The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (PC)

It would be fairly bold for a major gaming company like Sega to kill off its mascot, and it’s even bolder to present a game called The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog where the idea of doing that is right in the title. However, the speedy blue hedgehog the company has relied on for over 30 years isn’t actually dead in this visual novel released around April Fool’s Day for free, the shocking title instead a reference to the murder mystery party the characters from the Sonic series will be engaged in. Despite the shocking title being somewhat defused by that early revelation, there does seem to be something a touch more serious going on beyond the detective roleplay, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog able to make more out of the game than a silly holiday joke.

For their role in the story, the player finds themselves as a new employee aboard the high-end train known as the Mirage Express. After naming the character, this short but well-paced story begins with Sonic the Hedgehog and his group of friends coming aboard, their gathering done in celebration of Amy Rose’s birthday. For the party they’ll be engaging in a pretend murder mystery where each character is given a profession and place in the lavish train cars to operate, and once one of them has taken out another passenger, the game begins and Amy will be allowed to try and figure out the culprit. Another participant, Tails the young and friendly fox, also takes on a detective role, and considering he’s a genius it was probably wise for him to get the part. However, when Sonic turns out to be the pretend murder victim, Tails believes he’ll need some help investigating the imaginary crime and your nervous character is recruited to join him in interrogating other passengers and looking around for clues. Your character does seem to be the only one who notices that Sonic seems to be doing more than just playing dead, a few bumps hinting that there might be something going on beyond the detective play, but thankfully The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is able to fully realize both this real mystery and the pretend one, both able to come to satisfying conclusions that don’t end up shoving the other aside to take center stage.

The early part of the game will focus mostly on trying to figure out which of the other guests has pretended to kill Sonic and so you and Tails will be going from train car to train car talking to all of the suspects. Even if you’re unfamiliar with the characters present, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog writes them well so that you can not only get a sense of their true personality, but you can see where their real behavior ends and where they’re trying to play up their assigned character some. Admittedly, that is because much of them don’t lean too hard into their character role, but you still have things like self-serious Espio the Chameleon attempting poetry rather poorly and the gruff Knuckles the Echidna trying to use as many cowboy phrases as he can think up before dropping the act. The character roles do have some importance though, such as how Shadow the Hedgehog is assigned the job of Locksmith and as such keys and locks become an important factor in figuring out what involvement he may have.

Most of the time you’ll be entering a train car, clicking on environmental objects in search of clues, and then speaking with any nearby characters to present those clues and start piecing together their part in the larger mystery of Sonic’s death. The number of clues you have is limited and the game doesn’t demand perfection from you, so even if you present the wrong evidence when trying to get the truth out of someone, you’ll be allowed to try again. This is true of the many dialogue choices you’ll be making in general, although there are definitely moments where knowing the right answer can help you avoid wasting time. Some moments where multiple options appear are just a way for you to color the conversation, the player able to seek out a comedic response or play things a bit more normal, but generally the game does seem to be angling for some lighthearted humor that comes a lot from how quickly you come to know the characters. Quite quickly you can learn the broad strokes of who you’re speaking with and the static yet expressive art that shows up when they’re speaking can add a good deal to the effectiveness of what the text boxes say. The art in general is well done to boot, the backgrounds for each train car not only rather stylish but containing many fun touches and references so they’re nice to look at beyond their role in the investigation. The music is even rather good and suits the situation it arises in, helping draw out the atmosphere of areas like the casino car and lounge while also setting the right mood for moments when characters are being more harshly grilled for the truth.

While a lot of the focus is on the investigation, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog moves away from the interrogation at a few parts that helps it avoid losing steam. For example, meeting up with the jewel thief Rouge the Bat actually leads to a moment where you plan a heist, this break from the norm placed nicely in the story progression so the game doesn’t feel too formulaic. Even such a diversion ends up having greater importance though, the game’s placement and construction of clues actually fairly smart if you think carefully about certain details that crop up, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog making sure its pretend mystery would actually hold up fairly well if it was a legitimate murder case that needed solving. Piecing together the clues is rather satisfying, but another element the game includes to make it more than a visual novel is a ring-collecting minigame.

Right before you’re about to present a piece of evidence or explain yourself, the thought process is represented in the form of the DreamGear. The DreamGear contains a minigame where Sonic the Hedgehog is automatically running across a long stretch of ground, the player needing to move him around or jump in order to grab rings that are placed all about. Initially fairly easy, the game starts introducing more dangers with each repeat appearance of the DreamGear, hazards like bouncing spike balls and crumbling floors making it so you have to react quite well in the later stages. You only lose a few rings when you take damage during these sections, but you need to have a certain ring total when the segment ends or you’ll be made to repeat it. The levels are often fairly quick and can be repeated with no penalty, meaning you’ll eventually get through it with some persistence and possibly some memorization, and this is fairly fortunate since it allows the game to start turning these minigames into legitimate challenges later in the adventure where they’re amusing trials rather than just a brief burst of more interactive play.

THE VERDICT: A lot of care was put into realizing The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog as a legitimate visual novel game despite it sounding like a joke. Almost working like a well-written episode of a Sonic cartoon, the characters are all able to get their personalities across well while having interesting contributions to a tightly designed mystery plot, and the undercurrent of something deeper beyond the detective roleplay even gives it a stronger hook than just playing around with some amusing personalities. The DreamGear minigame gradually comes into its own as a proper gameplay challenge but like the investigation its built so it won’t keep you from progressing for too long, the player able to drink in the quality art and music as they enjoy this amusing new look into the world of a video game icon.

And so, I give The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog for PC…

A GOOD rating. While it is certainly impressive that so much talent was put into a game released as an April Fool’s Day joke, what really helps the game stand taller than its premise is that the visual novel element was taken seriously. Visual novels have become a bit of a go-to route for a quick quirky April Fool’s joke from a game company, but the game takes the premise of murdering Sega’s mascot and runs with it, both rooting it in something that could believably happen in its character’s universe and constructing a legitimate mystery for the player to solve. The game is comedic but more so in the character interactions and situations rather than just winking at the player or drawing attention to how absurd its title sounds on first blush. This is a nice vignette starring characters from a beloved franchise and it handles them well, but it also makes sure not to lose people who haven’t kept up with the games and might not recognize someone like Blaze the Cat. Everyone is cleanly established, and more importantly, the player character is actually an outsider themself, having to learn who these characters are as well during the investigation. The game takes around 2 to 3 hours to complete but it even manages to tightly compress all it needs to do in that timeframe, the mystery not underfed and containing many reasonable clues for the player to piece together. It is nice the game can be accommodating at times to keep the story cutting a quick pace, but it could have been more engaging if there were more moments where you were expected to figure things out rather than receiving somewhat obvious prompts for what clue to present or having the opportunity to bumble your way into the right dialogue choice. The DreamGear does help with avoiding any overall shallowness though, as you must still complete a little platforming challenge before the scene continues. There are options to tinker with the minigame to make it easier though, so The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog can be customized if you’re more interested in the tale told rather than any major interactive elements.

A free comedy game can often get away with being a lesser experience, but The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog tries to be a sincere visual novel rather than a throwaway product to advertise the broader series. With the work put into the art, writing, and music, it ends up providing an experience that is easy to love, it feeling like a genuine attempt to place Sonic and his friends in this situation that even adds an extra layer beyond the birthday party roleplay that gives the game its title. It won’t blow you away with some intricate mystery or make you laugh so hard your sides hurt, but it’s an entertaining experience that feels like an authentic attempt to execute on its unusual premise.