Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition

This could have — no, should have — been a free upgrade, or at the most a reasonably priced upgrade. That Sega is asking for full price is a joke.

​While Sonic Frontiers – Definitive Edition is absolutely a misnomer, it’s a fine way to play the game if you haven’t already. The updates it has received since its initial release in November 2022 make the game worth revisiting, with lots of new content that’s fun to play even if they don’t necessarily fix any of the game’s more foundational problems. There’s a good game to enjoy even with the warts present in Sonic Frontiers, but given the cynical nature of this version’s release, it’s hard not to feel like they should have gone harder in improving it. While I wouldn’t expect every problem to be addressed, things like fixed bugs and technical issues would surely have gone a long way in making a fun game even more easy to enjoy.

Sonic Frontiers allowed fans to really step into the shoes of the blue hedgehog. Even though it’s a little rough around the edges, Sonic Frontiers was a huge step in the right direction and the Definitive Edition, with every update and new content included, shows what a modern Sonic game is capable of. The feeling it gives you is unlike anything that’s come before it. It has to be played to be believed.

Sonic Frontiers is more than I expected, yet still less than SEGA's longtime mascot deserves. That is not to say the game is bad. The biggest issues here are technical, stemming directly from a lack of polish and the jarring nature of the game's art direction.

As a Switch 2 version, Sonic Frontiers - Definitive Edition delivers on an experience that matches what the Switch 2 is capable of and what Sonic Team felt like fixing.

Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition is one of the worst Nintendo Switch 2 ports to date. The visuals are rancid and ruin the best parts of the original game, like the exploration. Worse still, it makes the worst parts of the original even more frustrating, as the combat feels monotonous at best and unresponsive at worst, alongside the overabundance of technical issues. Considering the lack of an upgrade pack and new features, it's hard to think of any reason to buy the Definitive Edition whatsoever.

As both an upgrade to the problematic Switch version and a celebratory rerelease for Sonic’s 35th anniversary, Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition is thoroughly disappointing. Though the game underneath is far from exceptional, its unsatisfying visuals, unaided by the new improvements, ruin the potential it does have and make for a release that leaves a lasting bitter aftertaste.

Sonic Frontiers - Definitive Edition contains a stellar core game that performs exceptionally well on Switch 2 and, hey, that's pretty cool! 🧭