Sonic Frontierslooks pretty abnormal for aSonic the Hedgehoggame, which is great news. Aside from a potentially serious tone and mysterious new threats,Sonic Frontiersappears to have a far more open map than the franchise has usually worked with. Fans ofSonichave seen the franchise attempt multiple different styles of 3D play in the last few decades, but even so, the latest game seems like it could be a step in an entirely new direction. While it isn’t wholly open world,Sonic Frontierswill reportedly be “open zone”, presumably featuring several separated regions that players can each explore freely, much likePokemon Legends: Arceus.
While the open zone innovation is great within theSonicfranchise, it may not be enough to establish a unique identity forSonic Frontiers.It just so happens that a lot of highly anticipated and potentially influential open world games are releasing in 2022, meaningSonic Frontiershas a lot of competitionin terms of impressing players with its overworld. WhileSonic Frontiersneeds a variety of innovations to succeed, Sonic Team still needs to ensure that the Starfall Islands have some unique characteristics that allowSonic Frontiers' map to compare favorably with its fellow 2022 releases.
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Sonic Frontiers' Potential Rivals
2022 has good reason to be remembered for its open world titles. In mid-February, Guerrilla Games releasedHorizon: Forbidden West,following up on the enchanting open world ofHorizon: Zero Dawn.Shortly after that, From Software’sElden Ringmade its debut, offeringDark Soulsfans a vast, menacing new world to explore. Beyond these fresh releases, open world lovers haveThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2to look forward to; Nintendo still promises thattheBreath of the Wildsequelwill come out before the year’s end. Regardless of whether these stars of 2022 each have a long-term impact on open world design, they’re all highly anticipated titles from consistent developers that promise fans extremely engaging open world to explore.
That’s why there’s so much pressure onSonic Frontiers' open zones. WhileSonic the Hedgehoghas always carried itself on its unique focus on speed, that won’t be enough to makeSonic Frontiersa success. Sonic Team needs to craft a landscape as compelling as those featured inElden RingandHorizon: Forbidden Westin order to keepSonic Frontiersfrom being compared unfavorably to these games. Due to a series of recent games that have missed the mark,Sonic the Hedgehogis an underdogof an IP right now, so Sonic Team has to pull out all the stops ifSonic Frontiershas any hope of shaking off that mixed reputation.
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A Compelling Sonic Overworld
Even thoughSonic Frontiershas quite a hill to climb if it wants to become one of 2022’s biggest open world or semi-open world games, Sonic Team definitely has the necessary tools to achieve it. The Starfall Islands offer Sonic Team a blank slate that can be filled with all kinds of new and exciting open world features, from side quests to dungeons to optional boss battles. In trying tomakeSonic Frontiers' open zones unique, Sonic Team can attempt to craft new mobility and traversal options based on Sonic’s speed, design areas around themes and biomes that most open worlds don’t explore, and so on. The more creativeSonic Frontiersis, the better.
It’ll be a long time before fans know how much useSonic Frontiersgets out of its open zones. Sources suggest thatSonic Frontiersis a holiday 2022 game, meaning that it’ll be most of a year before the game rolls around. Fans should remain optimistic about the game in spite of that wait, though. ApparentlySega and Sonic Team delayedSonic Frontiersout of a major anniversary year to ensure the game’s quality, so it’s clear that the game’s quality is being taken very seriously. Hopefully, Sonic Team will at least share some details aboutSonic Frontiers' zones soon so that fans can get a sense of how they compare with 2022’s other worlds.
Sonic Frontiersreleases in 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
