The phrase "New Playable Characters" was trending on Twitter, and it's due to a recent Sonic Frontiers DLC announcement. While some may think it's fans asking to play as characters other than Sonic for a change, it's actually due to many Sonic loyalists being rather excited because they'll have the chance next year.After Sega let fans know that the Monster Hunter collaboration pack was only the beginning of content updates for Sonic Frontiers, the official roadmap has now been revealed. Among adding an "open zone challenge," challenge modes, and more, a third update is slated to feature a new story and new playable characters.The roadmap leaves it rather vague as to just exactly who players will get to be following this update, but the most important thing is that multiple characters will be made playable; not just one. There are also implications that these characters will also have a new story to go along with them. This alone was enough to excite fans to the point where "new playable characters" was trending on Twitter in all capital letters with roughly 10,500 Tweets behind it.
Searching "new playable characters" on the site comes back with fans praising Sega for the choice to not only make additional characters into DLC but to also release them for free for all Sonic Frontiers players. Others are speculating just who will be made playable, hoping that they'll get to play as Sonic's sidekick Tails, Knuckles the Echidna, and Amy Rose after how the trio hasn't been made playable in 3D Sonic games in roughly a decade.
It's understandable as to why fans are so eager to find out who the roadmap is referring to, as the graphic for update 3 on the roadmap uses Sonic's friends, but also uses a brand-new render for Sage. At the very least, either the new story will feature the new character, or she'll be one of the new playable characters for the update.
Ultimately, "new playable characters" trending thanks to the announcement proves that there's many people who want to play as the classic cast. Years ago, there was a rather large push from a vocal group of fans that Sonic's friends weren't important and that they only wanted to play as the blue hedgehog himself. Now, the outcry of fans shown here says that isn't the case anymore, and it seems Sega is embracing that going forward.
Sonic Frontiers is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.