The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehoglaunched as a surprise and a bit of a joke, only to achieve the sort of acclaim that many game developers only dream of reaching. The free-to-play visual novel about uncovering the truth behind the titular crime has ended up being a smash hit that few people could’ve foreseen.
While theSonic the Hedgehogfranchise has had its fair share of successes and duds over the years, few of its mainstream releases have enjoyed the same positive feedback asThe Murder of Sonic the Hedgehoghas been getting from day one. Originally envisioned as an elaborate April Fools' joke, the game quickly rose to prominence following its release, and it has now broken into one of the most prestigious game lists of all time.
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Sega’s surprise release of a newSonicgameappears to have paid off with dividends, even though it’s a totally free title.The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehogallows players to assist Tails as he investigates the mysterious circumstances of the blue hedgehog’s passing in the classic visual novel format, and the whole experience is so impressive that players are giving it rave reviews. In fact, its reviews are so stellar thatMurderis now the 61st highest-rated game on Steam, meaning it’s also the highest-ratedSonic the Hedgehoggame on PC and quite possibly beyond.
While some believe thatThe Murder of Sonicwas too obviousof a story in the grand scheme of things, the game’s success cannot be ignored. Whether it’s due to its tongue-in-cheek nature or because people were simply eager to jump onto a free newSonicgame, the end result remains the same: remarkably high acclaim and a huge amount of goodwill for Sega from theSoniccommunity.
It’s possible, too, thatThe Murder of Sonicmay lead to similar projectsdown the line, as the franchise clearly has the bandwidth needed for this caliber of wacky spin-off titles. Now that it’s established itself as one of the best games on Steam, it’s bound to get even more attention as time goes on, making it a hugely important showing.
Along with that, theSonic Frontiers’Sights, Sounds, and SpeedDLClaunched on March 22, and it features a slew of new content and media for players to fiddle around with. It’s not a huge stretch to imagine that even more players will be pouring into the game now thatMurderhas made the rounds with essentially universal acclaim, giving Sega just the sort of leverage it needs to keep the blue hedgehog running.
