Morio Kishimoto, Director Sonic Frontiers, explained in more detail what the Open Zone means for the player experience. While it will operate in a similar vein to world maps from other platformer games, the Open Area will also be fully level-playable, with stage-like elements. Because the open world itself is like a stage, Sonic Frontiers can maintain its speed for the whole game. [Thanks, IGN!]
The world map in the maps is often the central hub where the player can relax before entering the next stage. But because of the world map To be a stage that you can freely explore, the team calls it the Open Zone. This is a combination of “open world” and “Region“The name for the worlds in Sonic. No one had done something like this before, which required the team to come up with a new name. Kishimoto announced that the Expansion Zone will be closer to the central world in Super Mario episode 64. Additionally, the game will remain a platformer rather than an open-world experience. Players can use platformer elements without the limitation of a stage or course.
However, what defines Sonic the Hedgehog is speed, and Kishimoto says that’s what the Open Zone will encourage. Platformers make the late game stages more difficult than the earlier ones because the player is more used to the controls. This is also to prolong the player’s overall playtime. But this can also reduce the player’s “sense of speed”, which is the opposite of what Sonic the game should be. The Open Zone will have a lot of content so there’s no need to increase the difficulty. This means that the Open Zone will have a uniform difficulty level throughout, with new challenges that keep players going.
As Sega showed in the past rickshaw, Sonic Frontiers There will be quizzes and combat element in the Open Area. The puzzles will be optional for the most part, as the primary focus is ultimately on speed. In total, the game will take 20 to 30 hours to complete for the average player. It will take longer for those who want to see everything the game has to offer. There will also be character progression in the form of levels and skill trees. You can even level up Sonic’s speed to make him faster.
Sega also debuted a new trailer for the Tokyo Game Show, which you can check out below.
Sonic Frontiers will launch for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Windows PC, and Nintendo Switch on November 8, 2022.
