Among all of the exciting reveals at the Game Awards, Sonic Frontiers has finally made itself known beyond its initial teaser, showcasing an expansive world fans can look forward to running through next holiday season. While it may seem like the latest Sonic game's trailer only showed in-engine footage and a small idea of what players will get into with the title, those willing to snoop around can find plenty of more info that wasn't shown off in the trailer.
The other information Sonic Frontiers has given to those curious enough to find it can be found on the game's official website and Steam page, as well as in the YouTube description of the trailer, and even posted by those working on the game on social media. All of the information together paints a rather interesting picture for the game going forward, and this is only the start as more info for the game is set to come out over the next year.
Sonic Frontiers Has a Classic Sonic Plot
In a press release, the plot of the latest Sonic game has already been shared. The story opens up with the series antagonist Dr. Eggman finding an ancient technology on the islands shown in the trailer, the Starfall Islands. As per games like Sonic Adventure, he decides to take this technology himself and uses a new AI he created known as "SAGE" to do so. As the AI hacks into the old tech, something goes horribly wrong, and it's up to Sonic to fix it. The end of the summary reads "Sonic must race against time to discover the truth, save his friends, and maybe even save himself at the same time."
This sets up a rather interesting and seemingly dark premise to the age-old story that Sonic has always been about — nature vs technology. While previous games have been criticized for being unable to handle dark narratives in the past, fans can rest assured that this title will deliver on its promises. Series veteran Ian Flynn has confirmed that Sonic Frontiers is his first debut writing for a Sonic game.
Ian Flynn is best known for penning the story found in both the Archie Comics and IDW Sonic comic books to this day, as well as brief stints writing for the Sonic Boom TV show. Ian's storylines have always kept the Sonic series lighthearted and true to its nature, but have never strayed away from handling darker themes such as Eggman becoming insane in a climactic milestone issue and more.
Frontiers May Have Revealed Its Soundtrack Already
Many Sonic fans have already been impressed by the ambient soundtrack heard in Frontiers' new trailer, which definitely does its job in setting up the hedgehog's brand new adventure with vocalizations to match the dilapidated and ancient setting of the Starfall Islands. While this is only a teaser trailer, there may be a chance that may be a core part of Frontiers' soundtrack, especially since the YouTube description reveals it was a collaboration between two series veterans.
Found in the description of the official Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel's upload, the trailer music was made by Tee Lopes and Tomoya Ohtani. Many Sonic fans should recognize these names, as Tee Lopes was once a famous fan remixer who was brought in to work on Sonic Mania, continuing to apply his talents to other Sonic titles since.
Tomoya Ohtani has been working with Sonic Team for far longer. He most recently worked on Sonic Colors Ultimate's remixed soundtrack, with his oldest contribution to the series going as far back as Sonic Adventure 2. Tee Lopes has said on social media that he's skipping out on Frontiers, Ohtani has told fans to "keep listening to him in 2022," which seems to suggest his music is in the game.
Sonic Frontiers Isn't Open World, It's 'Open-Zone'
Once again, almost hidden in plain sight, the official Sonic the Hedgehog site and Steam page list a small summary of what fans can expect when they pick this game up, which touts it as "an experience like never before." This little description is what gives fans the name of the location seen in the trailer, Starfall Islands, and also says that the islands are home to dense forests, overflowing waterfalls, sizzling deserts, "and more." On top of that, it also says fans will experience "open-zone" freedom, instead of declaring the game "open world."
This is one of the more interesting bits of Frontiers so far. The use of "open-zone" should get many Sonic fans excited, as "zone" is a word often used for Sonic levels, particularly with the 2D titles. When thinking about the connotations of the word "zone," when thinking of places like Green Hill Zone, this gives fans more perspective to how the game most likely intends to operate.
Instead of being fully open world, the game will feature numerous areas that aren't constrained by usual Sonic level designs of trying to find capsules or goal rings. It may be safe to imagine the game as less like Breath of the Wild's huge map to explore, and more like a game filled with Pokemon's Wild Areas. The idea of getting to explore numerous spawling open-world-esque zones should excite many Sonic fans.
SEGA has also revealed a few more names on Frontiers' staff, such as Sachiko Kawamura as a producer on the title, and Morio Kishimoto as the director. Morio Kishimoto has been working on the Sonic series for over 10 years and made his directorial debut with Sonic Lost World. Sachiko Kawamura, however, has been with the series since the '90s and has served numerous roles. She most commonly has been an art director, starting with Sonic Unleashed and consistently playing the role since Sonic Generations. While she hasn't produced a title for the series before, she has supervised a few, and is also the person responsible for how cute the Chao creatures are.
The last detail known about Frontiers currently is that fans wondering who is speaking to Sonic in the trailer have an answer in the form of official captions. In both Japanese and English captions for the trailer, they reveal that the voice is none other than Amy Rose, Sonic's self-appointed girlfriend. While it isn't known what role she plays just yet, the plot summary implies that once again Sonic has to save his friends from danger as part of the story. For such a small reveal, there's plenty of information for fans to think on and speculate until more news comes out, and until then, many fans can use these details to hold onto their excitement.
Sonic Frontiers is set to release in holiday 2022 on PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.