t want to see the cartoony springs and robots from the Genesis era, I want the cooler designs you’d see in Heroes, etc.
Since it’s open world I hope Sonic finally controls left and right smoothly like he did in Adventure to ’06, and begone the 2D sections.
I think that’s all I’d need to appreciate a new 3D Sonic game.
I’m very happy Ian Flynn is writing the story of the game : I hope there will be at least one survivor of this ancient civilization and that he / she won’t be a robot or a humain, I want an animal (an echidna or a new species)!!…
There are so many ruins in the SONIC world that this civilization can even have a link with the Knuckles Clan (for instance, I love what Ian did in Archie Comics with the underwater civilization of Razor the Shark and the reuse of the Mystic Melody probably also used by the Knuckles Clan in ancient times as seen in SA2)!!…
Even if I am very pleased by the trailer, I think the gap between two SONIC games is too long, awfully long : Please SEGA, offer us spin-offs games between two “main” games (Team SONIC RACING 2, a SONIC fighting game, SONIC MANIA 2 but I think it would be considered a “main” game, a DYNASTY WARRIOR : SONIC THE HEDGEHOG game with many Nocturnus warriors to fight -even if Ken Penders has broken my dream-, a new SONIC STORY BOOK game and so on…)!!…
And thank you very very much to HARDlight Studio to keep SONIC alive between (and during) two “main” games!!…
I wish they would do something different with the character model. This one is getting really old and feels like it clashes with what they’re trying to do here with the darker visuals. Would like to see something closer to his movie self.
Come on SEGA, where’s news and more information on Sonic Origins? Soon perhaps?
According to the Playstation Database, Frontiers could come November 15th but this could easily be a placeholder.
https://twitter.com/PlaystationSize/status/1475471338525581316
For those who are think the world looks empty on not like Sonic… Well if these cyberspace/boost style levels exist for real, than who knows where cyberspace can take us. We could be seeing some more traditional environments potentially. But I’m glad the overall atmosphere in this game is more realistic and clean. The open world is gonna appear empty because Sonic moves so fast. You’ll be blasting through all that on missions. And I have a feeling there is more to the open world than what the trailer shows… I think structures are gonna activate and the world will slowly become more alive. I’m hyped. Just watching this trailer is better than actually playing any of the recent games. I’m Just waiting on info on Sonic’s moveset and how he interacts with the environments. That’s the key. There’s countless open world games but only one Sonic. If they get the gameplay right, there really won’t be another game quite like it.