Sonic Frontiers came along couple of months ago and proved to be the biggest shake-up to the series’ formula in a long time, and even though it’s not a perfect game, it has nonetheless reinvented the series with its open world approach. Sonic Team has said on multiple occasions that it views Frontiers as the template for the franchise for the foreseeable future– but interestingly enough, the next mainline Sonic game might not necessarily be exactly like its predecessor.
That’s as per Morio Kishimoto, director of Sonic Frontiers, who recently said in a reply to a fan on Twitter that he’s considering dropping the boost mechanic for the next Sonic game. Boost has, of course, been a crucial aspect of Sonic games more often than not, but Kishimoto says he wants to make a game that’s more like Sonic Adventure in terms of level design.
That would mean much more intricate levels that encourage players to learn their ins and outs, and to learn their layout and gather momentum to gain speed rather than boosting. That surely is a style of gameplay that fans of the franchise have loved in the past, but it should be interesting to see how the developers incorporate it in an open world game, should they decide to go down that route.
Of course, before that happens, Sonic Frontiers is set to receive plenty of new content over the course of the next few months, with Sega planning on adding new story content, playable characters, modes, and more to the game with multiple DLC drops.
Sonic Frontiers is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.