Sonic Forces is out in a month and one big design choice is an ‘unresolved topic’ within the team, according to an interview Game Informer conducted with producer Shun Nakamura.
Unlike Sonic the Hedgehog games of old, when you get hit in Sonic Forces you can’t then re-collect the rings you’ve lost. When asked about this Nakamura said, ‘We believe what we made [is a good balance] and will be a great experience for people — but we also are hearing that people are wanting something that we haven’t provided to them. I’m still sitting with the team digesting it and figuring out what to do. It’s an unresolved topic even amongst the team.’
Nakamura likened the duration of a playthrough to ‘be very similar to Sonic Colors or Sonic Generations.’ According to HowLongToBeat (a website where you can log the duration of your played games), the average duration for a Sonic Colors playthrough is six hours, while Sonic Generations comes in at about eight and a half hours. Nakamura added that ‘There’s content in there to make sure that everyone can play through the game and have a fun time, but there’s also all these little things to do later that, if you really wanted to dig into the game, will be there for you.’
He also alludes to the fact that the announced DLC, Episode Shadow, is the only story-based content we’ll see, mentioning that ‘There is really no long-term plans to continue releasing content to support Forces.’
Sonic Forces is out November 7 on PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Switch, and it’s slightly worrying how muddled the messaging is this close to launch. While Nakamura makes it clear that the team is happy with the game, saying that there are discussions about big aspects like the ring collecting at this late stage is concerning.
