It’s fair to say that eyebrows were both raised and furrowed when Sega first shared footage of Sonic Frontiers back in June, but its latest trailer – a three-minute overview video breaking down the various features and gameplay flow of Sonic’s latest adventure – offers the clearest explanation yet of how things will unfold come its launch on 8th November if you’re still a little puzzled by the whole thing.
Granted, Sega’s plentiful, if scattershot, drip-feed of information over the last few months means none of the information in today’s trailer is particularly new, but it’s certainly more digestible – and understandable – than trying to mentally scoop together a picture of Sonic Frontiers from countless previews and reveals.
The gist, then, is that having somehow found his way into a strange dimension known as Cyber Space, Sonic escapes to Kronos – one of the Starfall Islands where players will be able to embark on Frontiers’ non-linear “open zone” gameplay. Here, high-speed exploration and puzzling are the order of the day, with successful puzzling unlocking items that’ll increase Sonic’s power and defence and revealing new parts of each map.
Eventually, players can take on bosses to earn portal gears that’ll grant access to Cyber Space stages – remixed versions of classic 2D and 3D Sonic levels – and completing challenges here rewards Vault Keys, unlocking Chaos Emeralds and the next Open Zone.