Sonic the Hedgehog went through a deep identity crisis following the glorious 16-bit entries in the series. The transition to 3D gameplay wasn't smooth at all, and the many experiments conducted by Team Sonic weren't always successful.
2022's Sonic Frontier is, in my opinion, among those experiments that succeeded, as, even with some issues, the game did a great job capturing the spirit of the franchise while trying to push the formula in a new direction. SEGA and Team Sonic, apparently, share my sentiment.
Known and reliable insider Nate the Hate, who has an excellent track record with many early reveals (including the Switch 2 official announcement date last year) replied to an X user question regarding the next entry in the Sonic the Hedgehog series.
"Did you like Frontiers?" the leaker replied, leaving little doubt about the direction of the yet-to-be-announced game.
While the game is generally regarded as a solid entry in the series, the community seems divided on a hypothetical Sonic Frontiers 2.
"Hopefully the artstyle is more cartoonish. Frontiers felt too much like one of those "Mario in UE5" type videos," said Reddit user KittenDecomposer96 on the Gaming Leaks and Rumors subreddit. "I really felt like they dropped Sonic on a generic UE5 terrain and randomly sprinkled some Sonic elements over the place," agreed Phos-Lux, echoing the wider community sentiment.
The evolution of Sonic Frontiers' open-world gameplay, however, is making other fans excited about the possibilities. "They could make it open world and connect the areas, let us actually see Sonic's world properly," said Phos-Lux, highlighting well what Team Sonic could do for the next entry in the series.
As the identity crisis I mentioned above often led Team Sonic to almost completely discard gameplay formulas in favor of others, I would definitely welcome the developer iterating on and improving the Frontiers open-world formula. While the game's plot justified the generic visual identity of the open world, I couldn't help by wonder how much better the game would have been if it had the colorful cartoonish visuals that have defined the series, no matter the quality of each game.
Regardless of how the next Sonic the Hedgehog game will play, it hopefully won't take much longer to know what's next for the franchise. 2026 marks the series' 35th Anniversary, and its celebrations would be perfect to unveil what's next for it.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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