Reviews from

in the past


Umineko: When They Cry (They cry because they can't compete with the GOAT Sonic)

This was super cute!

It's slightly embarrassing to admit, but I'm always interested in Sonic characters just being Sonic characters around each other and this was like a sniper aiming straight for my heart. I hate to beat on the drum that's already been beaten to death, but it says something when a game as simple as this accomplishes the role of a self-insert better than Forces. I don't need to save the world with Sonic, I just wanna hang out with them for a bit!

Any game that lets me compliment Knuckles on his hat is one worth enjoying, and yet again I'm reminded that Blaze is still my role model. God, she's so fucking cool!

There are higher stakes in this game than the entirety of Sonic Forces

Sage with the "Let's Go Dad" shirt is the hardest image in the sonic the hedgehog franchise.

Dae u ever git that wiy wen u think 'ah mate its pure class bein a sonic fan' and like 0.5 seconds later ur lit 'cannae believe it, best gaem wev 'ad since Mania and it's trapped in a cuntin' book.' Fuck sake man its shite bein' a Sonic fan.


THE TRIAL OF DEEMON

The accused is charged with multiple crimes, such as leaving and detonating random weapon-shaped explosives in the middle of public spaces, defamation of Mr. Jimmy ‘’Jimmy T’’ Thang in a court of law, and latest of all, being the main suspect behind the Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog™. How does the defendant plead?

-… I believe that it’s in my best interest to speak with my lawyers first…

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So… if you’ve read any of my Sonic related reviews, you may have noticed that I share a strange relation with the blue mammal, and by strange I mean that despite claiming I’m familiar with the character and the series, before this year I had beaten like… 2 of his games. And hey, it’s not my fault that I happen to suck balls at the speedy simulators… well maybe it is but I digress; my point is that yeah, only now I am finally really getting into the Sonic franchise as a whole an learning more of its philosophy and design decisions, but much, MUCH before that, I became a fan more-so because of its world and characters… I’m gonna point to Sonic X as the main culprit for that because I have no fucking clue how I learnt of these guys personalities otherwise.

Still, it’s not like I was ever a big fan, even in my youngest years I probably would have said I was more of a Mario guy just after finishing eating crayons, but that didn’t change the fact that I actually quite enjoyed the personalities of Sonic’s cast; I really loved the main trio of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, Robotnik is to this day one of my favorite videogame villains thanks to its personality and the fact its still a sort of meme among me and my friends, and Vector was always the coolest fucking guy to ever walk a 2D or 3D space so of course he would become my favorite character in the franchise. These and all of the Mobius inhabitants have an unequivocal charm that’s easy to like, even when the games and stories they tackle pull off some weird ass shit, you are bound to find at least one of the characters pretty charismatic. I myself tend to prefer when Sonic its at its more cartoony, its more goofy and laid-back, cause even then it manages to make some interesting narratives and seeing these Looney Toon motherfuckers interact and evolve even with its incredibly define quirks and traits it’s a joy (and you thought I was pedantic already, watch me when I pull my full blown analysis on Sonic’s narrative and characterization…)

The series knew how to be charming with its protagonist and it captivated me through that, but it wasn’t enough to grab me completely and convince me to sit through the games till their ending, and a big reason that I didn’t fall off completely from the franchise is in big part thanks to my girlfriend, who is much bigger fan of Sonic than I, despite having a kind of love-hate relationship with the series. But aside from the likes of Mania and Generations, I still reluctant to getting more into the games, of finally seeing more of Sonic and their buddies aside from random cinematics on youtube and clips from SatAM, but in the back of my mind, I was always secretly waiting for a perhaps more narrative focused Sonic game, one that kept the simplicity and goofiness that I love, but was more about the characters and interactions, something that finally gave the chance for this fellas to shine once again, to captivate me once again…

It's honestly fucking hilarious that the way they did it was by killing the son of a bitch.

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Mr.Deemon, you seem to be doing a mockery out of this court room, I’m gonna ask you once again to speak the truth and nothing by the truth, stop avoiding the question and telling us, did you Murder Sonic the Hedgehog™?

-Well first of all that feels like too direct and personal of a question, but I’ll say that that this all very funny to put the blame on me considering that porcupine’s obsession with dying; like, have you see him falling to his death time and time again? Have you seen his obsession with drowning clearly visible in its first game? Have you seen his reluctance to make a normal-ass jump like a basic platformer mascot? Have you tried controlling him through a fucking touch screen? Have you tried getting the fucKING CHAOS EMERALDS WITHOUT LOSING YOUR SANIITY?! I DID, AND YEAH, I ADMIDT IT, I KILLED THE BLUE BASTARD, THE POINTY MOTHERFUCKER WAS PRACTICALLY ASKING FOR IT, AND YOU KNOW WHAT? I’D DO IT AGAIN, ‘CAUSE I LIKE IT, I-

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Funny thing is, I already saw everything this game and to offer back when I watched my girlfriend play it, but decided to hold on writing a review for it until I tried it for myself… let’s just say it took a while for that to happen.

Still, even after my replay and trying for myself the little active gameplay it has to offer, that first experience of seeing it it’s what I think of first when ponding about it, and I mean, obviously it was a ton of more fun, but even beyond that, I think that playing it that way, with someone else by your side, was by far the best way anyone could experience The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog .

To be surprised just as it released on Steam to the surprise of all and the excitement of many (my girlfriend one of them), to jump together into whatever this was about to be, to be enamored by the amazing drawn art-style, to laugh and enjoy at the actually pretty funny jokes, to give voices to each of the characters and trying that they somewhat fit but then failing miserably (something I seem to be an expert of when it comes to voice-acting) and just… enjoying this wonderful, out of nowhere surprise.

Looking at the dates, it’s clear that they wanted this to be some kind of free April fools spoof, but it’s so much, much more than that. The passion and effort put into is clear as day, it’s nothing crazy of course, but it didn’t have to be that, hell, it didn’t even have to exist in the first place, but it does! And I’m so glad it’s thing if only for that wonderful random heist scene, for the snarky-ass dialogue that got a chuckle out of me several times, for sharing that fun moment with someone else that enjoys these characters as much as I and even more, to feel that warmth of a cozy, cartoony adventure… and most of all to see Vector once againLET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO VECTOR THE GOAT BABY BUY TEAM CHAOTIX LET’S GOOOOOOOOO-

Sure, some jokes do not land, the overall murder mystery ends in a super strange and kind of confusing way, it really seemed like they were preparing for the goofiest ending imaginable, which in a way they did, but still, I feel like the way they handled the ending of the investigation felt a bit weird and kind of anticlimactic… and that’s about everything strictly negative I can say, really, it’s just super hard to be grumpy about this.

A small, clearly full of passion project that clearly knows what it wants to aspire to be; a gift to the fans, of people that enjoy this cast of cahracters, and beyond that, just a really fun time. It’s not amazing, it’s not exceptional, it’s far from perfect (I remember back when it released my girlfriend encountered some bugs which… I don’t know how you manage to create bugs in a VN but hey, its certainly on the spirit of the franchise), but it sure is… nice, it’s extremely nice.

Maybe it’s because I revisited it after finishing Sigil II, but it’s hard to not look at this as another gift to its respective community, one that tries to have small surprises, but at its core being a piece of what many wanted, something to enjoy as a whole, and seeing so many people and groups of friends coming together to play this alongside each other and make voice-overs and the such is a wonderful proof of that.

And it’s hard to, being here, finally reviewing this, not to look back on this year, to the memories mad, the wonderful experienced had, and how in a way, this game was one of the things that made me jump into the Sonic series as much as I did this year, and even with its lows and highs, I’m beyond welcomed for it, I’m so happened to have experienced all of this, and I’m not only referring to the Sonic games. Times passes and with it, the year ends, but I know that many more wonderful memories will be made next year, and I cannot wait to make more that surround Sonic and its games, ‘cause even when I seem to be getting mad or disliking it… I can never erase the smile from my face.

… and hey, maybe this change of heart and end of year realization will spare me from court… right?


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With what I can only refer to as resounding evidence, I close the trial of Deemon v Literally Everyone Else In The Planet by declaring the accused guilty of all charges, his sentence is to be punished by not having roasted chicken in New Year’s Eve


-… FUCK.

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Happy New Year, everyone!

western game devs be like "okay time to make a quirky visual novel as a joke because... erm.... THAT'S not weird....????" and then make it actually compelling challenge

i don't know what to tell you man. the art's good because the idw team is behind it, of course it's good. writing is average modern sonic fare; "earnest" to a point but constantly self referential with 2010s "quirky" humor and already-dated meme references. music is inoffensive but unmemorable. id take this over the so quirky omg!!!! xD dating sim route that loser-ass companies like blizzard take (amazed they could release something involving consensual relationships) but this shtick is really really tired and the game just wasn't good enough to justify the joke. minigame sucked too.

Felt so at home here...
Characters bleeding into here right from the comics <3 I had such a blast feeling the radiating warmth of the charm, all the little quirks like Tails being such an awesome friend, him talking about his cooking and earnestly roleplaying to the bit in the story, all the way to Blaze (gosh me) and her royal stoicism. It's all so cute, interrogations working like fun Edgeworth Investigations, the care and detail, how it managed to kind of get to me with a scene with Sonic (in all fairness, emotional stability has been tough!). Wonderful high effort gift to the fanbase. I love being a fan of these Mobians ^w^

first hi-fi rush and now this dropping out of nowhere and being actually great!! i love those characters so much and the fact that you are interacting with sonic friends rather than sonic himself just makes it better! really gives the characters a chance to shine outside of the comics and for the first time since... heroes? anyway, really sweet april fools game!

I have my nitpicks but who cares, it's fun and worthwhile enough April Fool's fanservice for Sonic fans. Amy Rose being a fan of true crime podcasts is a lore detail that was retrospectively obvious, yet brave.

Yeah I rated this higher than Sonic Frontiers and Unleashed what of it

Anyway, while not the best Visual Novel experience out there for it essentially being free 2-3 Hour experience, this game is a charming little romp, I was surprised how well written the characters and murder mystery actually, and the dialogue was genuinely witty and fun. I really also like the graphics and music, while not the best 2D Artwork or soundtrack in the series, fit’s this game well.

Anyway, overall a fun time! Now leave me alone for 2 Weeks, I have a Racoon to attend to

This game is a really nice reminder that Sonic's friends were never the problem. I want to see Sega utilize the extra cast of Sonic more, because there's some great personalities on display here. This is a legitimately fun visual novel to play, definitely worth the 2 hours it asks of your time.

A friend I talked to called this "Babies First VN" and that absolutely is what this game is. Sonic should try to be a little more engaging with the "mystery" part of the game next time.

Despite that, I loved getting to see these characters do something for once (the heist section was great) and the gameplay sections are fun. Better than most special stages in real Sonic games. Maybe this series should just be itself and not try to be other things?

Unbelievable that this is the best game the series has put out in half a decade.

This was unironically a very decent Sonic game for it being an april fools joke when it came out. The game is a Visual Novel and it plays like a Danganronpa/Ace Attorney lite as its very simple with gathering evidence and interrogating the characters. There is even a Danganronpa similar mechanic of logic dive how your character figures out the mystery. The art and soundtrack of this game is high quality and you can obviously tell there was a lot of effort put into the game.

Phoenix: The witness claims that The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is, quote: "Just like Ace Attorney," but that claim clearly contradicts the evidence!

Edgeworth: What are you on about, Wright? The lack of courtroom scenes again? I'll remind you that you yourself just wasted fifteen minutes of the court's time proving that nobody in the West knows the legacy of Japanese detective visual novel.

Phoenix: What I'm "on about," Mr. Edgeworth, is this!

[Shitty Minigame]
A terrible mobile runner-ass minigame, played every few minutes. It's very boring.
> Present

Edgeworth: But that's...

Phoenix: The existence of this godawful minigame whenever the player character needs to 'think' can lead us to only one conclusion! The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog... is actually Dangan Ronpa!

Judge: This trial was supposed to be about insider trading.

Agatha Christie rolls in her grave in torment, knowing the funny blue hedgehog received a decently entertaining spoof of her Orient Express.

SEGA brought us an ace attorney before Capcom did

I don't have a deep history with Sonic, I just really appreciate the direction the series has gone lately. There's such a sincere joy Sega seems to have rediscovered in these characters, from Sonic Frontiers to the Sonic comic stuff to this. Its what this franchise needed for a long time.

It would've been so easy to do a cheap "dating sim" joke that devs keep making on April Fools, but they committed to a delightful adventure. And you can tell the devs actually care about visual novels and understand the history. If you try to submit your name as "Ushiromiya" or "Phoenix Wright" the game MC politely says "we don't want to get in trouble." It cares about this genre and isn't looking for a cheap gag. They love these worlds, they love this medium, and they have genuine artistic talent behind it. Its really admirable.

Veredito: Não esperava que fosse ser tão bom.

Murder of Sonic é um mistério de assassinato para crianças: é fácil, os diálogos são infantis, e a influência mais óbvia que vejo é Ace Attorney. Ao mesmo tempo é um jogo do Sonic: o estilo visual é LINDO PRA CARALHO, e todos os personagens da franquia têm o carisma que trazem de outros jogos. Também é um spinoff de orçamento baixo: é curto, de graça, foi feito por poucas pessoas e relativamente desconhecidas, e não é um plataforma de velocidade.

O mais importante é que gostei dele mais do que esperava e que é o 1º spinoff de Sonic que cai nas graças da galera, pelo menos se for levar pelo meu círculo - quem eu sigo no Backloggd, comentários aleatórios que vi na internet e uns outros poucos fãs de Sonic que conheço. Fico feliz de ver que a comunidade está mais aberta a spinoffs da franquia.

Achei que fosse ser só um "pô, maneiro, mais um fã-game oficializado, e dessa vez é um spinoff zoando o 1º de abril" e recebi uma aventura gráfica de apontar-e-clicar bem gostosinha e cheia de amor pela franquia e personagens, com um final insanamente melhor do que eu podia imaginar.

I wasn't expecting much out of an April Fool's game but this one was charming. Makes me want another Sonic visual novel. It's got amusing dialogue, fun gameplay, a chill soundtrack, a pleasant artstyle, which is everything I'd want out of a Sonic game. Especially the way the characters are utilized. You know, Sonic's friends are mad enjoyable when they get to show off their personalities and aren't just there, being cheerleaders. If Sega made more fun and silly games like this, I'd be more than happy to support them.

if you told 10 year told me there’s an officially listened murder mystery visual novel starring the sonic the hedghehog cast i probably wouldn’t care, but i sure as hell freaked the fuck out now

I think Shadow the Hedgehog is the greatest character produced by any creative outlet ever

     ‘But when negative thoughts hit you, let it pass, and keep living.’

Played with BertKnot.

The modern legacy of Sonic the Hedgehog is a series of experiments, which seek to reassess the place of the iconic hedgehog in the cultural landscape. Representative of a 1990s and 2000s zeitgeist, he has become obsolete and outdated with the modern conception of rebellion. This does not mean that the fans have abandoned their beloved mascot, but rather that, in a long spell in the wilderness, they have sought to modernise the character themselves. The multiplication of fanworks with very different atmospheres pleads for the versatility of Sonic and his friends, as comfortable in an urban pop setting as in more slice of life stories. The Sonic Mania MAP collaboration (2019) illustrates this plasticity, with the hero naturally switching between graphic styles. In particular, the pastel and shimmering palettes work successfully; this same aesthetic quality can be found in the comic strip adaptation of Sonic Skyline (2015), where the angular lines contrast nicely with the candy colours.

For the official franchise, the situation is more difficult. In the midst of games that were widely disliked by fans, Sonic Mania (2017) was a saving grace, but it felt like an exception, nowhere near the vision of the Sonic Team. It was only with Sonic Frontiers (2022) that the community saw a tentative change in the treatment of the hero, for better or worse. Regardless of the quality of the title, the open-world opus attempted to meet the demands of the fans by offering something new, a much-needed breath of fresh air. Surprisingly, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog seems to be another attempt to do just that.

Released on the 1st of April, the title was presented as a joke, offering a short visual novel adventure interspersed with light arcade sequences that somewhat overstay their welcome. The player assumes the role of a railway employee who is hosting a murder party for Sonic and Amy's friends in honour of the girl's birthday. Once everyone has learned their roles, the party splits up and the investigation begins, with Sonic as the victim. The player accompanies Tails, disguised as a detective, to identify the culprit. The title is generally very linear and simplistic: the protagonists arrive in a new room and have to solve the small mystery behind it, which often involves establishing the alibi of the people there. The title is obviously inspired by the success of franchises such as Ace Attorney and Danganronpa, which have now spread to the West, and this is underlined by the structure of the investigation.

Rather, the title strives to accumulate references to past games with a certain subtlety, creating a soft and warm atmosphere. To support the slice of life aspect, some characters have their personalities bent to fit the mood of the game – this is the case with Shadow. There is a certain modesty that makes the game feel like a comic book chapter or a Saturday cartoon episode. The stakes are low and the mystery is trivial, but that is not the title's main concern. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is about creating an experience that is different from the recent games from the Sonic Team – who are not involved in the production of this spin-off. The title appeals directly to fans, and Sonic's words of encouragement to the protagonist are a testament to his sincerity and genuine desire to nurture a loyal community.

It may be a shame to point this out, but The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, while a harmless experience, reveals the franchise's structural problems. Caught up in its own nostalgia and struggling to innovate around a character from another era, the Sonic Team proved incapable of coming up with a subversive and fresh concept. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog manages to do so, but the title is still plagued by being an April Fool's joke, and only seen as such by SEGA. There's something about the company's management that prevents them from really trusting a new generation that might have insights to offer on a truly major project. The title could have been an expanded experience with additional storylines, making it a proper text-based adventure around the franchise's beloved characters. Instead, the Sonic Social Team was only given the opportunity to make an appetiser.

The title is undoubtedly cute, features beautiful artworks and is brimming with love for the franchise. One must acknowledge the delight that various fans have experienced from spending two hours with it. However, I cannot help but feel that it is little more than a few crumbs for a starving community – perhaps this is the reaction of someone who has never had any affection or nostalgia for the blue hedgehog. Either way, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is a harmless little experience that says very little, but is a step in an interesting direction. One can only hope that this is not just another fleeting idea from SEGA, but something that will be more fully developed and polished in the future. Sonic fans deserve other similar games, or titles that explore new thematic horizons that would truly modernise the franchise.

Music Accompaniment

A solid murder mystery story that obeys the premise it set out before going for the 'twist'. A genuine whodunnit as a birthday party game for Amy. It's important to note in a slew of contemporary whodunit stories willing to break their own rules for a story: Disco Elysium (2019), Knives Out (2019), and even I would argue Tangle Tower (2014); The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (2023) stands as a completely honest and 'solvable' mystery. There's a contained reasonable mystery to solve before it ramps the plot in the 3rd act. Impressive on its own, far moreso for an 'april fools' work. Not willing to settle on just this the text also flirts with the mundane realities and interest that shape our 2020s world: infinite runners, beatboxing, escape the room entertainment, and even the anxiety of labor as 'many hats' gig economy service worker. To be clear my point here is regardless of whether it's manifestly 'critical' of each of these factors, for instance many of the nerds among us might be disappointed that the game doesn't poke fun at infinite runners. Regardless though even the acknowledgement that these are reflections of contemporary helps the player feel more immersed in the world. On top of this, the decision to make the player character the 'watson' sidekick is a great way to offset failure states in a fun and realistic way such that if you are wrong about some fact Tails can wrestle the falsehood of your reasoning away allowing for the story to remain on rails.

As a light comic strip style 2 hour romp into the world of Sonic as a fun cheeky cartoon world, this is fantastic. It's nice to see the Sonic cast intermingle in mundane and non combative environments, something that has truthfully not really been done aside from the comic book series, even the cartoon show is your general 'enemy of the week' formula, so I hope that they feel comfortable exploring this friendlier character driven side of the world of Sonic. All we have to do is look at another story involved game like Sonic Frontiers (2022) which admittedly seems perfectly servicable as a 3D action platformer, to see the comtemporary problem with sonic. It's not an issue of tone but an issue of centralizing 1 protagonist at the expense of the ensemble. What Sonic Frontiers represents is Sonic as a military general because its constant planning and preparation through him, crucially none of the other characters talk to each other. The ensemble cast approach to sonic has been discarded ever since the 3 character structure of Sonic 06' (2006) was written off as a mistake. As such, Sonic has been the default protagonist, which is monotonous when you have many other main characters you could explore, like in the case of Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) because in SEGA's view this and the ensemble approach is probably hurting the bottom line. The most endearing factor of Sonic in the view of the fans is how characters that arent Sonic interact with each other, the ensemble story building element, one that by design depicts Sonic as stageplay with all the shakespearean matters of miscommunication and deceit that come with. It's a genuine tragedy that this side of sonic has been unexplored and, as such, we can see The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog as the first signs of finally awakening from that hibernation. If viewed that way, then its a wonderful awakening by all accounts.

My colleague Cadensia is a lot more sour about the entrapment of this work as an april fools prank, for her

"It may be a shame to point this out, but The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, while a harmless experience, reveals the franchise's structural problems. Caught up in its own nostalgia and struggling to innovate around a character from another era, the Sonic Team proved incapable of coming up with a subversive and fresh concept. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog manages to do so, but the title is still plagued by being an April Fool's joke, and only seen as such by SEGA. There's something about the company's management that prevents them from really trusting a new generation that might have insights to offer on a truly major project." (link)

However there's two rebuttals to this line of reasoning I want to note here. This is a cynicism that over rides the corporate future based on what we already know, but we can't exactly rule out the idea that this is a test pilot work from SEGA to see if people would be interested in this side of the Sonic world merely disguised as an april fools joke. All we have to do is glimpse at the blatantly unfinished nature of other April Fools VN titles like Bug Fables: April Fools! (2018) to see how the formula of such a prank is supposed to go. It's not supposed to be a rich and finished story its meant to be a gag. There's no gag here, its a full free Visual Novel with a firm 3 act structure and an evolving minigame. So I wouldn't really rule this out based on that extra polish and care put into a 'joke' as a form of test piloting.

Beyond just that, the work is so flourished and well considered that even if it is just a shallow gag on SEGA's part this is a 'gag' that slipped through the cracks and let be told a millennial tale. An important note here is that compared to other corporate mega giants, SEGA is not that interested in copyright takedowns. This is obvious when looking especially at the development of Sonic Mania (2017) being made in tandem with fan developers. I don't want to go all 'glory to the corporation' but if we consider it as SEGA continuing to sabotage their own world, the lack of IP restriction means that regardless of what gets made in a stuffy 'canonizing' office building this work functions regardless as a joyful emission to other fans as a reference point for acceptable fan games that take the world into account as an internal space.

Anyway regardless of all that, the art is great and the positioning of all the characters is wonderful. I only have a couple minor complaints: I was not actually able to gather information and properly interrogate Rogue and Blaze in the casino and I really wanted to especially since Rogue is my favourite character. Aside from that the 'what would Sonic do' logic that tails puts forward, messianic blasphemy aside, doesn't really make that much sense. The sonic run minigame sections are meant to reflect your character thinking, but I don't know, the quickness and desperation of doing it reads to me a lot more as paniced 'racing thoughts'. Aside from just that, Sonic is not that forward thinking, in fact literally the core point of Sonic Adventure (1998) and the cartoons generally is that while he has a great heart and is proactive, he's not that thoughtful so relying on him as a way of life doesnt make sense in that context. This is an easy enough fix though, if you have somebody smarter like tails in the piloting seat during these minigames. However its not a huge loss that it is this way regardless. I also didn't play the story all at once either, so unlike my good pal Cadensia these runner sections didn't bother me much. Not to be too maternal but if you feel something as exhausting that may be a good sign to take a break! :3

All in all I think The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is a perfectly fine detective adventure romp, and the fact that it takes place on a sci fi enhanced train makes it all the more satisfying as a way to keep the story both self contained and enjoyable. If you like train transport like me it satisfies that itch immensely. A great way to spend a couple hours and in the process connect to the genuine aspects of Sonic's franchise that adult fans try to talk up. Really hope detective novelists check this one out, might play it again someday, that really is how much fun I had with it C:


I was originally going to review a different game this weekend, but after randomly stumbling across the existence of this last night I knew I had to play it instead. Because seriously, WTF(ladoodle) lol? Look at that name! It sounds like it would be some fan meme crap, but it’s actually officially licensed by Sega! I was honestly so baffled until I remembered what day it was and realized this had to be some sort of early April Fools’ Day joke. To my surprise though, that only turned out to be half-true.

Let’s get this out of the way, the title is total clickbait. Nothing crazy, ridiculous, or lore breaking happens. It all plays very safely to be as canon-friendly as possible. While it’s a little disappointing that they didn’t just go full nonsense with this like I, probably foolishly, hoped they would, I still ended up having a good time with it. It’s a cute, charming, and legitimately funny visual novel that somehow manages to unironically be one of the better Sonic games I’ve played. The people behind it seriously tried to make a worthwhile addition to the franchise and they totally succeeded!

Overall, it’s pretty short clocking in at a couple of hours at most and the lack of any alternate endings means there’s no real reason to ever replay it once you’re finished outside of a quick refresher in a few years down the line. There are also some gameplay segments that consist of more than merely clicking through text scattered throughout. These are honestly pretty terrible. You’re basically just guiding Sonic down short tracks infinite runner style, dodging obstacles and trying to collect a set amount of rings before reaching the end. They suck because the keyboard controls leave a little to be desired in terms of precision and I resorted to using one of the assist features to lower the ring requirements around the midpoint of the adventure simply to hurry up and get past these parts as quickly as possible.

Ultimately however, these problems are largely offset by the fact that this was released completely for free. It’s a generous holiday gift that’s far better than it has any right to be. You can feel the care, effort, and quality that was put into it by the development team, who were clearly genuinely excited for the project (they thank Sega in the credits for letting them make it). I would truly love it if they would do more of these small, experimental surprise treats every once in a while, even if I have to pay for them here and there. There’s no reason for Sonic fans or the simply curious in general to not check this out.

GOTY 2023

8/10

Acknowledging Sonic Adventure 2-style chao within the first hour of the game automatically makes this a great game.

The writing and characterization in this is charming as all hell, and the game itself was an incredibly fun April Fools release, but I was obsessed with those droplet-headed fucks for a solid three years of my childhood so I'm legally not allowed to dislike this game sorry

Also this is the best advertisement for Super Monkey Ball that I've ever played.


It's neat. Was surprised how far they went for what is essentially a April Fools game. Also holy shit I did not realize how much I needed that post-credits scene in my life.

LET'S GO DAD

The Blue Rodent is finally dead.

Handles the self-insert character better than Forces