wow it's soon gonna be a year since I played this through!
ironically one of the best received Sonic games in recent memory and I think it deserves all the praise it got. yes, it may only be a short and sweet visual novel who isn't trying to tell the most deep story ever, but has so much stuff going for it.
the presentation is great, the UI and the art is so fucking good, I just love the artstyle, the music is also pretty good!! the plot is kind of an excuse to just have members of Sonic's varied cast interact together but it doesn't feel shallow and the writing helps create a fun and engaging murder mystery (cause yes there's a true culprit) that's really funny and oozing with charm! and in typical Sonic fashion, the story's more serious aspects just radiate a sense of earnestness I can't resist (which you should be accustomed to if you're familiar with this franchise).
also the more "active" gameplay sections are simple but really fun!!
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is probably the best April Fools' gift I'll ever play.

This is one of the biggest surprises the Sonic franchise has thrown at me. A Sonic murder mystery visual novel? For free? In this economy?

If you're looking for a head-scratcher like Danganronpa or Ace Attorney you won't find it here, which is fine, this game isn't trying to be one. The strength of this game lies on having these characters interact in a more down-to-earth setting, with the player character serving as a perfect contrast to this crazy cast by being "ordinary" in comparisons, while still being a worthwhile character that I personally became fond towards.

There's some small gameplay segments during interrogations with a more classic Sonic gameplay, they happen every time the player character needs to collect their thoughts to prepare an argument. They are a good change of pace even if they interrupt the flow a bit, their implementation reminded me a bit of some mechanics you'd see in the Ace Attorney games, where they abstract a stressful situation into a minigame.

Regarding the graphics and the music, they are amazing. The comic book art style perfectly fits the tone of the story, and there's something about the color palette of these drawings that is just perfect. The music is really jazzy and fits every situation, you can feel that Ace Attorney (yes, again) inspiration coming through in the interrogation music, and they nailed it.

This game is awesome, if you either like visual novels or would love to see the Sonic cast in a different and fun setting you HAVE to play this.

Wasn't expecting THIS to be the first game I beat in 2024! (Note: NO major spoilers in this review.)

I got Sonic brainrot in Jan 24, but it took surprisingly long for me to get to the short, free Visual Novel they released the previous year. For those unaware, this game is an April Fools joke, but of the best possible kind: yes, it's an actual mystery VN set in the Sonic universe, and the production values for a free game are off the charts (just look at all the names in the credits!) Art is simple but on-point, and there's an original soundtrack of 42 SONGS?! (This game even has UNUSED music!)

Gameplay mostly works like a typical mystery VN, if you've played Ace Attorney you'll be at home here. Collect evidence, use it against suspects. Don't expect any complex deductions though. You have at most 3 pieces of relevant evidence to choose from, and the correct answer is usually obvious. There is no fail state, you just keep trying until you get the right answer. Sometimes the main character's line of logic isn't even obvious until after played a THINK! minigame.

Oh right, those are a thing. They're short "endless runner" segments where the MC asks "what would Sonic do?" They remind me a lot of old Flash browser games from my childhood, but be warned: they get surprisingly tricky later on, ESPECIALLY the "final boss". Fortunately there are options to tone them down if you're not an action fan.

But back to the logic thing. The plot is simple, but there's a few fun twists. My main gripe is you're playing as "the Watson" in the detective dynamic, and as someone who doesn't know the Sonic cast. While this makes it a good game for newcomers, it means Tails (the actual detective) is often several leaps of logic ahead of your character (as he's both smarter and knows the cast personally), and it's hard to be on the same page as him without hindsight. An example is the very first puzzle, which is "solved" when you present evidence that's totally meaningless from the protagonist's perspective, but is obvious to either a Sonic fan or a friend of Sonic's in-universe, leaving Tails to connect the dots. This doesn't happen often, but it bothers me as a die-hard mystery fan when it does.

The real strength of this game is the characters. Despite only being 2-ish hours, this is some of the best writing for the extended Sonic cast in years. The two standouts to me are Amy and Shadow. The former has been "fixed" for years, but there've been complaints about her becoming too down-to-earth. This game makes her hyper and energetic again, WITHOUT making her annoying or mean. Shadow, meanwhile, has one big moment, but it's a small one I'd like to focus on: at one point he shows genuine respect for Tails' mechanical abilities. Speaking of, I like how this game shows Tails' optimism through the lens of a more jaded viewpoint character, and the effect it has.

In summary, don't expect peak Ace Attorney, but an April Fools joke has no right to go this hard.

I love when I cop the twist to a story right off the bat. Even if it's a kid's game and probably exceedingly obvious to everyone else as well.

Very cute. Lots of great references, the best presentation we've gotten for a lot of these characters... ever - in a game, that is - fun to look at, and the most I've been allowed to dig through trash cans outside of Pokémon.

This might just be because I'm tired and played this after getting off work, but man my eyes are ready to not look at things after having played this. The segments of actual gameplay that's somewhat like Sonic 3D Blast's special stages really started to bother my eyes. They were decent, but the angle being isometric instead of behind Sonic probably made me mess up more than usual.

Anyway, this was really charming and had some good laughs, I hope something else likes this happens again - maybe shift out some of the supporting characters for others of Sonic's friends?

My partner is a big fan of VNs, so when Sega released this April Fool’s Day surprise a week and a bit ago, we knew we had to take a look. Her and I had a lot of fun playing through it and voicing the characters ourselves, and it took us about 3 hours to play through it.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is, as the name implies, a story about the murder of Sonic the Hedgehog! Sonic and his friends are all abord a special event train for Amy Rose’s birthday party, and a murder mystery is the event in question! You play a gender ambiguous staff member aboard this train, and it’s your first day on the job, so it’s your duty to make sure everything goes smoothly! But when things start going weird, it begins to look like everything may not be as it seems aboard your murdery mystery train, so you team up with detective Tails to try and solve the case! The end result is a really delightful story! It’s a cute and funny story full of good humor and fun references for those who are big Sonic fans (but still make for fun jokes in themselves for those who aren’t as familiar with it).

The gameplay is a visual novel, but it’s more like a little Ace Attorney-style adventure than a long book with pictures. The mystery itself is far from Ace Attorney-levels of difficult, but it’s still a load of fun either way. Interspersed with those VN segments are parts where you “get your thoughts in order”, which here means an infinite runner that’s themed like the old Sonic 2-style bonus stages (though mercifully without the 3D element). The best part of those action segments is that, while they get pretty damn tough by the end, you have a ton of tools at your disposal in the menu to make them as easy and forgiving as you wish if you’d rather just have a VN rather than a platforming challenge.

The presentation is great! The character portraits do an excellent job of getting across the emotions of familiar characters and they complement the writing wonderfully. The music is also very fun, and the pixel art in the infinite runner sections is very nice and retro-Sonic-y as well.

Verdict: Highly Recommended. A truly excellent game, no two ways about it. It’s not just a funny April Fool’s joke. It’s genuinely a really fun and well-written VN, and one of Sega’s best considered and put together Sonic projects in years. If you like VNs and especially if you like Sonic, this is a free game that is 1000% worth your time and then some.