Sega has officially unveiled Sonic X Shadow Generations during PlayStation’s State Of Play event last night.
Our favourite blue rodent will return in Autumn this year in a remaster of Sonic Generations, 2011’s beloved platform game.
Sonic X Shadow Generations isn’t just a straight facelift for the thirteen year old title either, with an all-new, standalone Shadow campaign added for the remaster.
The original game, which saw Modern Sonic travel back in time and join forces with his younger, more rotund, self, is being ‘remastered and expanded’, according to a post on the PlayStation Blog.
Sonic X Shadow Generations is coming to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch, Steam and Epic when it launches later this year.
Shadow Slides Into Action
The Sonic X Shadow Generations announcement trailer saw Classic and Modern Sonic dashing through a familiar Green Hill Zone before Shadow interrupts their party.
Takashi Lizuka, Creative Officer of Sonic Team revealed the motivation behind the remaster. ‘With Sonic x Shadow Generations, we wanted to bring Sonic Generations to PS5 and PS4 while pairing a brand-new Shadow storyline to crossover with the original story‘.
Elaborating on Shadow’s addition to Sonic Generations’ storyline, Lizuka states that ‘players will get to know him more as a character and understand his motivations‘. He concluded by saying that Sonic X Shadow Generations ‘will create the ultimate celebration of Classic Sonic, Modern Sonic, and Shadow gameplay that all fans will surely enjoy‘.
Lizuka is on the money based on the reveal trailer. Glimpses of Shadow rushing through a futuristic cityscape, wrecking badniks and sliding through stages to a thunderous soundtrack look incredible.
The Steam page for the upcoming remaster reveals more info on Shadow’s campaign including that the hedgehog will wield new powers and abilities and face off against his old nemesis, Black Doom.
2024 is seemingly the year of Shadow, with the Ultimate Life Form set to appear in the upcoming Sonic 3 movie and Sonic Stadium have confirmed the rumours that a Shadow DLC costume for Sonic Superstars is arriving on the 15th February.
Remastered Rumours
A Sonic Generations remaster was rumoured to appear at the State of Play earlier this week when XboxEra co-founder Nick Baker teased the contents of Sony’s presentation in a cryptic Tweet.
Baker’s poetic post was on the money with every title the podcaster alluding to featuring in the State Of Play.
Sony’s latest State Of Play featured plenty of surprises to delight gamers. In addition to the titles teased by Baker, the State Of Play revealed a brand new Silent Hill game titled ‘The Short Message’.
The P.T inspired horror game shadow dropped onto the PlayStation store for free, giving players the opportunity to wet themselves in fear without opening their wallets.
The biggest reveal of the night, for me anyway, came when legendary game creator appeared alongside Head of PlayStation Studios, Hermen Hulst, to reveal he’s working on a new action-espionage game.
The Wait Begins
Now that the proverbial hedgehog is out of the bag, fans can expect to receive more info throughout 2024 leading up to Sonic X Shadow Generations Autumn release.
There’s no word yet on whether the excellent bonus levels from Sonic Generations for the 3DS will appear in the remaster. Sonic X Shadow Generations would be the perfect opportunity to release the zones from their handheld confines.
Fans of Sonic can expect another stellar year for the Blue Blur with the speedster set to receive new LEGO sets in the coming months after already racing into Happy Meals here in the UK.
Plastic bricks and chips are a great start and I can’t wait to jump into the shoes of Shadow when he arrives later this year.
