Sonic Frontiers: Open World is like a playable level map

Speaking to IGN, Game Director Kishimoto explains what the open world of Sonic Frontiers is all about. And doesn’t shy away from comparisons with Mario games & Sonic Adventure.

Sonic Frontiers is scheduled to be released this year for all common platforms and is already making people’s minds hot. The day before yesterday we reported on our impressions of the latest game scenes from the open-world hopper. Now the Asia department of IGN has published an interesting conversation with Morio Kishimoto, who brings us a good deal closer to the concept of the open world. We don’t want to withhold the most important statements from it from you…

This is a Sonic veteran speaking

By the way, Kishimoto is no stranger to the Sonic fan base, the Japanese has been part of the legendary Sonic team for over 15 years and, alongside Takashi Iizuka, is a leading figure in the second generation of Sonic playmakers. Kishimoto was already lead game designer on the two snappy Wii inserts Sonic and the Secret Rings and Sonic and the Black Knight; plus chief developer of the successful 2D/3D hybrid Sonic Colors. At the same time, he also served as director on the mediocre Lost World outing for Wii U and 2017’s screwed up Sonic Forces. But enough of the preamble, what’s on Mr. Kishimoto’s mind when it comes to Sonic Frontiers?

• the so-called “Open Zone” is the secret weapon of Sonic Frontiers
• the “Open Zone” is a kind of world map, but it is completely playable
• there are also elements like classic levels
• there has never been such a kind of playable world map
• The “Open Zone” is a true evolution of classic overworld maps in Super Mario Bros. 3 format
• Sonic Frontiers aims to offer a next-level platforming experience
• the “Open Zone” wants to be more than a level hub based on Super Mario 64 or Sonic Adventure models
• the “Open Zone” is the central concept of the game, because it is there that the actual levels exist as elements
• you also differ from other genre sizes like the last Super Mario or Kirby games by the sheer speed
• in many previous Sonic titles, the higher difficulty of later levels stood in the way of this speed rush
• This is where the “Open Zone” comes in, as it offers tons of opportunities to do just that
• some puzzles are real head-to-heads, while others put your dexterity to the test or turn out to be mini-games
• there is a skill tree for Sonic, where, for example, his speed can also be improved