| “ | Retold. By You! | ” |
—{{{SEGA}}} | ||
Sonic Forces: Retold is the first instalment of the Sonic: Retold series, a series of retelling previous Sonic stories in an intense, choice based gameplay style, developed by Supermassive Games and was published by SEGA and Dark Sonic Media. Each game will be standalone of will re-tell the story of a previous Sonic the Hedgehog game. Sonic Forces: Retold, is a rewritten story of the original 2017 game by SEGA/Sonic Team as Sonic forces.[4] The game features a different style of game-play, which focuses on a free-roaming environment style. The game features modified game mechanics as well as some features from previous Supermassive Games tiles, Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures Anthology. The game will be built with Unreal Engine 5.
Development[]
Beginning development in August 2019 after the release of Team Sonic Racing, Sonic Forces: Retold, along with other names, one being named as "Sonic Forces: Reawakening." SEGA wanted to change the gameplay style to fit with the 2019 reveal trailer tagline" By You!" SEGA thought of this tagline and immediately had an interest in the new gameplay style. SEGA reached out to Quantic Dream after seeing the gameplay of Detroit: Become Human. Quantic Dream created character references whilst SEGA created a wishlist for cast members. SEGA wanted at least 5 playable characters or more, Quantic decided to choose the 11 characters that were pitched in, Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Silver, Shadow, Classic Sonic, Tails, Vector, Espio, Charmy, Rouge.
Pete Samuels, the executive producer of The Dark Pictures Anthology, wrote the story with help of Jeff Fowler (director of the Sonic Film).
Writer and Director, Jeff Fowler, pitched the idea to make the retelling of the story towards a mature audience, which includes coarse language, death animations, blood and etc. SEGA was very hesitant about the decision but decided to try this new audience approach.
On the 4th of May 2019, SEGA shared new details about a project they were working on;
"We are excited to release new details about our next upcoming project. It features a new feature in the Sonic Series; Motion Controls as well as traditional controls, as well as a new cast. We will reveal more along the way!" ~ SEGA 2019
Fans saw this and reacted highly negative towards SEGA. This went widespread over Twitter making SEGA delete the quoted tweet.
After this news was released, SEGA released a teaser image on the 11th of April 2019 revealing the silhouettes of the new cast alongside their corresponding character. SEGA then said;
"We will reveal each new cast member on the 11th of every month, before the reveal trailer."
Dark Sonic Media[]
Dark Sonic Media is a side publisher that publishes Sonic media with darker material to a more adult-oriented audience. Sonic Forces: Retold is Dark Sonic Media's first published game however, Dark Sonic Media is also interested in making TV shows, web series and other types of media. Another Dark Sonic Media published game has leaked called Sonic the Hedgehog: Green Hills however, it's story is currently unknown.
Gameplay[]
Unlike the original title, Sonic Forces: Retold features a gameplay similar to the original but includes some differences prior to the original game. Quick-Time Events are a previous mechanic which are included in the game but are the same style as Until Dawn's QTE mechanic. Players will take control of the entire Resistance team, including Knuckles, Amy, Silver, Tails, Shadow, and more characters.
Players will have the chance to play all characters in the game, players will play the characters to expand on the story. Most characters are split up from the group, as in the original, however, most players found some sections of the game slow. Some of these sections require the player to find a certain area to advance through the game.
Motion controls were also added towards the mechanics to the game. This mechanic can be only accessed when a character is holding an object/Secret.
Characters[]
NOTE: The characters are portrayed as an older version of the character from previous games.
| Character | Playable? | Chapters seen in |
|---|---|---|
| Knuckles | Yes, Unless Killed | 1-4, 6-10 |
| Shadow | Yes, Unless Killed | 1-5, 7-10 |
| Amy | Yes, Unless Killed | 1-6, 7-10 |
| Sonic | Yes, Unless Killed | Prologue, 5-8, 9-10 |
| Silver | Yes, Unless Killed | 2-7, 8-10 |
| Espio | Yes, Unless Killed | 4-6, 7-10 |
Controls[]
PlayStation 4/PlayStation 5[]
| Action | Button/Control |
|---|---|
| Choice 1, QTE |  |
| Choice 2, QTE |  |
| Choice 3, QTE |  |
| Choice 4, QTE | |
| Interact with an object,
Move Head of Character |
|
| Move Character | |
| Pause Menu,
Pathway viewer. |
  |
| Mission Screen |
Xbox One/Series X|S[]
| Action | Button/Control |
|---|---|
| Choice 1, QTE |   |
| Choice 2, QTE | |
| Choice 3, QTE | |
| Choice 4, QTE | |
| Interact with an object,
Move head of character |
  |
| Move Character | |
| Pause Menu,
Pathway viewer |
  |
| Mission Screen |
PC controls are the same but are recommended with a controller, will work with both PS4, Xbox, the Dualsense and Xbox Series X|S controllers.
Gameplay News[]
Confirmed Cast[]
The Cast was revealed on SEGA's Twitter on the 11th of April. The cast replaced the current actors for Sega's latest title; Team Sonic Racing, except for Bryce Papenbrook, Mike Pollock, Colleen O'Shaughnessey and Keith Silverstein.
NOTE: The Characters are depicted as 18 Years of age or older.
| Voice Actor Name | Character |
|---|---|
| Brett Dalton | Knuckles the Echidna |
| Shawn Ashmore | Sonic the Hedgehog |
| Arielle Palik | Amy Rose |
| Alesia Glidewell | Rouge the Bat |
| Matthew Mercer | Shadow the Hedgehog |
| Jensen Ackles | Espio the Chameleon |
| Bryce Papenbrook | Silver the Hedgehog |
Some of the character movements were motioned captured by the cast themselves.
Trophies[]
This is a list of the 24 Trophies that can be unlocked during the game.
| Name | Description | Trophy Type |
|---|---|---|
| The Story ends here! | Collect all Trophies (Gold, Silver and Bronze) | Platinum |
| Phantom Cases | The group found all 50 collectibles | Gold |
| The Lucky 7 | Finished the game with everybody surviving | Gold |
| Boom! The END! | Finished the game with no survivors | Gold |
| Rockin' and Rollin' | All the males survived | Gold |
| Not The Best Girls Night Out | All the females survived | Gold |
| Last of his kind | Knuckles is the Sole Survivor | Gold |
| Like A Maze | Sonic and Shadow escape The Death Egg safely | Silver |
| Unbroken | Shadow escapes his nightmare | Silver |
| Gotta Go Fast! | Complete 10 Quick Time Events successfully | Silver |
| Stop The Clock | Sonic and Shadow plant the bomb but don't escape before the bomb explodes | Silver |
| Green Hell | Sonic manages to travel through Green Hill and survive | Silver |
| Remnants | Amy and Shadow find all remnants of Sonic | Silver |
| Silver Lining | Complete all QTE's when playing as Silver in Chapter 4 | Silver |
| Cool it, Ames | Sonic and Amy's relationship peaked | Bronze |
| Nice All Night Long | Shadow remains nice to each character | Bronze |
| Survival | Espio survives in Chapter 4 (if Silver escapes) | Bronze |
| A Real Gentleman | Unlock Knuckles' Charming trait. | Bronze |
| Sweet Tooth | Unlock Amy's Sweet trait | Bronze |
| Very Caring of You | Unlock Shadow's Caring trait | Bronze |
| Not Worth It | Unlock Sonic's Cocky trait | Bronze |
| I'm a realist? | Unlock Silver's Sarcastic trait | Bronze |
| Fierce Chameleon | Unlock Espio's Fierce trait | Bronze |
| Back With The Classics | Complete the Classic Sonic flashback during Chapter 6 | Bronze |
Voice Cast Promotional material[]
A bunch of promotional material involving the newly revealed cast were released every 11th of every month after revealing the 2019 reveal trailer, representing the 7 Voice Actors. Before each character was revealed, a silhouette version of the cast was shown by Dark Sonic Media. On the 11th of each month before the game's title was revealed, the silhouette version of said actors/actresses were replaced by the image, revealing the actor/actress.
- 11 May 2019 - Brett Dalton as Knuckles
- 11 June 2019 - Arielle Plaik as Amy Rose
- 11 August 2019 - Alesia Glidewell as Rouge
- 11 September 2019 - Matthew Mercer as Shadow
- 11 January 2020 - Jensen Ackles as Espio
- 11 February 2020 - Bryce Papenbrook as Silver
- 11 March 2020 - Shawn Ashmore as Sonic.
Endings[]
There a total of 6 endings in Sonic Forces: Retold
Ending 1: Either Sonic, Shadow, Amy or Silver will kill the monster by making a giant robot fire a laser in between the Resistance HQ building, killing the monster inside. Everyone will look up at the building and will see two helicopters, ready to pick them up. If they all survive, they will acknowledge the character who saved them. (Either Amy, Shadow, Sonic or Silver)
Ending 2: If only Sonic survives, Sonic will begin to tear up and will acknowledge the fact that everyone is dead. However, if only Shadow and Silver survive, Shadow will blame himself for not saving everyone and will try to commit suicide, however, Silver will sit next to him and forgive Shadow for trying his best.
Ending 3: if Everyone dies, besides Silver. Silver will stay locked up in a cell in the underground area where they monster is. He will then lose his sanity and turn into a monster.
Ending 4: If Everyone survives, they will be picked up by the helicopters and be taken in for questioning.
Ending 5: If Everyone dies during the end chapter of the game, the monster will take them to its underground area and will leave them to rot.
Ending 6: if the Player has found all 50 secrets, Shadow will give the photo of the monster to one of the soldiers and will tell them; "This is what was trying' to kill us. Do NOT, and I mean, DO NOT, try and go there by yourself. You'll be very unlucky."
After Credits scene[]
After the credits roll, the scene will show the military soldiers going down to the underground area of the monster and will see some of the character bodies hanging up on hooks (if they die). They will see the monster and the monster will attack the soldiers. This will then show a trailer for the next Sonic game in the Retold series.
Editions[]
There are Two Editions that players can choose and purchase from SEGA's Website.
Standard Edition[]
Includes either a PC, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5 version of the game. Players can choose which console they play on.
Collector's Edition[]
- Includes either a PC, PS4,Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5 version of the game in which players can choose from.
- A Sonic the Hedgehog or Knuckles the Echidna Figurine (Customers can choose)
- A code to download a digital version of the soundtrack
- A code to download a theme/PC Wallpaper*
- A Master Emerald Pin and a Phantom Ruby pin
- Collector's Box
*PC Wallpaper can be downloaded from Steam when code is activated. Same with the PS4 version. Xbox One theme not available unless customized.
Trivia[]
- Charmy and Rouge are the only characters who is not playable in the game.
- Knuckles was the first character to be revealed with a new voice actor; Brett Dalton.
- Metal Sonic was the first villain to be revealed but is never shown to be a villain.
- Shawn Ashmore was the voice over in the 2019 reveal trailer.
- The total amount of Gigabytes the games was originally was going to be at least 2.5 GB for both XBOX1 and PS4 but SEGA wanted the game to be a reasonable amount of Gigabytes for the game to run on all consoles.
- The game was never planned to be released on PC.
- Sonic was not playable in the game in early development. He was originally going to die and there was nothing the player could do to save him. However, the developers changed the idea and made Sonic playable.
- Knuckles is the first playable character in the game.
- The cast has changed entirely and will have this new cast in future Sonic games except for Mike Pollock, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Bryce Papenbook, Keith Silverstein, after Team Sonic Racing. However, Espio's current Voice Actor Matthew Mercer was replaced by Jensen Ackles and was swapped over to Shadow, replacing Kirk Thornton.
- This is the last Sonic game on 8th Generation consoles to be published by SEGA.