Sonic X Shadow Generations Hands-on Preview: Out of the Shadows?

While it is fair to say that he doesn't quite reach the level of his rival Mario, Sega's long-time mascot Sonic the Hedgehog has been doing rather well for himself in the last decade or so, despite a few blunders such as Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic Forces. Sonic Frontiers from 2022 moved the series in a bold new direction, trading the usual linear levels for a semi-open world format, while last year's Sonic Superstars was a fun throwback to the golden days on the Sega Mega Drive.

Now with Sonic X Shadow Generations, Sega has one eye on the past, and one eye on the future. The collection will feature a remastered version of Sonic Generations from 2011 (which itself moved effortlessly between new and modern Sonic in both its storyline and level design) as well as a brand new game: Shadow Generations.

During Gamescom, I sat down with an all-star line-up of Sonic veterans - Game Director Katsuyuki Shigihara, Producer Shun Nakamura, and Series Producer Takashi Iizuka - to learn all about the upcoming collection. And while they didn't want to put a runtime on the new Shadow content, Shigihara did make it sound like it was just about as substantial as the original game.

"For Shadow Generations we have a whole lot of content in there, and we have skills that you'll be earning and unlocking. You can even go back and replay the game with these new skills. So there's going to be a lot of content in Shadow Generations. But the whole game that we're selling is Sonic Generations and Shadow Generations put together. Even people who've played through Sonic Generations, will have new things to do inside of Sonic Generations and new ways of playing the game. If you've played it once before, you can go back and play it again, and do different things inside of the game."

According to the team, they didn't want to "mess with the original," so the stages and content in Sonic Generations is unchanged - except for the nicer looking visual that is. One crucial change has been made to the game though, as Iizuka revealed that Sonic's move set has been slightly expanded.

"For the remaster of Sonic Generations we wanted to stay faithful to the content and allow people to play that original game experience while taking advantage of what the new hardware could deliver to the players, but we also wanted current players to be able to play as they would expect. When Sonic Mania released we found a lot of people really enjoyed the Drop Dash mechanic, so we have been adding it into releases since then, including Sonic Origins and Sonic Superstars, and felt it would be a nice addition so we added in the Drop Dash into the controls for Classic Sonic in Sonic X Shadow Generations."

Unfortunately, I didn't get to experience any of the remastered Sonic stages myself as time was very brief during the preview. Instead I jumped straight into Shadow Generations and the level Kingdom Valley Act 1, known for its appearance in none other than the infamous Sonic '06. I can certainly appreciate that Sega is not basing their levels on a whitewashed version of the series history, but dare shine the spotlight - or perhaps rather cast a shadow - on their lesser known titles. And Kingdom Valley does indeed deserve a second chance as the towering cliffs and fallen ruins gives the stage a truly majestic sense that's even more spectacular in 4K and with better looking textures.

Of course, these environments are mostly backdrops, as Shadow, just like Sonic blazes through the level. There are many different routes to take, but, as is the case with most 3D Sonic stages, it's essentially 2D level design with an extra dimension added for the sake of visuals. You choose a path, time your button presses while zipping between gizmos and enemies, and occasionally beat up a mid-level boss - in this case a rocket slinging robot straight out of a Saturday-morning cartoon.

If you think this sounds like a regular Sonic stage, well you're absolutely right, and the team explained that one of their major challenges was designing stages that fitted Shadow. In his only proper solo outing to date, Shadow the Hedgehog for the PS2, the pace was a bit slower, and the rogue antihero even used firearms for that added '00s edginess. This time around, the guns have been ditched, but that doesn't mean that Shadow has become a pacifist - far from it.

The solution to making Shadow feel different than his blue counterpart, ended up being Doom Powers: A series of flashy moves that emphasise both Shadow's speed and destructibility. A trailer was released just before Gamescom, showing them off. The first of them, Doom Spears, let's you strike five enemies at once, letting you quickly thin out the enemy ranks, while Doom Blast let's you launch enemies in the air - apparently also opening new shortcuts if used at the right time. Doom Morph turns you into a sort of murderous blob of black goo, while Doom Surf and Doom Wings are pretty self-explanatory, letting you either soar through the air or glide across water, destroying everything in your way.

I didn't really get much hands on with these powers, but I did make use of Shadow's signature ability, the Chaos Control. This super power briefly slows down time around you, and makes you invincible to most kind of damage, letting you pass through the stage with ease. Nakamura, explained that the Chaos Control has been designed with both new and seasoned players in mind.

"The Doom Powers makes Shadow a very different character to play in the game, and the same goes for the ability to use Chaos Control. For people who maybe aren't so good at the game, they can use Chaos Control to get through the game easier and avoid a lot of areas that are difficult for them. On the other hand, people who are really good at playing the game, can use Chaos Control to get through levels even quicker or do things that they couldn't do without using Chaos Controls. By adding these abilities we're making Shadow's gameplay distinct from what came before."

While the producers ensured me that each new stage has been made with these powers in mind, where they really seem to shine is in the White Space. I initially misheard this a "Wide Space," and both meanings are essentially true. The White Space is a sort of in-between world that connects the many stages and time lines present in Sonic X Shadow Generations. You can explore this hub world freely, and you will discover more secrets as Shadow expands his move set. In many ways it's a direct continuation of the open world areas from Sonic Frontiers, and a clear indication that Shadow Generations is a proper modern Sonic title.

"We wanted to apply the open zone philosophy to the White Space," explained Iizuka. "You can run around in this open zone, and it's really well done. We think that's kind of the format that we want to continue developing, fun open zones where you can run around. So that's probably the future of where our modern series is going."

Nakamura added: "It is very Frontiers-like. You get to run around and do whatever you want to in the White Space. But what's new and different is the Doom Powers that Shadow will be unlocking. By gaining and using the Doom Powers, you're able to get around to different places on the open zone White Space and that kind of brings a new, fun dimension to the gameplay and controlling the characters."

With Sonic X Shadow Generations releasing on October 22, and the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie with Keanu Reeves voicing Shadow following in December, the popular character is really getting his time in the sun. Whether he'll stay there, remains to be seen, but based on what I've seen and heard during Gamescom, I'm quite optimistic.