This past week, a firsthand look at Sonic's newest game, Sonic Frontiers, was revealed, courtesy of a demo review from IGN. The developers aim for this to be a true effort to bring the Blue Blur to his first legitimate open world experience since the disastrous Sonic the Hedgehog released in 2006 (colloquially known as "Sonic 06").

After the demo, which is still reported to be an early build, the reception across the internet seemed to be cautioned optimism mixed with concern about the state of the gameplay. Despite this being an "early build", its release date is still slated for 2022, so I speculate a projected 4Q launch. The community has taken to twitter to voice their concerns about the quality of the demo, with the hashtag #DelaySonicFrontiers.

#DelaySonicFrontiers
My man is literally standing midair pic.twitter.com/QWrCzrljk3

— Splatfoot 2 (Penini) (@2Splatfoot) June 4, 2022

This looks like ASS.

stiff and clunky as fuck. This is Boom levels of incomplete.

This is embarrassing. How is Sonic Team this incompetent?

Why did they feel this was ready to show off? it looks like a tech demo or a fan game.

Please #DelaySonicFrontiers https://t.co/LIOVaBHUI5

— Matches Malone (@cell_0801) June 3, 2022

Sega, from your fans that love this series dearly, please #DelaySonicFrontiers.

We don't need to play the game this year. Please, focus on making this game the best it can be.

Instead of doing this practice that nearly killed the franchise.

Twice. pic.twitter.com/CYe91jWAex

— Collin LW (@CLWenter) June 2, 2022

While the success of Sonic in the theaters have breathed new life into the Sonic franchise for a current and recent generation of fans, it goes without saying that it's been more than a rather rough road for Sonic over the years in the world of video games. Sonic Mania may have been critically approved, that was a fan-made project that received the greenlight once Sega saw its promise.

In-house, it always feels like the team has little to no vision for what to do with Sonic from a gameplay perspective. Sonic Frontiers certainly looks like its trying to breathe new life in how a 3D Sonic game should work by adding some depth and variables in his combat, along with the massive boss battles. It's hard to shake some doubts about it that are in tow with its promise. Fans just don't want this to end up crashing and burning.

What are your thoughts on what you've seen from Sonic Frontiers?