Sonic Frontiers arrives November 8th

During Gamescom’s Opening Night Live event, Sonic Frontiers got a release date and a new trailer. What was previously announced as winter 2022 now has a firm date of November 8th, making it yet another unfortunate game that has to share a release month with God of War: Ragnarok.

The trailer features Sonic rescuing a cute stone creature that seems reminiscent of the vacant-eyed but adorable Chao from Sonic Adventure. Sonic’s then confronted by a glowing, malevolent-looking child that seems to dislike the hedgehog running all over the place. Though the trailer shows new gameplay footage, there isn’t much new on offer aside from a confirmed release date and a bigger look at the story.

Sonic Frontiers’ developers say this latest entry in the “not quite as bad as people like to say” 3D Sonic series is not an open-world game. But with Sonic running, fighting, dashing, and grinding through an open landscape unhindered by stages, it sure does feel like it.

According to Sonic Frontiers’ creative officer, Takashi Iizuka, Frontiers represents Sonic Team’s attempt to break out of a familiar formula that’s left the 3D portion of the franchise feeling a bit stale. Though Sonic Forces really wasn’t that bad, its tepid response from fans has dredged up similar concerns about Frontiers. Frontiers’ odd marketing scheme and the game’s initial bland-looking screenshots and gameplay videos also aren’t inspiring much confidence, either. We’ll see how well Sonic Team can reinvent the spin dash when Sonic Frontiers launches on November 8th on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and PC.