Back in May, Sega and the Sonic Team gave the world its first look at the next major installment in the Sonic the Hedgehog video game franchise. A quick CG trailer, we didn’t even get a name for what was to come next. Speculation ran rampant, especially for those who were paying attention to every whisper of a supposed leak. When it comes to Sonic, after all, you can’t help but wonder what form a game will take, especially one made in the third dimension.
In a Sonic “double-header,” the Game Awards not only showed off the first trailer to the theatrical Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but also gave us the first in-game glimpse of Sonic Frontiers. Take a look at the trailer below:
Evoking games such as Breath of the Wild, Sonic Frontiers promises to give players “the thrill of high velocity open-zone freedom.” While the trailer’s CG does pick up where the previous teaser left off, unfortunately how the “high velocity open-zone freedom” will look in motion has yet to be seen. What we do know are the main people behind the game. Long time Sonic Team veteran Sachiko Kawamura, who was the art director on Sonic Unleashed, Lost World and Sonic Forces is set to produce, while Morio Kishimoto returns to the director seat, having previously been in the role for Sonic Colors, Lost World, and Forces. What’s particularly exciting, especially for those who pushed the #Flynn4Sonic hashtag on Twitter, is that long time Sonic comic scribe Ian Flynn is set to write the story. Just what is that story, you ask?
In Sonic Frontiers, Sonic’s long-time nemesis Dr. Eggman discovers an ancient technology on the Starfall Islands and installs his AI program SAGE to hack in and take over. But there is more to this technology than he realizes, and unintended consequences immediately come to bear. Sonic must race against time to discover the truth, save his friends, and maybe even save himself at the same time.
With the film, Frontiers, the still unseen Origins collection, and even Sonic Prime, 2022 is setting itself up to be one hedgehog-filled year. Hopefully we’ll get a more gameplay-centric trailer soon, but until then, all we can do is wait and wonder.
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- Some ruins
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- Even more ruins
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- An ancient temple
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- You can run to this I’m sure
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- Look some flowers
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- Trees and water
[Soure: Polygon]
[Source: Sonic Frontiers Official Site]
3 Comments
So far, all there is to see is ruins, grass, ruins, water, more ruins, trees, and ruins. And a sort of volcanic-looking area, for variety. Yawn. Wake me when we get some real footage.
Anon the Moose here has a point…it’s not really that much in terms of footage–nothing to guarantee this game will actually deliver.
But that being said, I am hyped for the open-world mechanic, because if Sega does manage to pull that off successfully, that’ll be something of a game-changer for how future Sonic games work, no doubt. Plus after the last few Sonic games all largely following the same gameplay formula, I’m down for a breath of fresh air.
Or wind, if we want to compare it to the obvious. 😛
Kinda wish SEGA would put Sonic in a more surreal/abstract world that resembled older zones from the classic games. I find the ‘earth like’ landscape boring :< Imagine if Sonic were to have free roam in an open world game where it resembled levels more akin to those in Sonic 2 on the SMS or SMD? That would be – amazing.