Sonic Frontiers Update is Out Now on Switch: New Updates, and is It Worth It?

Have you ever wanted a Sonic game that is 3D and completely open-world? Then, Sonic Frontiers might be the game for you.

This is SEGA’s latest attempt to revitalize the Sonic series, which has happened a lot over the last couple of years. So, even though Sonic 2006 was kind of open-world or open-zone, Sonic Frontiers is the first true open-world Sonic game.

Unfortunately, Sonic Frontiers is following the trend of the last couple of Sonic games to come out. Sonic Frontiers has an excellent concept, but a lot of the mechanics get in the way of the game being amazing.

A lot of Sonic fans have shared these same thoughts. Luckily for the Switch version, a new update just came out. In this article, we will go over the latest patch updates and if picking up Sonic Frontiers is worth it.

Dive in with us!

1.1.1 Patch Notes

In the official patch notes, there are only two things they have listed which, for the number of glitches we have run into, is a little disappointing. Here are the official patch notes:

1. Fixed an issue where the Kronos Island Titan boss would disappear after reattempting the fight.
2. Fixed an issue where one of the Chaos Island icons was showing as locked even after completion.

Keep in mind that this is the very first update for Sonic Frontiers. We expect to see many more updates in the future. A couple of weeks ago, SEGA announced that they are creating a lot of free DLC content released throughout 2023. Although we don’t have a lot of specifics, there are a few hints SEGA gave us.

Over three content releases, Sonic fans can get new challenges, more characters to play, a Photo Mode, a new story, and more. SEGA says that we can expect a more specific release schedule soon.

If you are itching for some new Sonic content already, don’t worry. Later this month, the Holiday Cheer Suit goes live as free DLC. This will include new clothing for Sonic and some general holiday decorations for the Starfall Islands.

Is Sonic Frontiers Worth It?

As much as we would like to report that Sonic Frontiers is the Sonic game that is going to save the franchise, in its current state, it does not seem like it.

This is not the first time we have gotten a 3D Sonic game right before the holidays, and that does not seem like it is ready to go to market. In 2014, Sonic Boom launched on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, quickly cementing itself as one of the worst-received Sonic games.

A majority of the reviews for Sonic Boom seem a little too mean to quote in this article. But, we will quote this one because it might be the most brutal review of a game we have ever seen:

“Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric is simply a disaster. To my knowledge, it is the worst retail game I have played in a long time. The game is boring, chock full of problems and glitches, and doesn’t know when to be quiet for even a moment. Even if it was meant as a game for children, I consider it an insult for the age demographic.“

– Nintendo World Report

What is Sonic Frontiers About?

Enough about the past. Let’s take a look at Sonic Frontiers.

First, we want to make it clear that Sonic Frontiers is already leagues better than the basically broken Sonic Boom. Sonic Frontiers is a game about running fast, as a Sonic game should be, and exploring giant areas on Starfall Islands.

Frontiers begins with a cutscene where Dr. Robotnik gets sucked into the Cyberspace dimension after activating one of his devices for villainous reasons. Sonic, Tails, and Amy also get sucked into the Cyberspace dimension, but Sonic is able to escape due to his incredible speed.

The first level of this game takes place in the Cyberspace. The Cyberspace levels are the only strictly linear level of the game. After completing the first level, you will show up on the Starfall Islands, where you have a massive open world to explore and find your friends, Tails and Amy.

Is Sonic Frontiers Fun?

By no means is Sonic Frontiers a perfect game, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have any fun while reviewing this game. This game feels like a step in the right direction for Sonic and SEGA, but there is some more work to do. It is not an innovative open-world game, but it is for Sonic. There have been multiple points in this play through that we ran into open-world tropes that were everywhere years ago.

Seemingly, SEGA read a handbook of what makes a game open-world and included every part of it into Sonic Frontiers. That sounds great, right? Well, the execution was less than ideal. Most of this game feels slapped together mechanics, just with Sonic in it. This game’s overall setting and design feel a little bland. But we are hoping for better results in upcoming updates. We have only played this game on Switch, but we have seen that the graphics look a little better on the Xbox and PS5 versions.

That being said, this game’s Switch version has glaring performance problems. Most of the open-world gameplay was stuck around 30 FPS, which is less than ideal. But where Sonic Frontiers shines are the linear Cyberspace levels.

Each Cyberspace level is a linear stage that is short and well-designed. These stages feel the most polished out of the whole game. It is just a shame that these levels make up about 30% of the entire game. With the combination of the Cyberspace levels and open-world exploration, Sonic Frontiers offers some pretty fun gameplay — especially if there are consistent updates that can fix the issues taking some of the fun away.

Is It Worth It?

So, should you pick up Sonic Frontiers? While we would not recommend this game to everyone, we would be lying if we said we did not have fun with this game. Sonic Frontiers is a great game for Sonic fans or anyone who is curious about an open-world Sonic game.

If you do pick up Sonic Frontiers for the Switch, let us know what you think. Also, be sure to keep an eye out for the new content updates in 2023.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©Eric Broder Van Dyke/Shutterstock.com.