Sega covered all of its bases in terms of content for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise in 2022. Classic fans were given Sonic Origins, more modern fans were given Sonic Frontiers and Sonic Prime, and the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie was a wonderful mix of both eras. Fans still have even more things to look forward to in 2023, and one of the most exciting things coming out this year is the new DLC packs for Sonic Frontiers.
The known DLC roadmap for Sonic Frontiers has a lot to offer players, as it plans to add things from birthday celebrations for Sonic to even sending the game off with a new story that features more playable characters. This announcement was so important to Sonic fans that the phrase "new playable characters" was trending on Twitter as a result of fandom-wide excitement. However, making more characters playable may be a great sign of what's to come following Frontiers.
What New Playable Characters in Sonic Frontiers Require
New playable characters other than Sonic himself being added to Sonic Frontiers as free DLC is great for all sorts of reasons; Tails, Knuckles, and Amy haven't been playable in a Modern Sonic game since Sonic 06. In order to make any new playable characters for Frontiers, no matter if it's Sonic's friends or even Dr. Eggman or Sage, Sonic Team is likely having to give these new characters entirely new playstyles to match. This helps explain why fans may need to wait until late 2023 for this update to be released.
While Sonic's friends have played like the hedgehog in previous classic games with their own abilities added in, they can't in Frontiers. In order for the iconic characters to play like themselves in such a big open world, as well as live up to fan expectations, they can't feel like reskins of Sonic himself. While putting so much work into new play styles might seem strange for post-release DLC, making and testing these play styles may serve as a head start for the next Sonic experience.
What the Playable Characters DLC Means for a Sonic Frontiers Sequel
Putting in the considerable amount of effort to make these new playable characters feel unique only to drop the designs later would be a strange move from any development team, but Sonic Team has dropped hints that say this is only the beginning. Throughout Sonic Frontiers, Amy, Knuckles, Tails, and even Dr. Eggman went through some important character development, where each one comes out with a new goal that they take steps towards in the ending. Sonic Frontiers is the first big pillar towards Sonic Team's new "connected universe" so there's plenty weight towards these plot points that say they'll be the focus of future titles.
It could be very possible that whatever play style Sonic Team creates for the new playable characters coming to the game is being developed with what's coming next in mind. Whatever fans get in the final DLC update to Sonic Frontiers may be the blueprint for how Knuckles, Tails, Amy and Eggman will be used in the next game, or a test run to see what fans enjoy before going forward. After all, the director of Sonic Frontiers is already publicly taking fan feedback.
However, seeking fan feedback over the playable characters may hurt the future game as much as it might help it. Nothing is known about what the third DLC pack will include apart from a few playable characters and a new story of some kind. If the content doesn't live up to what fans are expecting, especially after years of going without being able to play as famous characters like Shadow the Hedgehog, then the backlash may lead Sega to once again avoid using them.
While the enthusiasm so far is a great sign that Sonic Team wants to flesh out Frontiers' new open world gameplay, players should be sure to speak their mind about how they're utilized. Even if the way the characters are executed in a way that leaves much to be desired, asking the studio to build on the DLC can improve the odds of a future Sonic game with more playable characters than the blue blur alone.
Sonic Frontiers is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
