Update [Tue 28th Jun, 2022 17:30 BST]: More details have been shared by Sega following the Direct on Sonic Frontiers (thanks, Nintendo Everything!). This includes new abilities, specific enemy types, and a brand new character called Sage.
We've also got more confirmation that Tails and Amy will be involved in some way!
Here's all of the new info from Sega:
Story
Sonic’s new journey begins when him and his friends – Amy and Tails – head to the Starfall Islands in search of Chaos Emeralds. As they approach the islands, sudden trouble hits their plane, and they are sucked into a dimensional portal. Sonic then finds himself separated from his friends and awakens in a strange, digital world – Cyber Space. He miraculously escapes Cyber Space and arrives on Kronos Island, one of the Starfall Islands, full of ancient ruins where strange enemies roam. It is then up to Sonic to explore the Starfall Islands, find his lost friends and uncover the mysteries around him.
Starfall Islands
The first island Sonic explores is Kronos Island. Its terrain and climate see frequent rain, large waterfalls, lush forests, mountains and floating towers in the air. The ruins scattered around the island appear to be the homes of ancient inhabitants – the Koco.Cyber Space
Entrances to Cyber Space made by the ancient civilization of Starfall Islands can be found all throughout the map. Sonic fans will solve puzzles and complete challenges to earn Portal Gears to unlock these entrances access Cyber Space levels featuring the traditional, fast-paced, speed running action platforming. They’ll need to complete the challenges in each Cyber Space level to receive Vault Keys to progress further in the game.Open-zone platforming
Players can enjoy high-speed, open-zone gameplay and interact with various activities on the island however and wherever they choose. Experience exhilarating combat, puzzles, side quests, Cyber Space and conversations with characters across the island in any order you’d like to match your play style.Game World
Sonic Frontiers expands what fans know and love about traditional Sonic games, combining both linear-level gameplay and open-zone platforming into a new, action-filled Sonic adventure. The world map is bigger than ever before, giving Sonic more room to run and explore his surroundings, enabling him to evolve the land around him as he ventures deeper into the mysteries of Starfall Islands.Battle System
Sonic’s combat style is more exhilarating and fluid than ever before. Players can use various button controls to fight strategically, combining moves such as dodges, parries, counters and more in various combos to show off battle skills unlocked throughout the game. If you prefer more straightforward gameplay, the game also has an Auto Mode where various attack combos can be executed with a single button. All Sonic fans can easily enjoy the fast and fluid combat system.New Cyloop Ability
Sonic learns a new ability called “Cyloop,” creating a band of light mirroring Sonic’s tracks. Surround enemies, items and areas to uncover its various effects and unlock the secrets of the Starfall Islands.Puzzles
There are various puzzles to solve throughout the ancient ruins of Starfall Islands. Completing each puzzle can grant items to increase Sonic’s power and defense, reveal hidden parts of the map and unlock new ways to navigate the island at fast speeds.Gameplay Styles
When you first start the game, you can choose between two player control styles – Action Style and High Speed Style. Action Style helps with more accurate platforming, great for players new to Sonic games. High Speed Style offers more speed, great for players used to Sonic titles.Characters
Sonic the Hedgehog
The world’s fastest supersonic hedgehog. Sonic’s adventure begins on the Starfall Islands in pursuit of the Chaos Emeralds and his lost friends. He is also guided by a strange voice along the way.Sage
A mysterious girl that appears across the Starfall Islands. Throughout the story, she cautions Sonic to leave the Starfall Islands despite his mission to find and save his friends.Enemies
The Starfall Islands are home to strange creatures Sonic has never encountered before. Players will need to make use of the all-new battle system and abilities to take down these strange new foes.SOLDIER: This enemy spawns in groups and attacks in jabbing motions with both hands.
CYCLONE: A floating enemy causing damage with attacks that appear as electric tornados.
BANGER: A wheel-like enemy that rushes towards Sonic once he is detected and attacks at high speeds if provoked.
SHELL: An enemy protected by a hard shell that attacks at a distance with a boomerang-type move. Sonic’s attacks cannot penetrate the hard shell, but other methods such as Cyloop can catch this enemy off-guard.B
UBBLE: An enemy formed by a group of spheres that attacks Sonic with electricity.Bosses
NINJA: An enemy with high-speed attacks reminiscent of the fighting style of its namesake. Can block incoming attacks and strike with shadows of itself.
TOWER: An enemy composed of various stacked parts. Its weakness is at the top of its head, so Sonic will need to figure out how to destroy each stack to get to it.
ASURA: A large enemy that looks like a tall building. Run up the arm it throws down to find its weakness at the top and attack.
Original article[Tue 28th Jun, 2022 15:00 BST]: We've already had a ton of speedy Sonic Frontiers trailers this month, but today's Nintendo Direct Mini gave us an extra taste of what to expect from the blue blur's open zone game.
Today's trailer gave us a first look at the game running on Switch, and it looks surprisingly smooth! While the new trailer didn't show off much new stuff otherwise, we did get a glimpse at some of the weather effects, more combat, and more of Sonic just running around some vast, open fields, collecting rings and climbing up towers.
There was also a hint of Eggman's presence, with what looks like a mechanical building with the nefarious doctor's logo plastered on the side.
The biggest reveal is a new area called 'Cyber Space' which will hide away challenges for you to complete. Some of the levels in this area look like they're based on levels from Sonic's history, with a Green Hill-based area and something that looks like Metal Harbour from Sonic Adventure 2. Here you'll unlock keys that will help you progress even further — whether that's in the main story, or just to unlock more challenges, we'll have to wait and see.
Sonic Frontiers is due to launch later this year on the Switch. Were you impressed by today's trailer? Speed on down to the comments!
Comments 77
I'm impressed they got to get this game to run at all on Switch, do hope this game is worth the wait.
OF COURSE Nintendo got the better trailer, I'm suddenly looking forward to play my first 3d Sonic game ever
Are we sure the shown footage was the Switch version? If so looks really good graphics-wise!
Honestly I’m glad that there are still linear areas in the game and seeing the game in action has quelled all my worries.
I full on squealed at the Green Hill bit (I still want a whole game that looks like that, more than anything). I'm still not sure what the heck we just saw, but every new bit of info we see about Frontiers it looks less boring/generic/empty and more like theres a lot of cool ideas and variety.
I think the main problem has been the marketing and drip feeding of information.
Also, I assume because its a Nintendo Direct that what we were looking at was Switch footage? It looked surprisingly ok. Some lower res assets but not too bad at all compared to the other footage we've seen so far.
Based on that trailer it looks better (graphically) than expected
Also that cyberspace seems kinda cool
Inferior version ,but atleast those with a switch only have a way of playing it that isnt cloud
Looking better with each new trailer!
I'm back to cautiously optimistic about this game.
YESSSSSSSS IVE BEEN WAITING! This looks really good on switch. I love the little snippet they showed for cyberspace. Looks like it could be one of the best sonic games .Now if only they showed this from the start. I don't care what lies ahead No time for guessing, follow my plan instead!
@Arkay It's running at 30fps with more LOD pops, so probably? If not actual Switch footage, maybe a workstation running on Switch settings.
It does look very good, exceptionally good for a Switch game if this really is representative of the Switch version.
I've never really known what people's problem is with this game, other than being negative just because it's Sonic.
I thought it looked good from the get go, but indeed this trailer looks the best so far.
THEY CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS.
Looking a lot less rough than I expected and it almost seems decent. Don't want to get my hopes up, though...
@Raffles well to be honest the first trailer looked bland but I do agree that people went overboard with the hate. This new trailer really does make the game look much more appealing.
This looks really fun. Or should I say…. Way past cool
OK, after seeing what was shown in recent videos and the Nintendo Direct, all I have to ask is... "What was SEGA thinking when deciding what to present as the game's first showcase?"
Now I can start to retract from what I said in the past when comparing it to Sonic Lost World.
It is starting to look like a Sonic game and having that going for it.
As long as they don't do a repeat of Sonic '06 and doesn't have Classic Sonic in Modern Sonic world for no reason (unless it's like a skin or something), I'm back to be mildly interested in this.
After the negative press from the last few weeks I was surprised to see how fun the game actually looks. If it gets a good review I’m in.
@Fizza Yeah, as much as I thought this looked like an improvement... Green Hill again, really?
Now that looks more like it! Much better than the other clips. Am feeling a bit more optimistic about this one now.
Leave it to Nintendo to show the better part of Sonic Frontiers, yeah this actually made the game look good now. I am more interested in this game now than ever.
Still on the fence. Sonic games have hurt switch owners before.
@Fizza I know Sega had an obsession with Green Hill for some reason. My guess is Chemical Plant and Metropolis will be there also somewhere in the game too. Considering the cyber space is from Sonic's own memories it make sense but that also means more recreation of old levels in the game.
Looking good!!
This is looking better the more we see of it, I'm looking forward to it
@Serpenterror @Buizel @Fizza To be honest, I kinda feel like every single Sonic game should start in a level with blue skies, green grass, checkerboard rock formations, and be all about speed, momentum building, loops and tricks. Thats the equivalent of Mario's Mushroom Kingdom aesthetic. Once you complete that first level, I don't care what crazy wacky hugely varied areas we explore afterwards - in fact I love the more imaginative settings! Space? Sure! A realistic city? Why not! Trapped inside a giant pinball machine? Awesome! But having a "Green Hills"-like level upfront allows you to get your barings and feel like Sonic is comfortable on his home turf, before going on a big adventure and seeing new stuff.
Just recently I realised that part of the reason that as a kid, even though I enjoyed them, I didn't fully "love" Sonic 2 for Master System, and Sonic & Knuckles for MD (which I got by itself before eventually picking up a second hand copy of Sonic 3) was because their first Zones didn't feel enough like "Sonic" to me. And a major reason why I wasn't sold on the early footage of Frontiers was because of the comparitively dull colours of the sky and grass, and the rocks not being checkerboard, it felt generic and not enough like a "Sonic" aesthetic - and I saw countless people feeling the same.
While it may feel like Sega trots out Green Hills at every opportunity they get, the reality is actually that Sega have literally never released a full 3d Sonic game in this style... something many fans have been dreaming for since the mid 90s. I'm still hoping one day it will happen. But they always go off on some really weird tangeant again rather than just getting the basics down pat. I'm sure I'll enjoy this game, it actually looks pretty cool to me... but don't assume people don't want a 3d game that starts in Green Hills and isn't full of uneccessary gimmicks and gameplay variation. I'd literally sever a limb for that, if it was as good as, say, Mario 64.
Its alot better than what IGN showed us but still not sold yet maybe when they release demo and hopefully there's chao garden.
I see a lot more Sonic Adventure in this game than the other recent ones, so I really want it to be good. Not even thinking about it until the reviews are in, though.
Not sure if the Direct footage was from the Switch build? I didn't see any notes that it was. To me it looked the same as the IGN demo gameplay. If its indeed Switch footage then performance and graphics will be just fine. Watching from my phone by the way so it might be tricky on the eyes with the small screen.
Its... not as a bad as I feared! It's looking blurrier and less dense but at least lighting model's intact
The cyberspace sections look similar to the BoTW shrines, but Sonic style which at least fill the world with more things to do. Happy now?
At the end of the trailer somebody appeared next to the robot. I thought it was a mobian version of 2B lol.
@Octane_st1m Its lower resolution and framerate than the IGN footage, so I'd say its the Switch footage. Despite that, it looks perfectly playable, smooth, and really nice for a Switch game. I'm pleasantly surprised, and based on this I think I'll play it on Switch as my main platform. Sonic just feels more at home on Nintendo than Sony/Xbox to me, and having it portable is great as I'll be travelling a lot for work at the end of the year.
🥰looks awesome!
@kalosn This is Sage Nintendo Everything has a bit of info for the game. https://nintendoeverything.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/1/nggallery/sonic-frontiers-june-28/sonic-frontiers-28.jpg
Well, well, well... there's a spark of hope igniting here after the let down that recent footage was. Now it's promising. Let's just wait and see. It's a step up!
This didn't look like Switch footage, so don't get your hopes up. Draw distance will probably be one of the big compromises to optimize for Switch.
@B_BIackNinja_N A little girl with a curious name. This game is looking more and more interesting
Switch version looks pretty good.
@Ulysses Its definitely worse than the IGN footage in several ways, and that combined with no disclaimer added to say its not the Switch version means i'm 99% sure its Switch footage.
It may look the same at first glance but put the YT video on the highest quality then slow it down and its clear its at a lower resolution and framerate, and some assets are downsampled (pixelation is particularly noticable in the transparent particle effects, for example).
The mere fact that we are all even questioning this shows that they actually did a really good job at making it look close to the more powerful console's versions. As others have said, for a modern Switch game it looks really nice.
They made this game look actually good.
@Ulysses I thought it did, it seemed to have a bit of slowdown whenever something actually happened and the grass texture and stuff looks worse than I remember
Okay, that new trailer, actually looked good to me. Things looked smoother and cleaner. Also thet cyberspace level intrigues me. Only thing I didn't like about it was Green Hill is back. Its yet to be seen if the levels are actually have meat to them and not only a minute like Forces was. Still, this is how you market a game Sega.
This looks really good
Now the game actually looks a bit more interesting.
Not surprised seeing Green Hill back.
I got Megami Tensei vibes when I first saw the new character Sage lol.
I also thought she may be that "ghost girl ally" we heard so much about from the earlier rumors, until I remembered that she looks way different from the purple haired girl (unless Sonic Team changed her design at the last second or something). Anyway, looking forward to learning more about Sage.
Don't know what is making people think this suddenly "looks good". It's still the exact same boring game we've seen in footage already. Same terrible Sonic 06 combat, generic enemies, and uninteresting landscape. It's still "SeGa HiRe ThIs MaN!!!!!!": The Game.
Oh, but Green Hill Zone is in it, so it looks good now? Wow, didn't realize that's all it takes to impress Sonic fans...
@Dinglehopper The action parts showed far more variety (yes including Green Hill lol) and also made it clear there will be smaller levels with focused designed challenges and layouts, and the open world is more of a massive explorable hub world for unlocking more of them and learning new challenges. If the smaller more tighter action levels weren't there, and if we had no visual and theme variations and all we had was that one island's aesthetic all the way through, the game would be far less interesting to many people.
So those few seconds and the explanation of how it all works are going to be hugely transformational of many people's opinions, especially those not yet convinced by the idea of "Open World Sonic" or who didn't like the art style of the main island.
Also though, one huge potential worry for Nintendo players specifically was that the previous footage (presumably running on a high spec POC or PS5/Series X) had performance issue like pop in etc, so people were very sceptical as to Switch performance and what cutbacks would be needed. This trailer made it clear that although it does look slightly worse, its nowhere near as bad as we had feared, and actually looks impressive for the hardware. That relief is going to be partially responsible for a lot of the positive comments coming from this footage too.
I’m definitely getting even more excited!
The two sections that look like traditional Sonic zones actually looked interesting and maybe even fun. The open world/zone/hub still looks lifeless and boring.
But I'm more interested than none now.
Clearly Sega didn't cut that trailer.
Still cautious about this game since it's Sonic Team, but it looks like they're putting effort in the Switch version, credit where credit is due.
Idk if it's any "sonic adventure"...but I guess it's worth a look. I'd really like sonic to be able to run a blue super comet speed across a body of water in this game.
I'm wasn't big fan from Sonic, but this game looks amazing. For me, looks more like Xenoblade than Breath of the Wild how speculated previously.
And I thought Wreckfest looked bad...
@NeonPizza I have to agree with you on what you said about the Sonic, but looks fun. All games deserve to be improved, bring new things and new gameplays. We must open our minds too.
I'm actually impressed by the way it looked and SOUNDED! I hope that music in the trailer is actually from the game!
@NeonPizza Its far from a perfect game but I think the graphical style of Lost World is probably the best looking 3d Sonic game we've had so far.
@Pawsebutton Yes! Very noticable that this trailer had music that actually felt like some action was happening rather than just the tinkly piano, which is fine for exploring but feels out of place over combat and boss fights.
@Xiovanni Hahahah Switch fuzz, alright you've convinced me
@samuelvictor well at least someone got excited to see Green Hill again lol.
@HammerKirby Haha thank you. I don't get excited when they add it to mobile games, or make minecraft skins, lego sets or whatever. The difference is, as I said, we've not really had it in a proper 3d game where its the main gameplay style with no gimmicks etc. Admittedly, thats still not what we've got here either. But for a little while at least I'll get to experience it
@samuelvictor Lost World best artstyle in the 3d series? Lol you have some interesting opinions. I think Heroes and Colors come closer to matching the Genesis Sonic artstyle without being over the top cartoony like Lost World, which looks more like Walmart brand Mario than Classic Sonic imo.
@HammerKirby Heroes and Colours are definitely in the running - colourful and bright. But they don't look as much like a 3d representation of the 2d classics as Lost World does to me. You're right that Lost World almost simplifies it a bit too much - like a Fisher Price Green Hills toy! lol. But its still one of the closest games to replicating the kind of thing I was imagining in my head as a kid hoping for a Mario 64 style Sonic game... if the Galaxy/Xtreme style gimmicks were removed of course.
@NeonPizza Yeah Generations was great, probably my favourite "3d" Sonic game overall, brilliant graphics. But it was 50% a 2d game, and the other 50% is the "boost" formula, which is not really a full "3d" game as far as exploration of a free environment.
Whilst I loved Adventure at the time (bought Dreamcast on launch day to play it) and theres sparks of genius tehre, like the first action stage with the whale, I actually blame it for starting the trend of 3d Sonic games eschewing the cartoony abstract style of classic Sonic games and introducing more realistic (and therefore more bland to my eyes) environments to the series. "Modern" Sonic games have all suffered from this to one level or another since then. Id have been much happier if it looked more like a higher res/poly version of Sonic Jam's "Sonic World" which was aledgedly an early build of what eventually became Adventure. Mind you, I also prefer the cartoony propotions and style of classic Sonic.
@B_BIackNinja_N I like how her name is just Sega spelled differently.
@samuelvictor I think a 3d Sonic that played more like classic Sonic would be really cool. But at the same time Green hill itself has been really overplayed. I wouldn't even mind a clone of Green Hill like Emerald Hill, Angel Island, Palmtree Panic, Seaside Hill, etc. That at least takes some creativity. But using the exact same level so many times just looks like they're ran out of ideas. This is the 3rd mainline game in a row, and the 5th if you count Windy Hill from Lost World as Green Hill. Green Hill from Sonic 1 is one of my favorite Sonic levels ever, but it's gotten overplayed to a ridiciolous extent.
@HammerKirby "I wouldn't even mind a clone of Green Hill like Emerald Hill, Angel Island, Palmtree Panic, Seaside Hill" - yeah agreed. Like I said before, that kind of level is (in my opinion) the kind of look and feel that each Sonic game should have as its first zone, before things get more shaken up. Its like Sonic starting at home then going on an adventure
@samuelvictor You mean like a collectathon Sonic game? That would be kinda interesting. Frontiers actually looks the cloest to that from what we've seen and heard so far. It seems collecting things is a big part of the gameplay loop of this game. But I do agree that the open world looks a bit generic and this is coming from someone who actually likes more realistic Sonic as long as it isn't taken too far (like most of 06. I do like the look of some of the levels tho!). Unleashed and Gens look fantastic imo! Although I guess Gens is only halve more realistic lol
@samuelvictor Yeah I get where you're coming from. I would just like to see some more creavivity like in the examples I mentioned rather than looking exactly the same as Green Hill looked like Sonic 1 (or worse like Forces. Green Hill looks so dead in that game to me. It's too washed out.) I still love completely different feeling openers like Emerald Coast and City Escape.
@HammerKirby Well yes, but to me the term "collectathon" brings to mind games like DK64 which had too much to collect imo so the levels started to feel like a chore to keep going back to, even though to begin with the game is fun. I prefered Banjo Kazooie to Rare's later platform titles which seemed to get more bloated with each release, though I understand why others love them.
As a kid, when I first saw Mario 64 it seemed like the logical progression of what Mario's world would look like in 3d, and I dreamed of a Sonic game that was the same, but swapping the Mushroom Kingdom for Mobius. Of course the levels would need to be larger than Mario, Banjo etc to have more space to run, and have obstacles to parkour with like loops and mobius strips - maybe the extra technical power needed for that is why we never got it for the Saturn... though towards the end of the console's life Sonic R made a good approximation, and as I said the "Sonic World" bonus area from Sonic Jam did a great job too. Even just an actual polygonal version of 3D Blast / Flickies Island using teh flickies mechanic to get around teh fact the levels were smaller due to tech restraints would have been ok with me at the time - I just wanted to be Sonic and run around in circles with an analogue stick like I could Mario.
I agree that some recent versions of Green Hill, especially the version in Forces, feel unimaginative and stale. Its more the genearl cartoon classic aesthetic that I'm after. And pure platforming and running, no gimmicks. That should have been the first thing Sega made circa 1995-97, and then maybe expanded on that by trying new variations on the theme once they had the foundation correct, like Nintendo did with 3d Mario games.
@samuelvictor I would argue Mario 64 was more of a departure from the 2d Mario games than people act like. When I was a child it was weird playing Mario 64 DS when I had only played 2d Mario at the time. No question blocks, lack of focus on power-ups, less but bigger levels, etc. I still loved it tho (Mario 64 is actually my favorite game of all time) of course, but we wouldn't really get that true 2d to 3d transition imo until 3d Land although the galaxy games came close in some respects. In my mind Mario and Sonic both had to change fairly signifcantly when they made the jump to 3d, due to the technical constrants at the time. Now we've far past reached the point where it wouldn't be possible tho so I would love to see a 3d Sonic with physics, momentum, rolling and whatnot. The Adventure games and Gens are some of my favorite games ever, but so are Sonic 2,3&K, and Mania, so I would love to see to what they could with it.
@HammerKirby Yeah I can agree with all of that (and Mario 64 is my 2nd favourite game ever so we're on the same page). Clearly the 3d World/Land games are more like the 2d games but with an added dimension. I really like them because of this, they are great fun and very well made.
What I meant (although its hard to explains) is that Mario 64 is more like what I imagined life would be like if I actually was Mario. So rather than the simplified obstacle course style levels of SMB/SMW games just given a 3d makeover, 64 is more like a living breathing world to explore, that feels true to the earlier games but just fleshing them out in a way that made sense to me. I first saw the Shoshinkai preview in 1995 and my mind was blown as everything about it felt "right" to me. I was extremely hyped for the game and it didn't dissapoint! I picked up a Saturn relatively soon after I completed Mario 64 and my constant hope was that Sega would make a 32bit Sonic game that gave the same kind of transformation to Sonic's world. And though I have really enjoyed many of the 3d Sonic games, the game I wanted (and the one that seems the most obvious!) never really arrived, even 25+ years after first seeing Mario get it "right" first time.
Of course, its all subjective, and just because Frontiers isn't the game I really want, doesn't mean I'm not going to enjoy it. I actually think it looks good and every new bit of footage and information we get about it makes me more interested and eager to try it. But it sounds like you'd enjoy the kind of game I'm talking about, it sounds like you understand what I mean
Wish they would ditch the open world and just make levels like the ones in cyber space.
Has anyone played Solar Ash? This keeps reminding me of that and The Pathless, two games I really enjoyed.
Not sure about the name cyberspace
@korosanbo @samuelvictor That's great news then! Not really good at analyzing graphics and performance based on footage alone. Issues on these are greatly exaggerated sometimes and for me its still 90% gameplay that makes me buy/want a game. I think it looks promising and my wallet is gonna cry with all these games coming out lol.
Can’t say the gameplay design is dazzling me. But I’m not needing this game to be for me
What I like about Directs is Nintendo seem to insist that the footage shown is definitely the Switch version and the footage here was defintely the Switch version.
The game itself still looks awful in every way.
Why were people having meltdowns over this? It looks like it could be a lot of fun. I hope the world won't be barren and they'll put a lots of collectibles in it, Super Mario Odyssey style. Looks good so far.
Nintendoes what IGN/Sega doesnt, the Switch version of Sonic Frontiers is really good
@Serpenterror I was thinkning the same thing
The Legend of Sonic: Blur of the Wild.
I'm glad about Cyber Space because although I like the look of the open world I still wanted the challenge stages to be there too.
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