Image: Sonic Team Japan
Sonic meets Breath of the Wild.
Sonic Team Japan has dropped a teaser trailer showing off their new Sonic game: Sonic Frontiers. The blue ball of speed’s next adventure takes him into a huge open world environment, complete with giant monsters, grassy fields and lots of loop-de-loops. What's a Sonic game without loop-de-loops?
Watch the teaser below:
Sonic games have transitioned from 2D to 3D platforming in recent installments, but this game looks to take Sonic into a fully open-world environment for the first time. In the teaser, we see the hedgehog sprinting across enormous grassy hills populated by new robot-like enemy types. We also get a hint of the game’s new mechanics when Sonic tears through a small wheel to scan the surrounding environment for objectives. It looks like the developer is going for a more realistic artstyle with this new setting, juxtaposed with Sonic's still cartoonish design.
All of this plays out with tinkling piano music, done by returning composer Tomoya Ohtani, who teased on Twitter that the game’s music starts off, “quietly and somberly.” Jun Senoue of Crush 40 will also return for the game’s soundtrack. This is just a brief teaser, but IGN has confirmed that it will show off more of the game all month long starting later today, on June 1.
Sonic Frontiers was originally announced a year ago, but it looks like Sonic Team Japan is finally ready to show off more of the game ahead of its release this year. Hopefully, we’ll get more tidbits on Frontiers’ story soon - and whether or not we’ll see familiar faces like Tails or Amy return.