I hope it stays interesting that whole time
The jury is still out on Sonic Frontiers, as an array of takes are swirling from folks who have played it. For now, we can look at some facts. The Sonic Frontiers length is looking like “20-30 hours” according to director Morio Kishimoto (who spoke to IGN).
Naturally, that length is variable. Kishimoto also claims that it’ll take “double” that length to clear everything and go for 100%, and a “character progression” system (which involves a skill tree and leveling) is supposed to keep people playing through that journey. For reference, Sonic Forces (the last mainline 3D Sonic) is roughly four hours long, and it takes around 20-ish hours to fully 100% it. 3D Sonic games typically range from five to 10 hours depending on the entry, so “20-30” is a massive shift, due in part to the “open world” focus.
It’s really easy to be skeptical of how this will turn out. Shifts to massive open worlds don’t always work out, as “character progression” alone might not be enough to propel players through a 100% completion, much less one campaign clear. The entire world needs to be interesting as well, and offer unique sidequests as well as a general sense of wonder and firm level design to ground the exploration.
Based on what we’ve seen, it’s iffy whether or not that’ll end up being the case. More so than anything, the open world design is the most make-or-break thing for me.
