April Fool’s Day is usually a time of fake announcements in the games industry, but sometimes, a publisher will release an honest-to-goodness game. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is one such case and has proven extremely popular on PC. In just five days, it’s crossed over one million downloads, as per Sega of America social media manager Katie Chrzanowski.
While this is understandable given its free nature, the reception from Steam users is equally strong. It’s the 61st highest-rated game on Steam, with 98 percent of its 11,047 user reviews being positive. This has resulted in an “Overwhelmingly Positive” score which, as some have noted, makes it the highest-rated Sonic game on Steam.
Unlike Sonic the Hedgehog titles from Sonic Team, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is a point-and-click mystery visual novel. You play as a new character on the Mirage Express, and it’s Amy Rose’s birthday party. Unfortunately, during the murder mystery game, Sonic dies, and you must interrogate famous characters to learn the truth.