Exploring Kronos Island in Sonic Frontiers brought to mind the first time I walked through Hyrule in Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild. The mountainous open world, ancient architecture, and puzzles are very reminiscent of Link's adventure but, thanks to the Sonic hallmarks littered throughout the map, you never truly forget whose game you're playing.
I didn't know what to expect when I sat down to play Sonic Frontiers. After all, the last time I had played a Sonic game it was a 2D affair. As I hopped on launch pads and flung the little blue critter through various hoops, the movement is definitely more akin to one of Sonic's adventures than Link's. But I still came away feeling like I had played some kind of Breath of the Wild fan-remake with Sonic as the star.
Not in Hyrule anymore
What really sold Sonic Frontiers to me as a Breath of the Wild-inspired game are the enemies known as Titans that can be found scattered around the island. Just like Breath of the Wild's Guardians, the Titans have a mysterious and ancient feel about them and put Sonic through his paces. Very early on in the demo, I'm prompted to approach a group of peculiar-looking rocks that spring up and turn out to be Titans. These Titans are some of the smaller ones I encounter along the way, and only require a couple of quick charges from the blue blur to defeat. There isn't much of a technique to winning these smaller fights; you just have to get close to one of the enemies and repeatedly hit a button to make Sonic throw himself at them and take them out.
This technique is pretty much the same for the bigger Titans I'm thrown into battle with during my playthrough. One of these enemies is a Titan called Ninja. This intimidating geometric entity tosses me around the map more times than I'd like to admit, causing gold rings to fly out of Sonic at an alarming rate. Thankfully, just like with its smaller cousins, Ninja wasn't too hard to beat and only required a few additional - slightly more strategic - charges to eventually wear it down.
After this encounter, I'm presented with a puzzle - albeit a very simple one. To pass through to the next location, I have to line up three statues that then opens a sealed-off archway to the next area - which is also somewhat similar to the kinds of puzzles you'd find in the Shrines of Breath of the Wild. I'm not prepared for what's on the other side of the door though - an even bigger baddie called The Tower. Unlike the first few enemy encounters I'd come up against so far, this one feels like a genuine boss fight and not just something to get your XP up along the way. The Tower is composed of several smaller segments, which once again requires Sonic to thrash into it repeatedly to gradually break it down.
I can't say that I had a bad experience playing Sonic Frontiers. In fact, as someone with so little Sonic experience, it's a great game to get started with. The best part of the whole demo saw me racing Sonic up and down the hilly environment, sliding onto rails, and launching him up into the sky after jumping on a springy platform. It's also very easy to get from one side of the map to the other, meaning there's never a moment during my playthrough where I feel like I don't know what I'm doing or where I should go next, whereas that can be the case when playing Breath of the Wild.
In this short demo, the similarities between Sonic Frontiers and Breath of the Wild are palpable. Perhaps it's just this zone that bears a resemblance to Nintendo's 2017 hit, and maybe other areas of the game's world have a completely different feel. Judging by some of the Sonic Frontiers trailers, there's definitely more to this game than just wandering around an island, collecting rings, and taking out Titans.
If you're wondering what games you can play while you wait for Sonic Frontiers, take a look at our best Sonic games list for inspiration.
