Sonic Frontiers age rating latest, UK release date and more

In a move of 200 IQ genius, Team Sonic and Sega have given the Blue Blur his first ever open(ish) world adventure in Sonic Frontiers, which is scheduled for a UK release date this year (more details below). It comes on the back of two successful movies, which have given the series an even bigger profile, so here’s everything that you need to know about the game, including the latest on the age rating, story and gameplay.

Plot

The reveal trailer didn’t actually give too much away about the story, but if you look at the giant robot that features towards the end of the video you can see some real similarities with Sonic the Movie 2. Obviously, that doesn’t mean that we’re going to see Dr Robotnik returning from a mushroom planet with Knuckles in tow, but it does look like he’s got his hands on some kind of big robot tech.

That combined with the graphic style of the environments makes the game a bit of a mash up between The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild and Bowser’s Fury, but the real question is which of the other characters are going to feature in the plot. Tails and Knuckles were introduced in the second film and then Shadow was teased in the credits scene, so all of these are possible additions for Sonic Frontiers.

In the announce trailer we hear a voice earlier on saying “Sonic, over here”, but you don’t get the character officially confirmed. However, it sounds a lot like it’s going to be Tails trying to help out his buddy, and as this is an open zone game of what looks like epic proportions it definitely makes sense to include him.

What we know for sure, though, is that Sonic gets stranded on an ancient island as he tries to track down missing Chaos emeralds. Once there, he discovers that there are actually five islands to explore called the Starfall Islands and they’re being looked after by a mysterious stranger that wants Sonic to leave, saying that his reckless actions endanger the world.

Gameplay

The announce trailer for Sonic Frontiers doesn’t actually feature any specific gameplay action, but we can take a lot from all of the cinematic sequences and follow up videos have provided more details. The open zone settings show that Sonic is going to have a lot of space to run around in and with his incredible speed it should be a lot of fun tearing up the roads, mountains and rolling green hills that makes up the environments.

There have been a number of comments online that draw comparisons to The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, and while there are some art style parallels we’re expecting the gameplay to be very different. For example, the biggest link is the tower that features in the announce trailer, but you can see with the speed run pads up the side of it that this is going to be Sonic the Hedgehog through and through.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the open nature of the game pans out. It appears as though it will focus on tasks that you need to complete in the different areas with an overarching story arc in each with similarities to the likes of Super Mario Odyssey, but with fewer areas.

It’s set to be the most exciting new development in terms of gameplay for the series in a long time. However, this is far from the first 3D action for the character, with the likes of Sonic Adventure breaking that ground ground decades ago on the Sega Dreamcast in 1998.

Apart from the giant robot Doctor Robotnik, there aren’t that many enemies that featured in the reveal trailer. The only ones that we can see are a series of drones that chase Sonic through the forest. However, more recent videos and details have confirmed that Sonic will bash, spin and stomp his way through the enemies, but with more 3D style.

He’ll also be able to dodge, parry, counter and land combos to add to the fun. There’s a skill tree and battle system too, so this is about as close to an RPG as the hedgehog has ever gotten.

You can also see a lot of water and high walled islands, which means being able to run over water and spin up walls to be able to them. Another possibility is a slingshot move or maybe even flight with Tails featuring in this somehow.

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Sonic Frontiers UK release date

The UK release date for Sonic Frontiers has now been finalised. The announce trailer finished with a Holiday 2022 caption, and it has now been confirmed for the 8th November 2022. This makes it a day earlier than God of War Ragnarok, so it’s really pitching itself against the biggest hitter of the bunch with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet out later in the month.

The last game release in the franchise was the Deluxe remake of Sonic Colors in 2021, which came out in September, but it didn’t sell particularly well, so Sega has clearly decided to go with a different strategy. Instead, it has pitched it specifically for the Christmas market in the hopes of giving it the best chance of sales.

Our initial estimate of either November or December for the launch window has gone to correct. November will give it more time for sales, but December would have been less busy in terms of other games coming out. October is also pretty packed with everything from Gotham Knights, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and Call of Duty Modern Warfare II out.

It will be released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, PC, Xbox ONE and Xbox Series X/S. It will be one of the only big name open world adventure out around the holiday, because Avatar Frontiers of Pandora has now been put back to 2023.

Age rating latest

The Sonic Frontiers age rating from PEGI for the UK was confirmed with the release date now that it’s available to pre-order. For North America with ESRB it has an E for everyone certificate, and in the UK it has an age rating of PEGI-7.

There was already a lot we could take from the announce trailer and previous games in terms of what to expect for a certificate for the 2022 game. Sonic Colours Ultimate, for example, had an age rating of seven years and over in the UK and E for everyone by ESRB in the US. It was a similar story for other 3D games like Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, which had the same certification both in the UK and North American, so Sonic Frontiers landed similarly.

We’ll update you with more details as they’re confirmed. You can also check out our computer games section to keep tabs on the game. Visit the Sonic Frontiers website at https://frontiers.sonicthehedgehog.com/ for more details.