When Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood was announced, many fans were intrigued by the idea of a Sonic the Hedgehog role-playing game. When it came to one of gaming’s speediest platformers, merging it with the turn-based RPG genre was an interesting concept at the time. While Sonic Chronicles wasn’t too well-received upon release, it’s fondly looked back at for its attempts to this day. There’s still some potential in the idea of a Sonic RPG, and it’s possible the series could try it again.
BioWare’s Sonic RPG has turned into one of the more interesting pieces of history for the series over time. While some fans say it lacks balancing and has terrible music, those same fans among others sometimes reflect on how the game ended on such a tight cliffhanger and wished that it got a sequel. While a sequel is most likely never going to be realized, a new RPG could fill this void rather well.
The Potential of Sonic Chronicles
For all of Sonic Chronicles’ shortcomings, there’s a lot the game did right in regards to translating the feel of the Sonic series feels to an RPG. Two of the biggest things the series is known for is fast-paced and skillful exploration, and how all of Sonic’s friends have a unique charm to them. On these two fronts, Sonic Chronicles succeeded, as the fast-paced sections and unique playstyles of each character opened up strategic opportunities in battle. Even Cream the Rabbit, one of Sonic’s more overlooked friends, was humorously made into a secret healer character who practically guarantees victory with how powerful she is overall.
However, for what it did right, there were naturally things the game did wrong. Even for its more fast-paced segments, fans felt it was slow, and lacked the scope it promised when it was announced. Some of this may not have been BioWare’s fault entirely, as the game was riddled with problems during development. Project lead Mark Durrah has said in interviews that working with DS hardware heavily limited the game. Further, things such as the cut animated opening for Chronicles as well as how many of the sprites are traced from official art from Sonic X suggest that there were some problems with in-game assets as the game was being worked on.
The Sonic Franchise’s Current State
Something that most likely hurt Sonic Chronicles’ chance of success was how, at the time the game came out, the Sonic series was struggling with identity issues. Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) had been released only two years before, and the franchise was trying desperately to recover from the fallout. At the time, Sega was also notorious for rushing games to meet deadlines, which may have led to executive meddling as a result.
However, the attitudes that may have hurt BioWare have since changed. Sega has openly said that it takes time to release its games these days, with Sonic Frontiers’ long development cycle and promising trailer being a good example of its practices going forward. Alongside that, the Sonic series has been working on stabilizing itself with Frontiers as well. The lead Sonic comics writer Ian Flynn is being brought in to write for the next game, which is promising since he knows exactly what image Sega wants for the franchise after working with the company for over a decade.
The climate of Sega’s place in the gaming industry has also changed. In 2013, Sega bought out Atlus, one of the most well-known RPG developers with the success of IPs such as Persona and Shin Megami Tensei. There’s a chance that if Sega decides to try another Sonic RPG, it could be made by Atlus, which might lead to an incredible experience thanks to the company’s expertise with the genre.
With the direction the Sonic series is heading in, an RPG seems like a great place to get fans acquainted with the world of the beloved blue hedgehog, no matter which direction it goes in once Frontiers launches. After all, many Sonic fans crave the same type of world exploration seen in titles such as Sonic Adventure and Sonic Unleashed. Given time, and a less-constricted development cycle, a new role-playing game could fill this niche of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise almost perfectly.
