GAMINGbible GOTY: Why Sonic X Shadow Generations is Sam's Game Of The Year

It’s Game Of The Year time, and while the nominees are already decided I still believe Sonic X Shadow Generations is my 2024 GOTY, and here’s why.

As a lifelong Sonic fan who started his journey into the franchise around the Nintendo GameCube era, the 3D games have a special place in my heart. When I got my GameCube I was given three Sonic games to go with it, Sonic Gems Collection, Sonic Heroes and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, my favourite out of them all. Fast-forward to 2024 and we finally have a game I’d consider to be a worthy successor to it, Sonic X Shadow Generations.

Check out Sonic X Shadow Generations below

Now I’ve already reviewed the game for GAMINGbible so rather than talk at length about the story, gameplay, soundtrack etc all over again let me jump straight to why Sonic X Shadow Generations is my Game Of The Year rather than other 2024 releases like Metaphor ReFantazio or Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth.

In short, it’s my Game Of The Year because it gave one of my favourite characters in gaming the redemption he’s been needing for years at this point.

I’ve been a Shadow The Hedgehog stan ever since he first emerged from his cryo-pod in Sonic Adventure 2, and was enamoured with his story, personality and character arc. My love for the character continued when he found friends in Rouge The Bat and E-123 Omega in Sonic Heroes, discovered his true identity in Shadow The Hedgehog (2005) and vowed to always fight for peace in Sonic The Hedgehog (2006). I adore this character, and I hated how he regressed in future games as SEGA leaned into the edgy, angsty teen vibe many fans attributed to him.

Fortunately Shadow Generations didn’t have that problem. In fact I’d go so far as to say this is the best writing we’ve had in the franchise since Sonic ‘06. It was a deep dive into his history and motivations, presenting Shadow with ghosts from his past and forcing him to reflect on the monster that dwelled inside him. During gameplay Shadow was regularly teleported to Radical Highway, his debut level, and I’ve seen a popular fan theory that this was Black Doom’s attempts to remind him of the chaotic, rage-fueled speed demon he used to be. Of course he doesn’t succumb to his dark urges as Maria is on-hand to remind him of his purpose in life, and we get a bitter-sweet ending of him once again leaving the past behind him, the good and the bad.

SEGA

It mirrored Sonic Frontiers’ more mature tone, and I think the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise works best when you can balance these bizarre, larger-than-life characters with genuine life lessons. Humor always has a place in a story about hedgehogs that move faster than light but it doesn’t have to be the be all and end all, there can be levity and gravity in the same story.

Not to mention the level design is peak in almost every conceivable way. The game used the same engine as Sonic Frontiers, which was fun in free roam but I feel suffered when it came to actual level design. Shadow Generations gave us some of the best levels we’ve seen so far and I hope SEGA has noted our praise and uses it for future games.

Sonic X Shadow Generations was a dream come true. The Year Of Shadow started as a way of marketing the upcoming third live-action film, but it blossomed into a true celebration of a character so many people get wrong. Sonic X Shadow Generations is a testament to what good writing can do for a Sonic game, and in my opinion it’s criminal it didn’t get more nominations for The Game Awards.