Sonic Frontiers Shows Combat, Skill Tree

gamerant.com:

A new gameplay trailer for Sonic Frontiers introduces Sonic's skill tree, which players can use to unlock powerful new abilities to take into combat. Sega has spent much of its time marketing Sonic Frontiers up to now showcasing the open-world game's setting. This latest trailer, however, delves into the heart of Sonic Frontiers' gameplay. It focuses on combat, Sonic's attacks, and combat progression, for a depth of gameplay rare to see in a Sonic video game.

Many of the early criticisms of Sonic Frontiers revolved around the emptiness of its world and the lack of action. This trailer seems to be targeted at that criticism. It's full of a diverse range of enemies, big and small, and each requiring different strategies to combat. Enemies that Sonic has a difficult time with early on will become easier targets later when Sonic unlocks more powerful abilities.

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The trailer breaks Sonic's abilities into two groups. The first group of abilities is what Sonic has baseline. These are attacks Sonic will have to start the game. The first that the trailer shows will be familiar to fans of 3D Sonic games. It's the Homing Attack, and lets Sonic fly straight at enemies while he's mid-air. Other standard abilities include the Drop Dash and Stomp, which let Sonic drop and roll and drop to do damage, respectively.

Leveling up will allow Sonic to progress through a skill tree unlocking a variety of other powerful abilities. Sonic will have to find Red Seeds of Power and Blue Seeds of Defense as currency for his unlocks. After filling his combo meter, Sonic can cast Phantom Rush to deliver a quick burst of damage. Sonic's next ability is Sonic Boom, which allows Sonic to kick a