Sega’s games have built up a reputation for being plagued with multiple issues such as horrible frame rates, clipping through stages and unbalanced boss fights that have left fans disappointed. However, the company’s newest 3D platformer, Sonic Frontiers, has brought back the love many fans had for the Sonic series. 

Sega released the final free update of downloadable content on Sept. 28 for Sonic Frontiers that gave many fans what they were asking for and more. 

One of the things the DLC included were new playable characters: Amy Rose, Knuckles the Echidna and Miles “Tails” Prower that players could move around Ouranos island as. Each character has their own gimmicks and abilities to help navigate the island and complete certain challenges. These characters’ abilities tie directly into their powers from previous games. 

The update also introduced a significant spike in difficulty for enemies, challenges and navigating the island. The “Guardians,” the mini-bosses of the game, have had their health points and damage increased, and their combat style completely changed. The challenges have also been made significantly more difficult, and each requires a different character’s abilities to complete and help that character grow. 

Sonic Team, the developers behind the game, also changed the final boss fight after many players reacted negatively to it and requested it be improved, according to Game Rant. 

Along with a completely different final boss, the last phase also includes a new version of the game’s theme song, “I’m Here,” now featuring American singer and musician Kellin Quinn, as well as jaw-dropping cutscenes and brilliant quick time events. 

In a surprising twist to all fans, it was revealed before the DLC’s release that our favorite blue blur would also be getting a new super transformation which is an evolution of his first and most well-known “super” form. A lot of fans, myself included, have given him names like “Starfall Sonic,” “Cyber Super Sonic” and “Super Sonic 2.” 

The response to the new content has been overwhelmingly positive, according to Metacritic. 

It is absolutely heartwarming to see players who had previously stopped playing the Sonic series return and share the same excitement as everyone else. There have been some players who dislike the difficulty spike, but the game becomes much easier by switching from hard mode to easy mode. 

The release of the final free DLC for Sonic Frontiers has shown that Sega is starting to apply different development methods for its games such as listening to its player’s positive and negative opinions and improving upon different characters instead of just our main hedgehog. With a new game on the horizon, the future is looking extremely promising for Sonic games, and it is exciting to see what will come next for our No. 1 hedgehog.