Sonic Frontiers’ Average Playtime Is 20-30 Hours & Double for Completionists; Sonic’s Speed Is Upgradeable

IGN has shared new coverage regarding the upcoming Sonic Frontiers about what Open-Zone actually means. Firstly, director Kishimoto mentions that it is essentially a playable and evolved world map, going so far as to call it the game’s “secret weapon.”

“A playable world map that includes stage-like elements is something that hasn’t really been done before, so we had to come up with a new name. What is often defined as a World in other level-based platformers is called a Zone in Sonic games, so we took that and combined it with Open, which refers to a freely explorable field. So that’s what Open Zone stands for.”

Further, unlike the previous linear adventures, which depended on gradually heightening difficulty to reach a satisfactory playtime, thereby challenging the sense of speed, Sonic Frontiers’ open-zone format has remedied that fault. It is continually diverse in activities and application, providing the thrilling feeling of speed Sonic is known for without needlessly sacrificing it. Puzzles are also briefly mentioned as a feature players will get hooked by, with explicit details not being stated.

Kishimoto then says that the average player will likely complete the game within 20-30 hours, while completionists can spend at least double that time to see everything the title offers. Finally, and perhaps most notably, is that Sonic’s speed can be upgraded, with a speedometer indicating his growth. You can read the full article via IGN.

• Other recent tidbits from IGN’s coverage include Takashi Iizuka stating that Sonic will likely not get kissed by a human in the future, as it occurred in Sonic 06. He does not believe they’ll be doing that again. Additionally, alongside the rules of Sonic games being that he, of course, has to go fast, another is that he cannot swim. The Olympic Games spinoffs are brought up where Sonic has to wear a flotation device.
• Yesterday, Kishimoto stated that Sonic Frontiers’ combat is highly inspired by the recent Sonic the Hedgehog film, though the specifics of how are unclear. The game will also have references to the movie.

Sonic Frontiers is releasing for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC in Holiday 2022.

• Exploration Trailer
• Combat Trailer
• Sonic Central & IGN Preview Info
• The setting of the title was confirmed to be called Starfall Islands.
• Voice and subtitled language support has been detailed.
• Press Preview Impressions.