Recent Comparisons of Sonic Games to Dark Souls Raise Concerns
Sonic Superstars and Sonic Frontiers are drawing Dark Souls comparisons due to their new boss designs, sparking debates over the effectiveness of this change
Highlights
Sonic Team's latest 3D Sonic game, Sonic Frontiers, has become the best-selling 3D Sonic game, breaking a long-held sales record.
Fans are divided on the difficulty of the challenging boss fights in Sonic Frontiers and the upcoming game Sonic Superstars, often comparing them to Dark Souls. The new boss design has sparked differing opinions among fans, with some expressing a lack of interest in the heightened difficulty, while others relish the challenge and the opportunity to formulate strategies for these encounters.
With Sega's long-standing presence in the gaming industry, it's natural to expect a series of highs and lows in the company's history. While Sega recently cancelled one of its major projects, there are other noteworthy narratives concerning its renowned development studio, Sonic Team. Speculation and reports suggest that Sega often puts Sonic Team under pressure to meet deadlines rather than focusing on quality checks. However, the latest 3D Sonic the Hedgehog game, Sonic Frontiers, serves as compelling evidence of the studio's potential when given ample time to work on a title.
Within just seven months of its release, Sonic Frontiers shattered a longstanding sales record, establishing itself as the top-selling 3D Sonic game. When this news initially broke during a press conference, it appeared that the increase in sales could be attributed in part to the game's free content updates, which began in March 2023. However, the final installment of free DLC packs for Frontiers introduced a brand-new story mode that significantly raised the game's difficulty level. Additionally, Sonic Superstars included an additional mode that drew comparisons to the challenging gameplay of Dark Souls, sparking discussions among fans.
Why Sonic Superstars and Sonic Frontiers Are Being Compared to Dark Souls
The comparison between Sonic, an all-ages franchise, and the challenging Dark Souls may come as a surprise. However, both Sonic Frontiers and Sonic Superstars feature extremely difficult boss challenges that have frustrated countless players, resulting in rage-quitting. What makes these challenges even more frustrating is that they are mandatory for players who wish to experience everything the games have to offer. These challenges, including Frontiers' Master King Koco and the final bosses of Sonic Superstars, deviate from the traditional Sonic boss battles.
Typically, Sonic games involve battles where players must identify the boss's vulnerable spot and strike at the right moment to cause damage. The key skill lies in exploiting the bosses' invincibility frames and attacking them multiple times, completing the boss fights as quickly as possible. This design perfectly aligns with a series centered around speed. However, in an unexpected turn, the two recent Sonic games have completely changed the formula by focusing on pattern memorization and patience in boss battles.
The new boss fights in Frontiers and Superstars bear more resemblance to FromSoftware games rather than Sonic the Hedgehog games, as players are punished for not comprehending the attacks and openings of the bosses. In Sonic Frontiers, the Master King Koco trial requires players to understand the parry windows of the titan bosses within the approximately 6-minute time limit. Similarly, Sonic Superstars presents a final boss that disregards traditional ring mechanics, forcing fans to be patient and learn the boss' mechanics in order to succeed.
This divisive approach has caused fans to have mixed reactions. While some find the difficulty level to be too high for a Sonic game, others enjoy the challenge and the satisfaction of deducing the boss fight strategies. This situation has led to comparisons to "the Sonic version of Dark Souls."
Why this sudden shift in boss design is dividing fans likely stems from the lack of proper warning when implementing the change. It's particularly jarring in the case of Sonic Frontiers, where DLC challenges introduce a timed parry requirement. This change has been met with disapproval from many players, as Sonic Frontiers' parry mechanics were not originally intended to be timed, resulting in completely different timing windows for each attack. However, Sonic Superstars exemplifies the potential of these boss battles, as they were designed to be challenging from the start. The fights in Superstars have been praised for their difficulty, surpassing even the Koco trial in Sonic Frontiers. Furthermore, they provide genuine puzzles for Sonic the Hedgehog fans to solve in order to emerge victorious, similar to the bosses in Dark Souls.
Sonic Superstars
Sonic Superstars, developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega, is an upcoming co-op platformer game that pays tribute to the franchise's 2D glory days. Playable characters include Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, and Amy. The game is set to be released in the Fall of 2023 on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
