You can never have too much Sonic the Hedgehog. At least, that’s what the 2024 release calendar seems to indicate, with a star-studded film and a nostalgic remaster launching within a few short months of each other. While we haven’t yet wrangled a front-row seat to Keanu Reeves’ hedgehog debut, we did go hands-on with Sonic X Shadow Generations at Gamescom 2024, revisiting beloved levels and bosses from previous entries in the series.
Being the blue blur
First off, I jumped into the Sonic Generations side of the demo, tackling the memorable Green Hill and Chemical Plant Zones. Sonic X Shadow Generations reanimates the vibrant visuals while maintaining the original essence, ultimately delivering a fresh but familiar feel. I had forgotten how meditative it can be to bounce between enemies and speed around loop-de-loops as the iconic blue blur. Through pastoral knolls and industrial highrises, I thoroughly enjoyed launching off of bounce pads and Akira-sliding under obstacles in search of more precious golden rings and elusive high scores.
Once I’d exhausted my time with Sonic (and bagged a few S-tier runs), I switched over to Shadow Generations, the entirely new section of this nostalgic bundle pack. Visiting Kingdom Valley from Sonic ‘06 and Space Colony Ark from Sonic Adventure 2, I put Sega’s resident bad boy through his platforming paces.
Mossy ruins and mechanical pumps set the moody tone, the environmental dressing coordinating carefully with Shadow’s visual aesthetics. Sharp electric bursts and neon warps telegraphed his gnarly movement, elevating the core gameplay loop of boosts and enemy targeting. Shadow’s moment-to-moment platforming mirrored Sonic’s almost exactly, but he can also wield a series of character-specific powers that diversify his moveset, and nod towards the dark hedgehog’s tumultuous past.
Controlling the chaos
Perhaps the most valuable skill in Shadow’s arsenal is Chaos Control, which allows him to freeze time and redirect his movement or get the upper hand on a group of enemies. Shadow also boasts a suite of transformative Doom Powers that bolster his combat and platforming abilities, and provide solutions to environmental trepidation, like dangerous liquid surfaces. The gooey, Venom-esque uppercuts of Doom Blast stood out as a clear favorite. I never found myself overwhelmed by the difficulty in Shadow Generations, but the additional abilities allowed for more creativity in my platforming and certainly encouraged me to replay the stages in search of new paths.
Where Shadow’s Chaos powers pull from the notorious and eponymous emeralds, the Doom powers are drawn from The Ultimate Life Form’s vaguely biological parent, Black Doom, who first appeared in the extraordinarily edgy spinoff, 2005’s Shadow the Hedgehog. Black Doom will be the antagonist in Shadow Generations too, popping up during levels to taunt the antihero through space and time.
A safe but solid package, Sonic X Shadow Generations offers updated looks and extra moveset theatrics, but it’s not so concerned with revitalizing the gameplay formula that fans will already be overly familiar with. There’s a lot to love here if you’re a Shadow the Hedgehog fan, though – and if you’re yet to dive into Sonic Generations, that’s a formidable chunk of top-tier platforming content to get lost in that hasn’t aged at all since its original 2011 release date.
Either way, you’ve not got long to wait to embrace your inner edgelord. Shadow X Sonic Generations launches on October 25 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.