Sonic Frontiers' release is just over the horizon, and the game is shaping up to be one of the most innovative entries in the series so far. Alongside changes like heavier combat focus and character-driven storytelling, Sonic Frontiers also gives the famous blue hedgehog his first-ever skill tree of abilities to be unlocked during the game's progression. If done right, that could be an addition that pairs great with the most significant new feature of the game: its open world.
Skill trees have become an almost ubiquitous feature in a lot of open-world games. Unfortunately, their execution in some games isn't always the best, and that risk could be even higher with how many other big changes are coming to Sonic Frontiers. But what's been shown so far might suggest that the game can avoid some of their most common mistakes. What's more, a lot of the other details revealed may mean that Sonic's new skill tree will hopefully supplement the open world in a way that makes exploration, enemies, and boss encounters more memorable.
Sonic Frontiers' Skill Tree Could Mirror Breath of the Wild's Exploration
The abilities in Sonic Frontiers that have been shown so far and the general structure of the skill tree suggest that the approach that has been taken is one that preserves a lot of what makes Sonic as a character so iconic. That also means it should avoid becoming bloated and grindy, as skill trees often can be. But, on top of that, its execution plays into design elements that work well with open-world design as demonstrated by one big game that has come before it.
Sonic Frontiers has been compared to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild pretty much since its existence was confirmed. Of course, Breath of the Wild has no skill tree, with the Sheikah Slate abilities being unlocked by the end of the prologue. But it does have a huge range of equipment along with health and stamina stats that can be upgraded massively; coupled with an open world with basically no limits besides its boundaries. This means exploration is only limited by the player's capabilities.
Sonic Frontiers' skill tree may mirror this structure. Since Sonic has no weapons, with his attacks being built around his iconic abilities like speed and homing, unlocking new skills in the tree could be akin to getting stronger weapons in Breath of the Wild. Sonic Frontiers even features upgradable HP which further suggests a similar approach. This hopefully gives the player the freedom to approach the open world with whatever play style they see as fitting, something the game could very likely benefit from.
There can be something intriguing about knowing you can go to an area, but don't have the tools to see what it has to offer just yet. It's a philosophy that can make large or even mostly empty open worlds feel a lot more immersive. But many open-world games hurt that mystery by instead having physical barriers or walls. Sonic Frontiers may be taking a middle-of-the-road approach here. One trailer mentioned multiple islands, which could mean access to each is limited at different stages. While that would make exploration less free than in Breath of the Wild, the exploration within areas could still benefit from the skill tree's mechanics.
For example, the player may come across a Cyberspace level which feels too hard to tackle, but later come back with new abilities to give it another shot. It could almost be like a more fluid and open version of the backtracking mechanics of old-school 3D platformers like Spyro and Crash Bandicoot. It also incentivizes actually engaging with smaller enemies in order to get upgrades and unlocks to take on the titan bosses in Sonic Frontiers. That could all make for an open world which is satisfying to explore and has encounters that feel meaningful to the larger game.
Sonic Frontiers will launch on November 8 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.