From the moment it was first revealed, Sonic Frontiers was worth talking about. It may not be a fully open-world game, but even its open zone design is a huge change to the traditional model of Sonic the Hedgehog games. Since Sonic's defining characteristic is his blazing speed, it's hard to create an open world that lets players savor exploration without excessively reigning in Sonic's abilities. Nevertheless, Sonic Frontiers is taking a shot at it, and that's exciting. Sonic Team and Sega's willingness to take on a significant challenge while designing the next Sonic game speaks to an eagerness to rejuvenate the franchise.
However, as important as the player's power to explore Sonic Frontiers is, ideally it isn't the game's only selling point. A lot of fans have compared early looks at Sonic Frontiers to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which also took its respective franchise into a much more open-world gameplay model. While these games may have an interest in open-world design in common, that can't be the only design approach that Sonic Frontiers borrows. Breath of the Wild changed and enhanced the Zelda experience in a ton of different departments, and Sonic Frontiers should do the same if it wants to be an influential entry in the Sonic series.
Learning from Breath of the Wild's Approach
The open-world was undoubtedly a major selling point of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In many Zelda games, players already have the freedom to explore large portions of the world at their own pace, but usually, certain areas are locked behind major plot points. Breath of the Wild, in contrast, sets players free in a vast world where they're free to seek out their own objectives at the pace they like and in the order they choose. While it was unorthodox for a Zelda game, the reception was positive thanks to the many ways Nintendo incentivized exploring Breath of the Wild's map.
Breath of the Wild didn't bill itself purely as an open-world Zelda game, though. On the contrary, it built itself on tons of other fundamental changes. Link's new arsenal of weapons gathered from fallen foes and treasure chests completely overhauled combat by giving players vastly more fighting styles. Breath of the Wild also gave players much more control over healing thanks to a cooking system that rewarded players for finding potent ingredient combinations and scouring Hyrule for choice components. These changes and more added up to a revolutionary Zelda game.
In order to succeed, Sonic Frontiers should mind that approach. Open zone Sonic gameplay sounds great, but that one change to the formula isn't enough to make Sonic Frontiers a landmark in Sonic the Hedgehog history. Instead, Sonic Team needs to come up with mechanics similar to Breath of the Wild's cooking and weapon gathering that make it feel completely different from its predecessors. Sonic Frontiers already clearly intends to be very different from recent Sonic games through its open zones and potentially a rather serious plot, so Sonic Team should keep pushing to make the game as experimental as it can, pushing the boundaries of Sonic to see what lies ahead for the franchise.
Sonic Frontiers' Opportunities
Hopefully, Sonic Frontiers is ultimately all about making the most out of the Starfall Islands and Sonic's ability to roam them and interact with new mechanics at the player's leisure. Whether the islands are filled with sidequests and nonlinear objectives or collectibles that encourage players to search every nook and cranny, the partially open world needs to serve as a vehicle for interacting with other unique aspects of Sonic Frontiers. If the game's zones are simply filled with well-known Sonic obstacles and enemies, then players won't feel incentivized to get to know the game and its world. The more Sonic team innovates now, the better Sonic Frontier can serve as a launchpad for the franchise's next title.
Sonic Frontiers releases during the holiday season in 2022 for PC, PS4, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
