Sonic Frontiers was a pleasant surprise at The Game Awards 2021, particularly given how hit or miss (main miss) Sonic games have been in recent years, but we like what we see here.
We’ve seen a possible release date for Sonic Frontiers, as well as some beautiful planet scenery and possibly new adversaries. There may also be some hints in the trailer as to what the plot is about.
From the release date and plot to the gameplay and PC requirements, here’s all we know about Sonic Frontiers.
The release date for Sonic Frontiers has been set.
Sonic Frontiers is expected as released on 20 June 2022, which means it will be released between November and December of that year. It will be released for the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.
It’s unknown what the difference between previous-gen and current-gen consoles will be, but given the scope and world design, it’s probable that ray tracing may be used.
Sonic Frontiers is a game developed by Sonic Team.
Sonic Frontiers transports our protagonist to the Starfall Islands, a region brimming with diverse biomes and the remnants of strange technology. Everything has a Breath of the Wild vibe about it. The narrative is unknown, but we have a few ideas owing to the teaser and some confirmations on Twitter.
To begin with, Dr. Eggman, Tails, and Amy Rose will all debut in Sonic Frontiers. We have confirmed that the voice heard in the Sonic Frontiers video is Amy’s. It’s unknown if Sonic is pursuing Amy, or whether whatever is pursuing Sonic is Amy, who has been altered and brainwashed by an old technological contraption (weirder things have happened).
It’s conceivable that Dr. Eggman is the bad guy in all of this, but it seems too obvious, particularly given the teaser seems to be taking the Sonic series in a more serious direction. If I had to guess, I’d assume there’ll be a new villain, which would be a nice change of pace.
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Gameplay of Sonic Frontiers
We didn’t have a chance to play Sonic Frontiers in-depth, but we do know that it’s a traditional 3D platformer with a beautiful open environment reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. As the creators explain it, this is the first time the franchise has gone “open-zone.”
We’ve verified a few biomes based on photographs and game descriptions, including plains, woods, waterfalls, and deserts. We also saw these strange structures with spiraling rings surrounding them in the teaser. They remind us of the Assassin’s Creed series’ towers, which allow players to refresh their map with a good perspective of the region. These towers were also included in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
As previously said, a few famous faces return in Sonic Frontiers, thus it’s completely feasible that those characters may be playable, whether via certain areas of the game or even multiplayer. We don’t know whether these features will be included in the game, but it would be fantastic if they did (wink wink, Sonic Team)
It’s been revealed that Tomoya Ohtani and Tee Lopes wrote the music for the trailer and that Jun Senoue will be working on the game’s soundtrack.
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PC requirements for Sonic Frontiers
Normally, I’d argue that a Sonic game isn’t very visually demanding, but given Sonic Team’s approach with Sonic Frontiers, I’d be hesitant to dismiss how hard it may be. At the risk of casting doubt on Sonic Team’s abilities, you should also consider how well optimized the game is.
Let’s take a peek at Sonic Forces to see how they compare. You needed an Intel Core i5 5th Gen or AMD A10 7th Gen processor, 4GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GTX 750 Ti or AMD R7 265 GPU to play the game.
That’s little compared to what current games need, but I doubt Sonic Frontiers’ minimal requirements will alter much. Because Sonic Frontiers will also be available on the Nintendo Switch, it will need to function well on lower settings. However, I assume you’ll need something like an RTX 3060 to keep up on high settings, which isn’t too awful since the best inexpensive gaming laptops have that.