2022 could be the year thatSonic the Hedgehogreinvents itself. Sega and Sonic Team’s upcoming game,Sonic Frontiers, is already poised to break some major franchise conventions with its semi-open world, but the exact extent of the game’s innovation remains to be seen. Regardless of the current mystery around the game,Sonic Frontiershas the potential to be an important game this year, although it’ll have to compete with a lot of other 2022 releases in order to make an impact. 2022 happens to contain a variety of long-awaited video game releases belonging to all genres, andSonic Frontierswill have to fight quite a few of them for visibility.
Notably, though,Sonic Frontiersdoesn’t have to worry aboutZeldafor now.Nintendo just delayedBreath of the Wild’s sequelinto spring 2023, meaningSonic Frontiershas lost a major competitor in the action-adventure space.Breath of the Wild 2’s delay is especially important because of how many people comparedSonic FrontierstoBotWwhen Sonic Team first revealed it. Releasing alongside theBotWsequel could have been uncomfortable forSonic Frontiers, given all the DNA that it shares with the original game, and it could’ve hampered sales as well. A wonderful opportunity to seize on the action-adventure market seems to have landed inSonic Frontiers' lap.
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How Zelda’s Delay Affects Sonic Frontiers
There’s no denying the similarities betweenSonic FrontiersandZelda: Breath of the Wild.TheSonic Frontierstrailers show off a grassy open world that’ll presumably serve as a gateway to various other vibrant and exciting biomes, just like howBreath of the Wild’s open worldis structured. TheSonicgame’s story seems to have similar elements as well.Sonic Frontiers' Starfall Islands are covered in long-abandoned ruins that are supposedly full of ancient technology, and the announcement trailer suggests that Sonic will be fighting giant robots. That’s not dissimilar from the history-heavyBreath of the Wild,which frequently challenges players with various Guardian models.
Because the two games are so similar,Sonic Frontierswill likely be better off thanks to theBreath of the Wildsequel delay,assumingSonic Frontiersmakes its 2022 release window. If the game isn’t released alongside anotherBotWgame, then there will be more cause to judge it on its own merits, rather than comparing it to the highly similarBotW2.Sonic Frontiers' innovations can be better appreciated if it has time to define itself, rather than being defined by timely comparisons, regardless of whether the comparisons are good or bad.Breath of the Wild 2is also so demanded that, if the two games released close to one another,Sonic Frontierswould have a good chance of losing the battle for launch sales.Sonic Frontiersmay sell more easily withBotWout of the way.
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Borrowing From Breath of the Wild
There’s no shame inSonic Frontiers' similarities toBreath of the Wild.In recent years,Breath of the Wildhas inspired many games, and for good reason; Nintendo found a highly successful way to make an open-world action-adventure game. Still, theBreath of the Wildfamily of games can’t wholly defineSonic Frontiers.Sonic Team’s game needs to be viewed as a standalone work that’s contributing to theSonicfranchise’s future, and that’ll be much easier for fans and critics alike to do without the experience of playing theBotWsequel on their minds.
It’ll be interesting to see just how muchSonic Frontiersends up borrowing fromBotW.The open world elements and setting premise certainly sound a lot like Nintendo’s game, butSonic Frontiersis bound to differin some major ways, including its combat, platforming elements, and characters. Hopefully Sonic Team provides more insight on these components soon. As 2022 wears on, the moment forSonic Frontiersreveals only draws closer. By the time the game releases, fans may be looking forward to something that builds onBreath of the Wildin plenty of valuable ways.
Sonic Frontiersreleases in 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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