∎ most recent game ∎
reviewed on: 2026 feb 2
as someone who would not describe themselves as either a sonic fan nor a fan of visual novels ( for lack of exposure, mostly ) my opinion on such things is probably not worth hearing, but still, i gotta say: i feel like this is the best sonic game they've made, if not ever, then just in recent memory. it's SO good! it's just such a charming little project. it's full of funny, cheeky dialogue, which feels celebratory & jovial in its references to this sprawling franchise rather than masturbatory, and which also creates such a blazing stage for this cast of characters to shine on. everyone has incredible personality & chemistry, i found myself caring about characters i could not have given less of a shit about in previous games. it's amazing. i do personally feel that every sonic character looks better in 2D -- ESPECIALLY in a 2D art style as gorgeous & well-realized as this one -- so it's no surprise that i found myself more able to appreciate them here. i love all the little character interactions ... the player character is a funny pitiful sidekick ... the jokes made me laugh, even if i don't play these games enough to get them fully ... the background art is good ... the character art is CRAZY good ... the plot is fun ... i don't know what to tell you! it's just good! but what makes it good, to put it bluntly, is its scope. the jank of other sonic games comes from their ambitions, which always spiral out of control & make for a cobbled together final product that, for many people, i think tends to fall flat. jank can have its charms for sure, but there is something so refreshing & delightful about how tightly woven the murder of sonic the hedgehog is. maybe part of it is also that this game isn't taking itself terribly seriously -- again, the edge in sonic games is definitely appealing for some people & i have no qualms with that, but for me personally, i felt so much more connected & charmed by these characters in this setting than any of the games prior to this one. which is why i would not call myself a sonic fan, i guess. i will say, i did not enjoy the isometric runner sections of this game. it felt aggravating & sometimes nauseating to get through, and the final stretch of the game being a dozen of these segments back to back put me at my limit. frankly, the investigative gameplay itself was pretty shallow too -- but it doesn't really bother me because this is, first & foremost, a character piece & visual novel. the gameplay doesn't need to be amazing, because the actual meat & potatoes of the thing is in its writing.
but if i had to nitpick it ... while i think i appreciate how those runner sections created hype, i would have personally preferred that they got rid of it & just made the sniffing out clues thing & pieceing the mystery together a little more involved. but also ... i don't actually want that. because then it wouldn't feel like a funny cheeky sonic game. so what i mean to say ... is that this game is perfect. even if i sort of hate playing it. so it goes! i don't want this kind of thing to become all the sonic games are, but i DO hope they let this team make more things in the future. i just can't get over how charismatic the art is! i want to see these characters look & act like this more often.
as someone who would not describe themselves as either a sonic fan nor a fan of visual novels ( for lack of exposure, mostly ) my opinion on such things is probably not worth hearing, but still, i gotta say: i feel like this is the best sonic game they've made, if not ever, then just in recent memory. it's SO good! it's just such a charming little project. it's full of funny, cheeky dialogue, which feels celebratory & jovial in its references to this sprawling franchise rather than masturbatory, and which also creates such a blazing stage for this cast of characters to shine on. everyone has incredible personality & chemistry, i found myself caring about characters i could not have given less of a shit about in previous games. it's amazing. i do personally feel that every sonic character looks better in 2D -- ESPECIALLY in a 2D art style as gorgeous & well-realized as this one -- so it's no surprise that i found myself more able to appreciate them here. i love all the little character interactions ... the player character is a funny pitiful sidekick ... the jokes made me laugh, even if i don't play these games enough to get them fully ... the background art is good ... the character art is CRAZY good ... the plot is fun ... i don't know what to tell you! it's just good! but what makes it good, to put it bluntly, is its scope. the jank of other sonic games comes from their ambitions, which always spiral out of control & make for a cobbled together final product that, for many people, i think tends to fall flat. jank can have its charms for sure, but there is something so refreshing & delightful about how tightly woven the murder of sonic the hedgehog is. maybe part of it is also that this game isn't taking itself terribly seriously -- again, the edge in sonic games is definitely appealing for some people & i have no qualms with that, but for me personally, i felt so much more connected & charmed by these characters in this setting than any of the games prior to this one. which is why i would not call myself a sonic fan, i guess. i will say, i did not enjoy the isometric runner sections of this game. it felt aggravating & sometimes nauseating to get through, and the final stretch of the game being a dozen of these segments back to back put me at my limit. frankly, the investigative gameplay itself was pretty shallow too -- but it doesn't really bother me because this is, first & foremost, a character piece & visual novel. the gameplay doesn't need to be amazing, because the actual meat & potatoes of the thing is in its writing.
but if i had to nitpick it ... while i think i appreciate how those runner sections created hype, i would have personally preferred that they got rid of it & just made the sniffing out clues thing & pieceing the mystery together a little more involved. but also ... i don't actually want that. because then it wouldn't feel like a funny cheeky sonic game. so what i mean to say ... is that this game is perfect. even if i sort of hate playing it. so it goes! i don't want this kind of thing to become all the sonic games are, but i DO hope they let this team make more things in the future. i just can't get over how charismatic the art is! i want to see these characters look & act like this more often.