Sonic Frontiers director says there's "still a long way to go"

Morio Kishimoto, the director of Sonic Frontiers, has tweeted for the first time since the game released to say that the game "still has a long way to go".

Tweeting in Japanese, Kishimoto said that they were "relieved the release date has arrived" and said the Sonic Frontiers development team was "checking out the opinions of the critics and players".

Interestingly, they likened the release as "a global playtest". 

“I’m sorry I haven’t contacted you until now, because we’ve been busy since the release date,” Kishimoto tweeted (thanks, VGC). “I’m relieved that the release date has arrived and that [Sonic Frontiers] seems to have reached everyone safely.

“We are checking out the opinions of the critics and players. 

"As you have pointed out, we still have a long way to go, and we will take this seriously as a global playtest.”

発売日から忙しくて、ご連絡が出来なくてゴメンナサイ。発売日を迎え、無事に皆さんのもとに届いているようなので安心しました。評論家の方々や皆さんのご意見はチェックしています。ご指摘の通り、まだまだ至らないところは課題として、これを世界規模のプレイテストとして真摯に受け止めます。November 11, 2022

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It's a candid response, not least because Sonic Frontiers hasn't been universally well-received. We awarded the game 2 stars out of 5 in the GamesRadar+ Sonic Frontiers review, saying: "Sonic Frontiers takes an all-too-ambitious approach to reimaging the 'hog in an open world setting. The result is a Sonic who is far too sluggish to control across a wide range of dull combat, exploration, and platforming challenges".

"Sonic Frontiers features the kind of lightweight yet engaging storytelling that should easily enrapture fans young and old – though I'd hate to be a child forced to play through some of the abysmal platforming featured throughout," we said. "Was taking Sonic open world an ambitious endeavor? Yes. Did it pay off? Absolutely not."

Did you catch the PSA that those who purchased the Digital Deluxe version of Sonic Frontiers should install the DLC before starting a new game? If you don't, you risk it not being valid at all. 

Sega has said that fans should install the DLC before starting a new game - this means prior to finishing up in the tutorial area of Sonic Frontiers. It has also said that players should ensure that they have updated the game to its most recent patch before installing the DLC. 

If you're not quite feeling Frontiers, take a look at our best Sonic games list to find out what you should play instead.