Believe it or not, a new Sonic game just came out today, and it certainly stands out. This game, which adopts the title The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, functions as a murder mystery visual novel experience developed by the official Sonic the Hedgehog social media team. Although the timing of this release the day before April Fools was almost certainly intentional, make no mistake; this is no mere prank. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog really does unironically exist as an actual game, and you can download it right now on Steam without having to pay a cent.
According to the Steam page, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog sets its story within the Mirage Express, where Amy Rose holds her birthday festivities. Much of the Sonic cast has come aboard to celebrate, and Amy decides to make things interesting by holding a murder mystery party. As this goes on, the player discovers Sonic lying on the ground seemingly dead, inadvertently kicking Amy’s murder mystery game into high gear. But is this part of the game, or has Sonic truly died? Does this train house a nefarious plot waiting to be uncovered?
Truly a conundrum
Players control a rookie dining car worker thrust right into the middle of this bizarre investigation. To discover what really happened to Sonic, players need to interrogate his friends and gather any clues they may provide. As this all goes down, players can soak in the train’s atmosphere and admire the surprisingly high-quality hand-drawn artwork.
Given the Sonic social media team’s penchant for memes and deep-cut references, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog contains numerous nods to many a Sonic game in addition to other Sonic-related media. Knuckles, for instance, wears a hat that looks exactly like the one he wore in the 1996 Sonic OVA, which already makes the game worth playing in my book.
