It seems that ever since Sonic Frontiers launched back in November, fans of the blue blur have hardly had a chance to catch their breath with new content that keeps coming. Hardly a month after the latest Sonic game released, loyalists had eight episodes of Sonic Prime to enjoy, and shortly after that came the announcement that Sonic Frontiers would get plenty of DLC into next year. This downloadable content will come to all players in three sizable updates, which has left fans rather excited for 2023.
While Sonic Frontiers isn't the first time the franchise has dabbled in DLC, what's currently planned is the most that the series has ever added to a game post-launch. Sonic Generations and Sonic Lost World only saw a few levels added to the game, with one being a pre-order bonus until long after the game was widely available. Due to the series' short history with downloadable content, Sonic Frontiers is almost groundbreaking for the franchise as a whole.
What to Expect From Sonic Frontiers' DLC
With Sonic Frontiers' 2023 content roadmap, fans have some idea of what they can look forward to, but quite a lot of it is rather vague. Some pieces are more obvious than others, such as the jukebox sound text, Photo Mode, and new Koco for players to find throughout the open-world areas. However, "new challenge modes," "open-zone challenge," and Sonic's birthday don't give much away at first glance. Luckily, there are a few hints that fans can take away from the particular images that are used, especially with the third planned DLC pack.
The "new challenge mode" image, for instance, implies more Cyber Space stages and even possibly a Boss Rush mode. Under the same logic, the "open-zone challenge" may be time trials with how it shows a stopwatch timer. The playable characters update features Tails, Knuckles, and Amy, so it's likely they'll be made playable, but if Sonic Frontiers' true ending is anything to go by, the new story may deal with Sage's fate at the end of the game.
Free Updates Will Keep Sonic Frontiers Alive
Even though keen-eyed fans might have some idea as to what's coming to Sonic Frontiers, many might be wondering just when these updates will drop, as well as how much time they'll take out of the year to experience. Currently, there's no confirmed news as to when these updates will arrive, but one clue suggests what Sega's potential release schedule will be like. As the second update features some additional content to celebrate Sonic's birthday, that pack is likely to release close to June 23.
The other two DLC updates will likely release at a pace that matches that one important date throughout the year. One easy way Sega could make sure all of these packs were released in a decent time frame is to make it so that they release every three months, which means the first pack should come out around March and the third update in September. This means that DLC may keep Frontiers fans playing for an entire year after launch.
The Lack of Pricing on Sonic Frontiers' DLC
It isn't every day that a Sonic the Hedgehog game is given so much post-launch DLC. Usually when similar games do updates like this, there's a price tag attached. For example, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet fans are expecting DLC that serves the same purpose as Sword and Shield's Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra expansions, likely costing the same price as well around $30 dollars.
Yet, Sega has openly stated that Sonic Frontiers' DLC updates will be free to all players as soon as they're available. This means that the complete Sonic Frontiers experience still retails at only $60 dollars, even with the new story update later this year. Sega is leaving money on the table by doing this, as the offer is quite generous.
However, as impressive as this new DLC benchmark is for the Sonic franchise, it remains to be seen how much it truly offers fans as none has been released as of this writing. How well these updates sit with fans definitely hinges on how much content enriches the game. The story mode and new playable characters need to live up to their hype, and smaller things such as Sonic Frontiers' Photo Mode and potential Boss Rush mode need to be well worth the wait to keep fans wanting more from future open-zone Sonic titles.
Sonic Frontiers is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
