Sonic Frontiers is adding 4 playable characters, new modes and more in 2023

Sega has unveiled what the future of Sonic Frontiers will look like across three updates arriving next year.

They'll all be free and vary from small features to entirely new story and playable characters. The first update will introduce a jukebox and photo mode, which hopefully lets you constantly jam out to One Ok Rock while snapping all your action shots. It'll also include new challenge modes, though bar a few vague screenshots there isn't any more info on what those will be.

The second update will celebrate Sonic's birthday. This is the first time I'm learning that the blue blur has a birthday, which according to Google is June 23. I assume that'll be around when we can expect this update to arrive. It'll also add more open zone challenges and new Koco to find, which should let Sonic further increase his speed or maximum ring count. As if the little fella wasn't already fast enough.

By far the biggest and most exciting update is the final one, likely due to arrive in the latter half of 2023. There'll be brand-new story and new playable characters to dash around with. It'll be the first time in a hot sec that Knuckles, Tails and Amy will be playable in a Sonic game, and new addition Sage will be a part of the roster too.

It seems like Sega has big plans for Sonic Frontiers, and hopefully these major updates will go towards making the game a little less divisive. I didn't have the best time when I previewed it at Gamescom, while Daniella Lucas found it "messy, overcomplicated and slow to start" in her Sonic Frontiers review, despite having fun with the game overall. It resonated with a lot of new and returning Sonic players though, and was even determined to be better than Elden Ring according to user review averages.