i feel the need to specify i cant talk about this as a sonic game as im not familiar with other games (i played a few as a kid but thats it) so my thoughts are purely about the standalone game. i think the first thing i noticed was how delightful the art is, and how catchy the music was. there was a lot of variety, with different themes for investigation, interrogation, entering a new room (and each room had its own theme), and even different music for the think sections. and about the art, its just so good. its very charming, and the colors all work well together. the sprites were cute, and the backgrounds have just enough detail to know effort was put into them, but theyre not distracting from the sprites.

maybe it was revealed in the description, i didnt read it, but i enjoyed that the game went beyond being a murder mystery party; i wouldve been fine with a little game about who killed sonic, but it included more twists than just who was the killer. the characters were also all very charming; despite not being familiar with past sonic games, i got a good sense of who each character is without them feeling one dimensional. it was really fun seeing the different ways the characters interact with each other. i did enjoy that the main character was some made up (at least, i dont think hes a previous sonic character) average guy; it's very self indulgent, but it was a lot more enjoyable to be spectating all the prominent sonic characters than it would probably be to be one of those prominent characters.

one more thing id like to touch on is the think sections, or the minigames. it was a nice breakup between the visual novel parts, especially since it lets you more directly interact with the games ending instead of simply reading the ending. something else i noticed is that while i did have to start over and over again, each section was quick enough that i wasnt that frustrated about starting over. however, i did notice they had several assist options in case you were having trouble, which i thought was nice. it does mention it was tuned for experienced sonic players, but as someone who doesnt fit that description, they were only minorly difficult.

all in all, a very good game. i had fun with the mystery and the little minigame was fun too. all the visuals are enjoyable and soundtrack felt appropriate for both the settings and series (there were many times where i thought Yeah... this is sonic music). my only complaint is that i wish there was some sort of cg gallery; it doesnt interfere with my enjoyment nor do i really consider it an issue, but it would be nice to look back at some of the art without replaying the game (the last few cgs were especially cute).