In spite of how little Sonic Team and Sega have revealed about Sonic Frontiers, it shows a lot of promise. Although it's reportedly not a fully open-world game, its "open zone" approach should give players more freedom in navigating the world than most Sonic the Hedgehog games. In Sonic Frontiers, players might find themselves running freely through scorching deserts, dense forests, muddy marshes, and more, all while exploring the Starfall Islands' network of mysterious ruins. A semi-open world will go a long way in helping players experience the true extent of Sonic's speed, even if the world is divided into a few separate zones.
There's no doubt that Sonic Frontiers will make the most out of Sonic's signature abilities, but ideally it will also have plenty of moments where players are encouraged to slow down and examine the world at a measured pace. A partial open world is a great opportunity to hit Sonic's top speeds, but part of the magic of open-world environments lies in their capacity to hide details and activities for players to discover. Sonic Frontiers needs to give fans reasons to stop and smell the roses in every one of its zones.
Balancing Speed and Stillness
It's only natural that Sonic Frontiers' open landscapes will focus on helping players run as fast as possible. It wouldn't be surprising to see special objects in every environment that help Sonic get around, from huge leaves that Sonic can bounce off to natural ramps of rock that help Sonic leap great distances. Sonic Frontiers will probably feature fast travel as a practical tool in any open-world games, but ideally traveling between major locations will be so fast and fun that players don't always feel the need to fast travel.
However, Sonic Frontiers also needs important places where players are meant to stop and look around, whether there are towns full of NPCs or dungeons filled with lore. If Sonic Frontiers is all about going as fast as possible in a huge world, the Starfall Islands are bound to feel hollow. Players constantly running at top speed will be too focused on where they're going to notice details and secrets scattered around the world. While dungeons and towns hopefully have other ways Sonic can use his speed to solve obstacles and puzzles, navigating these places should happen at a slow pace, so that players have the proper attention to interact with NPCs, study ancient murals, search for hidden objects, and so on.
Sonic's Open Zone Venture
Open worlds shine brightest when players are actually encouraged to explore them. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's map is excellent because players are technically never going in the wrong direction. Setting off toward any given territory is bound to result in some discovery, whether it's a Shrine, a side quest, or hidden treasure. Breath of the Wild players can find and appreciate these details because traveling on foot and horseback is slow enough to let them appreciate the world.
Sonic Frontiers shouldn't sacrifice Sonic's speed to make players study the world, but it needs moments where players are encouraged to slow down and rewarded for doing so. Those rewards can be mechanical bonuses like collectible items or in-world bonuses like lore. The Starfall Islands' plethora of ruins and ancient technology can provide plenty of rewards for careful exploration in both departments. Sonic Frontiers will be a step forward for Sonic the Hedgehog if Sonic Team can come up with ways to balance the franchise's signature speed with the meandering pace that so many open-world games encourage.
Sonic Frontiers releases in late 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
