Team Sonic’s boss, Takashi Izuka, has previously mentioned on a number of occasions how the “key point” in the history of the Sonic series was the jump from 2D to 3D gameplay. Now, later this year, Sega will take the Sonic the Hedgehog series to new heights with “open-ended” gameplay in sonic frontiers.
It’s a huge change for Sonic that Sega will clearly be building over the next 10 years, Iizuka mentioned during a recent interview with GamesBeat. He also used this moment to explain (again) how “side-scrolling” first-generation Sonic games were, and how the second generation was more modern gameplay (think Sonic Adventure) and Sonic Frontiers is now the “next step” of the open-area concept:
“What we are doing now is taking the next step. This is roughly the third generation. We know we’re showing fans something new that probably doesn’t make sense to them just yet.
“But we really wanted to think about where we need to use Sonic over the next 10 years. What kind of gameplay do we need to start building to keep people excited about the future? Sonic Frontiers is the next step for the next 10 years. We hope that fans will believe in us and enjoy what we offer them. We look forward to it when they play and they really understand what it’s about.”
Back in 2021, Iizuka described Sonic’s next game (Sonic Frontiers) as the “rise” of modern Sonic games — promising to keep all of Sonic’s outstanding characteristics, and the high-speed action that characterized previous modern Sonic games intact. Earlier this week, we also found out that Sonic will take about 20-30 hours to complete, which is “easily” twice the amount for the supplement.
Are you looking forward to Sonic’s new adventure in the open area? How do you feel about it being the “next step” for the Sonic video game series going forward? Leave your own thoughts below.
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