i have seen commenters complain that Frontiers misunderstands what the point of an open world is and (granted the game is not out so any take on this topic is speculative) i’m not sure i agree with this. per developer comments the game is pushing the idea of a world map that is playable as far as it can go; the core of the game is sonic unleashed–style action stages; so like. there is a very explicit idea of what the game is going for

granted i have no idea why they would WANT to go this way with the game, but given developer and player comments that the story is trying to be melancholic, separating sonic from his friends at the beginning, i can see why spending a lot of time with sonic alone might be able to enhance a certain tone the story is going for. idk. definitely still a strange direction to try to take the game; you have to develop a lot of tech and resources and level design for a huge portion of your game that isn’t even really the actual mechanical focus

also why the fuck has literally all the marketing been centered on this open world if the design goals have always been to make the meat of the game the action stages?????????? the fuck