Update: The YouTuber who was thought to be the reason behind Sonic Frontiers being review-bombed has offered their take the incident, claiming that it's not their fans at all, and laying the blame on Sonic fans.
Earlier today YouTuber Video Game Dunkey took to Twitter to claim "Sonic fans are review bombing their own favorite game to make my fans look bad." Dunkey claims that the usernames were a dead giveaway with several having names such as "DunkeyLover2005" or "Dunkeyfan123."
In a follow-up tweet, Dunkey explained more by saying: "In the end, way more positive reviews are being left than negative (and it is 90% Sonic fans leaving both), and my intention was never to send review bombers."
Another tweet then followed: "I just wanted to make an entertaining video on a game I didn't really like, and I was shocked by the user scores so I included it. I can't be alone in feeling crazy when seeing them."
Sonic fans are review bombing their own favorite game to make my fans look bad. They really thought they were slick calling their account DunkeyLover2005 🤣(Twitter thought this was real btw) pic.twitter.com/Rqdl4gfGTGNovember 14, 2022
I just wanted to make an entertaining video on a game I didn't really like, and I was shocked by the user scores so I included it. I can't be alone in feeling crazy when seeing them.November 14, 2022
Original story: Sonic Frontiers is getting review-bombed after YouTuber Dunkey posted a negative review of the new platformer.
Dunkey is, if you're unfamiliar, a YouTuber with a huge following, at over 7.2 million subscribers. When the content creator posted their Sonic Frontiers review yesterday on November 13, it didn't take long for the video to storm past one million views, giving audiences a look into Dunkey's experience with Team Sonic's new adventure.
That experience was markedly negative, as you can tell from the video review itself just above. Dunkey isn't having any fun with Sonic Frontiers at all, showcasing the very worst elements of the new game, such as invisible walls and progression systems, for his huge audience to see.
This was shortly followed by Dunkey's viewers review-bombing Sonic Frontiers on Metacritic. As you can see in the tweet just below, hordes of Metacritic users are review scoring Sonic Frontiers as a zero out of 10, even in some cases writing that Dunkey's review prompted them to give out such a negative score.
You can just tell that every negative review that Sonic Frontiers got today is because of the Dunkey video, some even mention it. pic.twitter.com/YmvuDlRCLtNovember 14, 2022
What's more, most users posting the overly-negative reviews freely admit they haven't even played Sonic Frontiers. Plenty of the reviews write about how the game looks from trailers and pre-release footage, as well as Dunkey's reviews honing in on the worst parts of the game (in the YouTuber's opinion).
However, this review-bombing hasn't actually harmed Sonic Frontiers' overall Metacritic user review scores. Heading over to Metacritic, you can see that all versions of the new game sit at above an 8.0 for their review scores, with the lone exception being the Xbox One version, which is currently at the 7.8 mark. Dunkey's fans might want to see Sonic Frontiers drop its user review scores, but it looks like the reviews haven't actually made an impact.
Check out our Sonic Frontiers Fast Travel guide for how to unlock one of the more essential features of the new adventure.
