After a long wait, Sonic Frontiers is finally in our grubby hands. Coming as a surprise to literally everyone, the game is actually quite good. A breath of fresh air for a character who has long languished as the butt of every joke on the gaming block. All of that comes to an end, and we could be in for a new golden age for the blue blur.
All of that babbling aside, let’s talk about gameplay, and how you can approach Sonic’s new 3D adventure with the utmost confidence. A new game, new genre, and new mechanics can leave anyone feeling a smidge overwhelmed, and frankly, a lot can be missed when diving in fresh. That’s where we come in, as we’ve compiled some tips and tricks to help you on your way.
More Sonic Frontiers content:
Purple Coins | Fishing Guide | Review Roundup | Latest Gameplay Trailer | Nintendo Switch Release
Settings, Settings, Settings!
Settings in any game are important, but Sonic Frontiers takes that to an interesting new level. At start-up, the game asks you to choose between a few gameplay ‘styles’, but these aren’t really fleshed out. Thankfully, you can fine-tune your settings at any time, allowing you to backtrack on a hastily made choice.
In the ‘Options’ menu, you can alter all kinds of sliders to make Sonic control easier. Everything from his starting run speed to how his Boost functions can be tweaked. And tweak you should. Sonic can be fairly unwieldy at times, and if you want a hedgehog who is a bit more controllable, you can make that happen.
Bump Up That Difficulty (Knock It Down)
Sonic Frontiers is a mostly chill game – which is interesting for a title that is so fast. This is mostly because combat is quite easy. Enemies don’t put up much of a threat in the early game, and this can make them a little bit of a letdown when you are looking for a good scrap.
This disparity between Sonic’s strength and his opponent’s power only grows as Sonic levels up to boot. We advise messing with your difficulty settings to make the game as easy or difficult as you want. For most players, Normal is likely going to be a bit on the easy side, so cranking it up a notch is a great place to start. However, if you just want to blitz around Kronos (and beyond) then knock it right down to Story and have a blast. Games are for having fun – do what makes you happy.
Prioritise Map Reveals
Sonic Frontiers has a number of Islands to explore, and each Island is pretty darn massive. Unfortunately, since Sonic is not a native to the digital world he has found himself in, he has no idea where anything is. Mechanically, this means your map is blank. This makes completing your objectives very difficult since you can’t navigate effectively.
You reveal your map by completing challenges strewn across the map. We advise making these challenges your number one priority whenever you get to a new area. As your map is marked, new challenges are revealed, making everything easier. Not only that, but if you complete every map challenge, you unlock Fast Travel for that Island, making it easier to get around.
Travel With Purpose
Sonic Frontiers gameplay loop is very simple. You need to collect all the Chaos Emeralds in every area to defeat a Big Bad and then move on. To unlock the Emeralds, you need Keys or, you need to complete quests. To unlock quests, you need Memories. Those Memories are hidden behind traversal challenges.
Everything is linked together, but it all boils down to exploring and doing cool stuff whilst on the move. Basically, you want to take the most convoluted and fun route whenever you are on the move. Why run in a straight line, when you can grind up a rail, launch through some rings, zipline to a platform and then catapult at the speed of sound in the same direction? Not only is this way more fun, but you are rewarded every time you do it.
Don’t Forget To Level Up
Levelling up in Sonic Frontiers isn’t as simple as going into a menu and upgrading your stats. Instead, you need to find vendors (known as Elder and Hermit Kokos) who will power up your stats in exchange for rare collectables.
You have four stats: Power, Defense, Speed, and Capacity. Returning lost Koko will boost your Speed or Capacity, whilst handing in Seeds will boost your Power and Defense. In the thrill of blazing a trail, it’s common to forget about powering up. Thankfully, Elder and Hermit Koko can be found at regular intervals, so amending that mistake is quick and easy.
Don’t forget that you can adjust your Speed and Capacity distribution too!
Unlock New Combat Abilities
Just because you can’t power up your core stats in a menu doesn’t mean you can’t enhance Sonic in other ways through one. Sonic’s combat abilities are very much lacking when you first start out. You only have your homing attack, and that gets stale faster than an open loaf of bread.
As you do various tasks, however, you will gain Skill Chunks that can be spent on new abilities. These are almost always new combat moves that let you create new combos or deal more damage with flashier attacks. These get more expensive the further down the tree you go, but they are always worth unlocking.
Get Fishing
Finally, you should find Big the Cat and go fishing. Fishing is not only relaxing and surprisingly fun, but the rewards for partaking in the sport are vast. You can pick up Koko, Keys, Memories, Seeds, and more just by casting your rod into a pool and yanking out a random tin can.
It’s so effective, you can bypass a lot of the game’s collecting just by fishing. Plus, the coins required to go fishing get more common as your progress through the game, making it even easier.
With that, you should have a solid grasp on how best to progress through Sonic Frontiers. We have a bunch of guides ready for viewing already, with more on the way.
