Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition

Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition gave me a better version of a game I already thought had interesting ideas, but it also reminded me why this release still feels hard to fully embrace. After spending enough time with it on Nintendo Switch 2, I came away thinking that the core experience is stronger than its reputation suggests, while the package itself remains uneven in ways that are hard to ignore. It is more playable, more complete, and more comfortable in handheld form than the old Switch version, yet I still found myself bumping into compromises that keep it from feeling truly definitive.

Open-zone Sonic finally gets room to breathe

What stood out to me first was how much Frontiers benefits from simply letting Sonic move through space with fewer interruptions. I enjoyed the basic rhythm of sprinting across islands, chaining jumps into rails, and turning a rough route into something that felt almost improvised. In my time with it, I often found the game at its best when I was exploring on my own terms, spotting a challenge in the distance and deciding whether to detour for it or keep momentum going. That sense of self-directed flow is still the game’s biggest strength.

I also found the controls to be one of the more reassuring parts of the package. Sonic feels responsive, the speed fantasy lands more often than not, and the game gives me enough freedom to make movement feel expressive rather than merely functional. When I was in the zone, the platforming clicked in a way that made me appreciate how ambitious this structure is for the series. I could feel the game trying to be more than a string of levels, and I liked that ambition even when the execution wobbled.

Combat, on the other hand, remained the area where I felt the most friction. I didn’t hate it, but I rarely found it as satisfying as the traversal. Some encounters dragged longer than I wanted, and the repeated loop of clearing threats before moving on occasionally interrupted the momentum I had built. I appreciated the variety in what the game asks me to do, but I also noticed how often the action leans on repetition instead of escalation.

Progression and content: complete, but not transformed

This edition does a good job of making the package feel full right away. I liked having the additional campaign material and update content included from the start, because it meant I could focus on the game rather than on what was missing. For someone coming in fresh, that completeness matters. It gives the release more substance than a bare-bones port and makes the overall structure easier to recommend than the original Switch release ever was.

That said, I never felt like the added material fundamentally reimagined the experience. It improves the value proposition more than the design itself. I could appreciate the extra content as part of a more rounded package, but I still saw the same broad shape underneath: a game with strong movement, broad ideas, and stretches that feel a little too empty for their own good. The progression systems do enough to keep me moving, yet they rarely surprised me in a major way.

I also noticed that the pacing can be inconsistent. Some stretches pulled me forward nicely, while others felt like they were asking me to linger in spaces that didn’t have enough going on. That unevenness matters because Frontiers depends so much on momentum. When the game is feeding me new routes, new tasks, or a fresh sense of discovery, I’m engaged. When it isn’t, I become much more aware of the repetition.

Presentation on Switch 2: a major improvement, but still compromised

On Switch 2, this is clearly a better handheld experience than the old version. I noticed cleaner performance, less distraction from the worst technical problems, and a general sense that the game finally has enough headroom to let its ideas breathe. Playing it in portable mode made that improvement especially obvious to me, because I could stay immersed longer without constantly being pulled out by the system struggling to keep up.

Even so, I still saw enough rough edges to temper my enthusiasm. Pop-in remains visible, some areas still feel sparse, and the visual presentation doesn’t always match the scale the game seems to want. I also felt that the two display/performance approaches each come with trade-offs that are hard to ignore. Instead of one clean solution, I ended up choosing between different kinds of compromise, and that is not what I want from a release carrying this label.

That is the central tension of this edition for me: it is better, but not cleanly better. I could feel the upgrade over the old Switch version, and I appreciated it, but I never stopped noticing the gaps between the game’s ambition and its final polish. The result is a version that finally functions well enough for the design to matter, yet still leaves room for disappointment.

My verdict

I came away respecting Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition more than I expected to. I liked the movement, I liked the freedom, and I liked having the fuller package on a handheld that can actually support it. But I also spent enough time with it to know that the rough edges are not minor footnotes; they are part of the experience. For me, that makes this a worthwhile but imperfect return to a game that still feels one step away from greatness.

If you have never played Frontiers and want it on Switch 2, this is a reasonable place to start. If you already know the game, the improvements are real but not transformative. I finished my time with it thinking the same thing I kept thinking throughout: there is a very good Sonic game in here, but this edition still doesn’t quite let it shine as brightly as it should.