The pre-release news cycle for Sonic Frontiers has turned out to be quite the rollercoaster ride in more ways than one. Although we have seen quite a few interesting ideas in the trailers and gameplay demos that have come before, we have also seen several questionable aspects of the game that warrant concern. Either way, it has all finally culminated in a new release date trailer shown during today’s Opening Night Live, which revealed that Sonic Frontiers will arrive on store shelves come Nov. 8. Many have argued that Sega should have waited until at least 2023 to release Sonic Frontiers due to concerns about the game’s final quality, but the company has seemingly refused to budge in this regard.
What does the trailer show?
This new trailer depicts quite a few never-before-seen cinematics for the game, a few of which showcase the new villain Sage in more detail. Additionally, the trailer finally shows off footage of other islands that Sonic can explore aside from the grassy plains we have been seeing, which include a vast desert-like area and a more tropical environment. The trailer also features the first concrete appearance of Amy, who Sonic finds encased in some sort of floating red orb.
Alongside all this, we get a few more brief snippets of footage showing off the cyberspace levels, which see Sonic once again tearing through classic zones such as Green Hill and Sky Sanctuary. Frankly, the fact that supposedly the most ambitious Sonic game to date still features old zones even though nearly every Sonic release in recent memory has done the same borders on the ludicrous, but others will probably feel differently.
That’s not all
This trailer does not serve as the only Sonic Frontiers news we received today, however. Normally, the game will cost $59.99 USD at retail, but as it turns out, players can instead get their hands on a “Digital Deluxe Edition” if they wish, which will cost $69.99 USD. That is a fairly steep price for any game, so what does the “Digital Deluxe Edition” include over the base game to justify it? A few extra collectibles, namely Chaos Emerald Vault Keys, Memory Tokens for Amy, Tails, and Knuckles, Portal Gears, extra shoes and gloves for customization, a Digital Art Book, and a Digital Mini Soundtrack with 25 songs.
The art book and soundtrack are fairly standard inclusions for a bonus edition like this, but many of the other items were already confirmed to be obtainable through regular gameplay. Essentially, the “Digital Deluxe Edition” asks players to pay ten extra dollars so they can bypass sections of the game quicker. Not exactly the most riveting of deals.
Although I have sounded pretty cynical up to this point, the Sonic Frontiers release date trailer certainly looks a lot better than the gameplay demos we got initially. But it is nonetheless important to remember that the footage is highly curated, so it remains to be seen whether the final game will live up to what these more recent trailers have promised. Hopefully, Sonic Team will be able to surprise us this time.
