This review contains spoilers for the base game of SONIC FRONTIERS.
Sonic Frontiers was a pleasant surprise. In a world where SEGA seems to constantly be struggling with what they want to do with the spiky blue hedgehog, Sonic Frontiers feels like a real step forward in developing the characters and gameplay to the next level. The game isn’t perfect, but it really makes me excited about what SEGA has in store for the characters next. At the time, I thought “next” meant another game, but to my surprise, it meant a full piece of DLC that expanded on the end and gave us more to enjoy.
In the origin story of Sonic Frontiers, Sonic is on a mission to save his friends who are trapped between dimensions. To do that, he must obtain Chaos emeralds across multiple islands, defeat giant bosses known as Titans, and team up with Dr. Eggman to destroy a malicious force seeking to escape. from its captivity. This DLC chapter takes place on the final island and serves as a retcon/rewrite of the game’s original ending. Much of this revolves around one of the arguably underutilized story beats in the main campaign, Sonic’s cyber corruption.
In the base game, every time Sonic rescues one of his friends, he absorbs an energy that brings him closer and closer to death. In the end, death almost occurs, except his friends arrive at the end to do… something to help alleviate the corruption so Sonic can complete the final level of the game. Instead, this DLC asks: “Okay, but what if we get everyone involved in the final level of the game?” I mean that not just in storytelling but in a completely playable fashion. Okay. The opening hour of this DLC has Sonic taking a back seat to deal with corruption while Amy, Tails and Knuckles go around and explore the final island in search of the Chaos Emeralds with their own unique move sets .
When I heard that this would be the main selling point of”The Final Horizon”, I was really excited because it’s been a while since we’ve controlled any of these characters in three dimensions. Giving Amy, Tails, and Knuckles each unique moves in a huge open world to explore with various obstacles and collectibles is a great idea. The entire island is revamped with new platform challenges and obstacle courses to accommodate everyone’s new moves. This is a bit limited as some obstacles are created specifically for certain characters (they are even color coordinated so players clearly know which character you should take to each area). However, you can see that we had to put a lot of thought into making sure that each character felt distinctly unique based on previous playthroughs and character personalities.
Amy is the more vertical platformer of the group, with extremely high jumping and gliding abilities. Considering the character’s love of fortune-telling in the original series, they have a tarot card theme. Knuckles can climb specific surfaces and glide great distances while using his immense strength to destroy terrain, all achievements that have been associated with him since he first appears in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Then there’s Tails, whose background focuses on flight, following a flight path to reach greater distances. Some of the challenges are straight out of the Sonic Adventure series, and playing in this open world makes me wonder if this is a Sonic Adventure game in the modern day. The very idea and love poured into all of this is enough to make my nostalgic heart flutter, and if you’re a long-time Sonic fan there’s a lot to feel authentic to here.
However, intention and execution are two different things While I loved everything I saw on paper, in reality it fell short. It’s true that I haven’t played each character for as long as I did as Sonic in the main campaign. But even without that immediate comparison, I don’t think these three control nearly as well as expected. Using all of these new moves while controlling the camera simultaneously can be a nightmare making all of these aerial abilities too complicated. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve overshot a platform or completely missed a particular area due to everyone feeling floaty. Context-sensitive actions like homing attacks that are accessible to every character don’t help this. It doesn’t feel as responsive as when you play Sonic. Sometimes, there’s an odd delay after pressing the button, while other times, it’s unresponsive. For a high-speed platformer, where you often have to overcome bottomless pits or in high altitude, life-or-death situations, there will be no room for the slightest mistake. It’s frustrating more often than it feels rewarding. Also, keep in mind that the game still has some optimization issues, as I mentioned in my main game review, such as a worrying amount of pop-in and playability. present a difficult collision.
This platformer is half that difficulty spike. The other half is fighting despite knowing the developer’s intentions. Similar to the base game, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles all have a dedicated skill tree where they can unlock various moves after acquiring skill points. Collecting skill points isn’t too difficult, especially when there are dedicated stations that give you skill points once you find them. The problem is that all of these characters start out at a significantly lower level at this point in the story than Sonic, so you have to grind a bit with each character to get their respective moves. Like him, some of them you need to explore specific areas of the island. Plus, the island is still filled with enemies. Some of the new enemies are much more aggressive than any enemies in the original game. The inclusion of controls is sometimes unresponsive and things become unnecessarily difficult.
It got to a certain point where I avoided fighting altogether because there was no point in it. You can complete this DLC by simply running to the marked destinations on your map without much exploration. This is a shame because I wanted to fully engage with the brand new content with this new trilogy. I’d love to unlock more charming and nostalgic moves, but while the rewards are exciting, the journey isn’t. I can only imagine how happy I would be in a future game that brings all of these skill sets with more refined controls and physics.
Luckily, we not only unlocked the moves but also revealed a new conclusion to this game’s story. I don’t know if “The Final Horizon” was created as a direct response to player opinions about the original ending of Sonic Frontiers. I quite liked the ending from a narrative perspective and how bittersweet it was. However, this takes things to a higher level by drawing everyone into the final confrontation. The inclusion of Amy, Tails, and Knuckles doesn’t just feel like a gimmick; it feels like a natural progression on the game’s theme of growing up, facing your personal struggles, and moving to a place where there can be life for all these characters outside of Sonic. Now everyone has a role to play in the final battle, which isn’t just another random space shooter but an exciting Sonic boss battle complete with a new Sonic transformation. Unfortunately, the trailers spoiled that transformation, which isn’t all that different from his original super form.
The relationship between Sage and Dr. Eggman is expanded upon, making them feel much more like a father-son duo to the point where I actually wonder if they’ll bring these characters back as bad guys in the games future or not. Sonic Frontiers felt like a jumping off point to new frontiers for the characters, and this epilogue handles that theme much better. Not only do we get more lore about the previous inhabitants of these islands and what led to their destruction, but that history is also in stark contrast to the fact that our main cast actively tries to trying to repay Sonic in the same way he gave them. Much of this is powerful thanks to the voice acting. These are some of the most nuanced performances these characters have ever given in a video game. There are points in the story where Amy, Tails, and Knuckles begin to experience exactly what Sonic has been going through this entire game to save them, and it not only makes them appreciate him more, but inspire them to overcome it. and be there for him. A big shout out to Cindy Robinson, who I didn’t think gave such a strong vocal performance in the base game, but here she knocks it out of the park in the heavy scenes more emotionally.
And then there’s the music. Oh my God, there’s music. This has to be one of my favorite Sonic tracks of all time. The majority of this sound is heard in the base game, but some of the additional music here, like the new character theme, helps present these characters with a variety of orchestral and rock styles. Some of them have a gloomy atmosphere, while others are full of energy, so I want to get up and jog on my own. My favorite song is probably the theme to Knuckle because that bass line is so ingrained in my brain.
Sonic is still Sonic. He plays just like the original game (wacky physics and all), and his overall demeanor is also unchanged. You could argue that he has to go through a lot more physically in this DLC, dealing with corruption and new forms of power-ups. Roger Craig Smith portrays that frustration well with his character’s usual charming complacency. But if you’re watching “The Final Horizon” and expecting anything significantly different from Sonic himself, you might be a little disappointed. This ending is for the others to realize that they will be fine continuing their journey without Sonic in the future and Sonic, the lovable wanderer, sends them off with a smile and can’t wait to see When will they come back?
That’s the best way to describe “The Final Horizon”. That’s a better foundation for the end of a solid overall game. This DLC suffers from similar problems to those I pointed out in the original game, especially in terms of controls and ambitions that don’t match the overall presentation. However, there is so much heart here that many shortcomings can be forgiven. That mileage will vary depending on what Sonic Team and SEGA do next. Was it all just a one-off or is this DLC a sign of a commitment to a bolder and stronger direction for the character? Only time will tell, but if you liked what you saw with Sonic Frontiers then check out this DLC because, like Sonic, it makes me excited to see what things will be like when these characters return.