Analyzing Some Sonic Frontiers 2 Leaks
7 Dec, 2025
I already know what you're going to say. "Leak analysis? Already? Aren't you just ruining the fun for yourself? We don't even know for sure whether the next mainline Sonic game is getting announced at the Game Awards yet!"
Just... let me have this, please. As a Deltarune fan and someone who followed Smash Ultimate's hype cycle pretty religiously, my long-dormant fandom psychosis has needed an outlet.
Leaks are a contentious topic in Sonic fan circles. Especially after so many details about Frontiers were correctly revealed through the odd 4Chan leak throughout 2020 and 2021, many are burned on the very concept. All the fun is had in the official reveals nowadays, so taking those moments away from yourself is often seen as juvenile, impatient, and short-sighted. I've gotten myself in such a deep analysis of Sonic Team lately, though, so at this point I am totally fine with hardcore speculation up to and including leaks and rumors.
It should go without saying, then, that this post will discuss Sonic Frontiers 2 leaks. If you do not want to indulge in those, then it would be best for you to skip this post, perhaps until an official trailer drops or the game fully releases (whatever its title will be). I personally consider "leaks" and "spoilers" to be two different things that deserve different reactions to being shared publicly pre-release, but if you don't then I absolutely understand. I'll try to cover every leak that's gained any traction, but there's no guarantee that I'll find everything. I do want this to be a place where people can go back to and find every major leak, in theory, but I'll probably miss something. And, of course, please take everything that you see here with a massive grain of salt until something official is shown.
With that said, let's begin.
Leaks from 4Chan
Leak #1
Like all good gaming leaks, we begin our journey through Frontiers 2's development on the cesspool known as 4Chan. One of the first known leaks for what I will henceforth refer to as "Sonic Frontiers 2" popped up in July of 2024 and had quite a lot to reveal about the upcoming game, far off from its supposed release date.
Leak describing increased dev team size, current-gen-exclusive release, and early gameplay implementations for Frontiers 2.
This leak describes what appears to be a very early version of a game that was built using the original Frontiers as a base. It is to be expected, then, that a lot of the systems and features from that game remain intact here, as is described. If the leak is to be believed, the game in its described state will have been in full development for about 10 months. This means that while Frontiers' DNA should show through, some significant changes should be expected. That's what we see here - most notably, the leak describes one large open-zone being the setting of the game. This should ring a bell to any Shadow Generations players, as that game was structured around one open zone that got bigger as the game progressed. Perhaps this game was used to test out this new iteration of the open-zone formula for Frontiers 2.
Cyberspace gets a name-drop here too. With later leaks, there's reason to believe that this does refer to the same Cyberspace concept that was seen in Frontiers. At the time this leak came out, however, I was convinced that this name was used to describe Action Stages more generally, like how they were integrated into the hub worlds of Adventure. I do believe that traditional Action Stages were implemented well in Frontiers, so if they are to return in the future I would certainly welcome them. Design philosophy following in the footsteps of The Final Horizon makes sense as well, because Shadow Gens also takes cues from that DLC's Cyberspace stages. This is especially evident when looking at stages like Space Colony ARK Act 1, or either act of Radical Highway. Platforms are spread out, with multiple intertwining pathways scattered about in a free-form manner. This leaves level traversal mostly up to the player in the sense that they can move between pathways as they choose in many cases. I love that aspect of player expression myself.
The last thing to take note of about the game itself from this post is the existence of NPCs and villages. The Sonic franchise hasn't seen inhabited playable areas since Unleashed with its hub worlds and parts of certain Action Stages, so it would be very exciting to see how Sonic Team would go about implementing these into an open zone. All of these details were very early on, of course, so I would assume that everything described here would be either dramatically different or maybe even nonexistent in the final release or in future builds.
Leak #2
About two months later, another leak surfaced which seems to corroborate multiple claims made by Leak #1.
Leak describing aspects of Frontiers 2 including movement, overworld, staff members and the like.
Here is where we get the first reference to the supposed name of the new setting: Summit Spire. We'll see this one pop up a few more times, so it would be unsurprising to see this detail become confirmed. I like the name, personally; I'm a sucker for alliteration, and "Spire" isn't a word you see get thrown around very often. Also of note is the detail that Summit Spire floats due to a "digitized" Master Emerald. While a throwaway detail at first glance, the persistent use of what appears to be the Master Emerald in what little 35th Anniversary branding we've seen thus far lends some credibility to this leak. This leak also agrees with the idea of "one large island," Kishimoto returning to direct, and the existence of populated villages. We also have the leaker saying "I know for a fact that Cyberspace is in the game," which suggests that Leak #1 may be correct in referring to the Action Stages as such.
Astute readers may also have noticed in Leak #1 that the quote "conserving momentum is key" suggests a diminished or nonexistent Boost function, and a return to more Adventure-style movement. I didn't mention it before because this leak makes a point to mention momentum as its own bullet-point, suggesting that it may be more central to the game than the first leaker thought. I surmise that each leaker experienced the same demo, but know different amounts about the franchise and fandom discourse. It is also important to note that fake leaks are often manufactured to appeal to fandom talking points, while infusing personal hopes of the leaker where it makes sense to do so in order to generate buzz. Furthermore, fake leaks often closely follow franchise news, trademark filings, or other recent leaks in order to increase perceived credibility. Just because two leaks from two different people seem to agree on certain details does not make those details any more believable.
That said, I think these leaks and the details they share are likely to be genuine based on future leaks that released closer to the time of writing. New to this leak are the revelations that Cyberspace portals will be "underground," and that the Unleashed director as well as Colors/Gens designers are returning in design roles. These details are a bit more flimsy, but considering that the Generations level designers supposedly returned to help with Shadow Generations I wouldn't rule them out entirely. You may think that I'm quick to believe every leak I see since I haven't called bullshit on anything major quite yet, but fear not, because the next leak is a bit fishy.
Leak #3
In the same month as the previous leak, the following post made its way to 4Chan. It made quite a stir on multiple discussion sites including Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit. Below is the first part of the leak, which discusses only Frontiers 2.
Leak describing the number of Cyberspace stages, multiple playable characters, and post-launch plans for Frontiers 2.
The post goes on to describe endgame aspects of the then-upcoming Shadow Generations, a future remaster of Sonic Unleashed, and ground-up remakes of Sonic Heroes and the Adventure duology, as well as a true sequel to Sonic Mania helmed by Evening Star. These plans extend to as far as 2036-37. Now, I don't think I need to tell you why the purported Unleashed, Heroes and Adventure projects are completely bullshit, and I don't think I need to tell you that the supposed endgame details of Shadow Generations were straight-up incorrect. There was no final story added to the Sonic Generations remaster, obviously, and we all know that now. What I will elaborate on, however, are my thoughts on why even the Frontiers 2 details shared here are completely disposable. In other words, this leak is not at all believable.
The biggest red flag to take note of here is the fact that the dev team supposedly doesn't know what the post-credits scene for the Sonic 3 movie is at this point in time. It's been almost a year, so I trust that you know it served as the reveal for both Amy Rose and Metal Sonic joining the Sonic "movie-verse." This user probably wrote this into the leak because, at the time, they didn't know what the post-credits scene was - how could they, after all? The movie wouldn't come out for another two months! Well, in an interview with The Sonic Stadium before the launch of Sonic X Shadow Gens, series director Takashi Iizuka mentions that the team wanted a game to tie into the release of Movie 3 that highlighted Shadow. This game began development sometime during the development of Frontiers, which released in November 2022. Because Movie 2, whose own post-credits scene was the initial tease for Shadow leading into Movie 3, released in April of 2022 it can be inferred with high confidence that the devs of Shadow Gens were in on the secret before the public was. The same logic applies to Movie 3's post-credits.
The next red flag is a bit more subtle. How would someone with this little knowledge on plans of the game know exactly how many Action Stages will be in the final product? Not only that, but how do they know how many will be 3-D and how many will be 2-D? Finally, how do they know that the multiple playable characters will have their own sets of Action Stages, and the numbers of each of these, too? It seems to me like the number of stages in the final game would be a known detail at a point in time later into the game's development than Frontiers 2 was at this time, if the previous two leaks are to be at all believed. Their numbers don't even add up to a sound result, either; they claim that "a few less than what was in Frontiers" were planned. 18 Sonic stages and three sets of 4 "amigo" stages adds up to a clean 30 - the exact same number of Cyberspace stages as Frontiers had at launch.
The final nail in the coffin for this leak is the fact that almost all of the other information presented was already covered in previous leaks. One giant island, return of Cyberspace, 2026-27 release, Kishimoto as director and the doubled dev team size are details from Leak #1, while the name "Summit Spire" comes from Leak #2. In addition, the phrasing of the quote "It's not on top of any island, it's Angel Island" is very confusing and contradicts information from previous leaks otherwise corroborated by this one. It even contradicts itself: two lines before this quote it is mentioned that Summit Spire is "kinda like Angel Island." So... which is it? Is Summit Spire actually Angel Island or not?
The only, and I do mean the only, part of this leak that I think is new and correct information is the existence of multiple playable characters that are not Sonic. I'll chalk it up to a lucky guess, but it's a safe bet to make considering the positive reception by fans and critics to The Final Horizon bringing back the other three members of the DreamKAST (Knuckles, Amy, Sonic, Tails... KAST... ahh, I love that name for them). Shadow Gens also brings back the titular edge-hog as a fifth distinct playstyle to go along with the existing four from TFH, so they have the framework to port five entire movesets into the next game wholesale and with little hassle. Why do I believe this and nothing else new from this leak? I'll be honest here, it's mostly because this is the one detail that future leaks can agree with.
Leak #4
This is a big one. After many months of silence on the mesasge boards, one supposed beta tester comes out in March of 2025 with an account of a playtest for the next 3D Sonic game dating back to July 2024. The leaker claims to not be that much of a Sonic fan, sharing details of a game that they assume got cancelled due to a lack of an announcement by the time they made their post. The only picture I can find of the leak is from Reddit, and it is very wide, so if you want a more readable image I would suggest reading it here.
Leak describing a Sonic playtest taking place in a steampunk-inspired city, as well as a new ability dubbed the Bullet Blitz.
Avid followers of Frontiers 2 leaks may recognize this as the "Sonic Jiyu leak," which gained quite a lot of attention when it was posted. Perhaps "Jiyu" is the internal name of the game, as was "Rangers" for Frontiers, but I doubt it personally. The setting is immediately noteworthy, especially at the time of writing, and that's for one simple reason: Steampunk City. Well... the Crossworld track from the recent Sonic Racing game of the same name, that is. Most notably, this leak was posted before we knew much of anything about Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. I still remember when Steampunk City was revealed. The fanbase went into an organized panic: everything from this leak was legit! We're getting a steampunk location in the next mainline Sonic game! The Bullet Blitz exists! WENTOS IS REAL! With the benefit of hindsight, however, we can see that not quite everything adds up here.
I think that the mechanics of the Bullet Dash and Bullet Blitz the leaker describes are likely to be real, based on some extra information I'll touch on later. Even Leak #2 references a similar ability, called the "Surge" in that leak. I doubt that these names are final, though, or if they were ever used at all. This is because right before this leak came out, Sega registered "Sonic Blitz" as a game trademark. This caused quite the stir initially, but now we know that Sonic Blitz turned out to be a mobile trading-card battling game. These names were probably invented by the leaker to generate some traction, if I had to guess.
The follow-up post which appears below the main post and a snarky comment from another user is likely bogus, though. The first two lines very clearly allude to specific aspects of past Sonic games. Any long-time Sonic fan could tell you that the "creepy NPC" the user describes is none other than the shy-but-friendly travelling salesman Wentos from Sonic Unleashed. Wentos is not the most well-known character, however, because you never even have to talk to him to beat that game. His described behavior of being talked to, then disappearing, also mimics how he behaves in Unleashed when you first meet him. I doubt, then, that this leaker really doesn't know much about Sonic. This leaker may be a big fan of the series injecting some personal wishes into an otherwise legitimate leak, because the existence of a steampunk biome being reported before the reveal of a similar locale in an official Sonic game can't be a mere coincidence.
The next line after the Wentos allusion referes to an egg with a purpose that isn't known to the leaker. Forget "any longtime Sonic fan" - anyone who knows about the Chao at all knows about the Chao Garden. This group includes this leaker, as they name-drop Chao in the previous line. Chao hatch from eggs in this long-lost mode from the Adventure games, and everyone who knows about the Chao Garden knows this too. Once again I ask - how does this person not know much of anything about the series if they spotlight such a niche NPC returning from such a historically divisive Sonic game as Unleashed, and then go on to be confused about the purpose of a carryable egg in a Sonic game? None of this makes sense. That aside, if eggs such as this do exist in Frontiers 2 they most certainly aren't tied to any Chao Garden. This is simply because Iizuka has gone on record to say that the Chao Garden will not return in any future mainline games that don't have the word "Adventure" in the title, as he holds that the Chao Garden is a facet of exclusively the Adventure formula (this belief and rationale is stupid for a lot of different rasons, in my opinion, but I digress).
As I mentioned earlier, I think the rest of this leak is relatively trustworthy, but not for very exciting reasons. The existence of overworld missions, a speedometer on the HUD, and EXP that can be used to upgrade skills and edit stats are all very safe bets to make for the next game. Frontiers had all of these features already, so why not carry them over to the next game? It's a similar story to the alleged playable characters in Leak #3. Overall, while definitely confusing and contradictory, this leak may actually be onto something.
Leak #5
Just four days after Leak #4 was posted, another user came out with an account of a very similar playtest they took part in around January 2025. The game as described by this leak would have been in development for a few more months than as described by the previous leak, so perhaps more features will have been added by this time? Here's what Leaker #5 had to say:
Leak describing movement mechanics, combat aspects, world design, and playtest drama for Frontiers 2.
This may be one of my personal favorite leaks to read, mostly because of the story at the bottom. If this really happened, I would pay money to see it. It sounds hilarious! Taking a step back, however, we should acknowledge that this leak loses some credibility due to being a very clearly reactionary piece. Four days between major leaks is not a long time, so it is entirely possible that this person is not a playtester, and saw an opportunity to stir the pot with their own ideas, hopes, and dreams. I've mentioned this possibility or something like it multiple times by now, so I'll forego the repeated warnings in the future and ask that you just keep this in the back of your brain for future leaks.
The content of the post itself that's relevant to our purposes is interesting to think about, though. Despite the small amount of text here, we get a lot of details to mull over. Action Stages accessed by activating terminals/portals in the Open Zone finally make another appearance. The last time we heard of Cyberspace was back in Leak #2, but it was also mentioned in Leak #1. New to this leak, however, is the detail that to enter Action Stages requires maintaining high speed for a certain period of time. This immediately reminds me of how time travel worked in Sonic CD (keep this game in mind for later). Stages are described to play "similarly" to Cyberspace, but with unique environment themes and the return of the Rocket Boost from The Final Horizon. This detail tells me that this leaker is perhaps quite the Sonic fan. This detail, combined with the quote "conserving momentum is key" from Leak #1, makes me think that movement itself will be a central focus of development for Frontiers 2 if the parts that I believe from these leaks are accurate. The very concept of such a game is enticing...
The details about combat mentioned here perplex me. The "bullet dash" name reurns here from Leak #4, but it supposedly serves a different function than what Leaker #4 claimed. Perhaps the pseudo-Boost described previously is used to knock down enemies at low health? Or maybe this move changes function in different contexts? In addition, once you can Bullet Dash into an enemy to "send them flying," why would you want to? If such a blow is nonlethal, you would just have to run after it to finish it off, and that sounds quite annoying! I would imagine that simply continuing to wail on an opponent would prove to be more effective. Lastly for combat, I do believe that an enemy could exist which chases you down until one of itself or Sonic dies - again, such an enemy also exists in Frontiers, namely Ghost.
The last detail of note about the game itself is the comment on the "open-world design" leaning more SMO and less BOTW. If this statement referes to the feel of the open-zone level design, I can only half-understand what they're saying. Frontiers already felt like it had a very similar gameplay loop to SMO, which entails: running around multiple open zones, collecting many different MacGuffins to progress, and doing so in a highly nonlinear fashion by using movement mechanics to traverse the landscape in unique ways. If, however, they refer to the art direction of the environments, then I'm on board. Frontiers' environments largely take after the Hyrule Fields, Gerudo Desert, and Death Mountain biomes of BOTW, with certain pocket biomes existing like the oasis on Ares Island or the icy mountaintops of Chaos Island. I would absolutely LOVE to see mainline Sonic have more fantastical environments again, akin to the original locations from Heroes or even Forces. CrossWorlds' original locations also tap into this surreal aura a little bit, too, so there's reason to believe in this detail.
The potential game titles that this leaker mentions don't particularly catch my eye. 3D Sonic hasn't had a numbered sequel since Adventure 2 in 2001, the game has nothing to do with the Starfall Islands (from what leaks have shared so far, that is), and Sonic Chaos and Sonic Blitz are game titles that already exist, so none of these names are likely to be real in my opinion. In addition, Sonic Warrior and Sonic Colossus seem... generic? Bland? I'm not sure, I just don't think that Sonic Team would use these. The only one I can see being realistic is Sonic Freedom, but even then that name is generic too. But, hey, what do I know - they called a game Sonic Colors and another game Sonic Lost World, after all.
Leak #6
Almost 8 months passed before the next signs of life from 4Chan. In October of 2025, perhaps the most interesting leak so far hit the boards. It's not an interesting leak for a great reason, though.
Leak describing a version of Frontiers 2 which is largely unchanged on a mechanical level from the original Frontiers.
At first glace, you couldn't have a more deflating, arrogant, or inaccurate leak made even if you tried. The boost is back again? All that talk of momentum and a focus on expressive movement was all for naught? Did we lose? These are the questions that were rattling around in my head when I first came across this leak. After some thought, however, I think this leak may not be that contradictory at all: in fact, it may line up with previous leaks better than any that came before it. There's one good reason for this - let me explain.
This reads to me as a cynical Sonic hater who may not know very much about the series, or at least one who hasn't played very many of the games, throwing a wet blanket on the hype for the upcoming game. What is very important to note here is the easily missable detail that this leaker did not play the game themselves - they were only shown the game. It's a bit hard to convey things like momentum-based gameplay in 3D Sonic in purely video form. An uninformed gamer may not be able to tell the difference between, for instance, Adventure 2 and Frontiers gameplay from visuals alone - at least, the differences in game-feel and physics. It takes playing these games to understand where all the nuances lie, because as we all know the two examples I give here feel very different to play. A different user (I think? I'm not too familiar with 4Chan syntax in all honesty), though perhaps the same person, goes on to elaborate that they saw only "a slice of gameplay," which gives further credence to my theory here.
Their claims about the next game also all technically line up with what we've seen in previous leaks. The open-zone format is certainly expected to return, given how outspokenly adamant Sonic Team is about continuing to iterate on the Frontiers formula. "Boost gameplay" could be an interpretation of the previously-described "Bullet Dash" and "Surge/Blitz" mechanics to the uninitiated. The return of the skill tree, "linear stages," and combat superficially similar to that of Frontiers are also described in previous leaks, and a disinterested third party would see nothing else under the hood. The previous leaks do go into detail about exactly what is different in the new game. Finally, improved animation quality and a Game Awards reveal are both to be expected, for their own reasons. Regarding animation specifically: Shadow Gens and CrossWorlds both already have "slightly better animation quality" across the board than Frontiers did, and from what we've seen of Sonic Team's experimentation with deform shaders in Unreal 5 it's a no-brainer to expect a jump in quality in this department. I tweeted about this earlier but with CrossWorlds being the last Sonic Team game to begin development before Frontiers' release, that increase in budget is gonna hit us fans in the face like a sack of potatoes next year.
The only new info here is a new name for the game being presented: "Sonic Future." I'll bring this up again later, but there is a significant, nonzero chance that this is the final name of Frontiers 2. Let's move on to the latest pair of leaks for now.
Leak #7
Just over a month ago as of the time of writing, and only a few weeks after the previous one, a small leak hit 4Chan. There's not much in the way of new information, but we do get some soft confirmations of info from previous leaks.
Leak describing the playable roster of Frontiers 2, as well as a new character and a few new biomes.
As tantalizing as the prospect of playable Silver is, there are a few things I'm hesitant to believe here. Most of the info this leaker shares is new, believe it or not, and it comes off as Twitter-bait-coded if you catch my drift. The DreamKAST being playable gets another mention, but Shadow and Silver being playable is new. Shadow is being pushed at the forefront of the brand right now, and his moveset from Shadow Gens is ripe for porting to new games, but my gut tells me that Shadow wouldn't really work in a new mainline game without some kind of "main-character" focus. He's always been the center of some storyline in his playable appearances. Dark Story in SA2, Team Dark in Heroes, Shadow's Story in '06, even Episode Shadow in Forces! Who would his supporting cast be? Sonic already has three friends of his own, after all, and Shadow isn't really a friend to Sonic, per se. Silver, too, is out of place here. He needs other characters to bounce off of, particularly someone like Blaze... oh, my copium is showing, isn't it? Let's move on...
Professor Tori is a very interesting name drop. This character is one currently exclusive to TailsTube, making background cameos in Episodes 1 and 10 and a full-fledged guest appearance in Episode 11. We don't know much about her right now, but I would be again hesitant to put a lot of stake in her appearance and plot-relevance in Frontiers 2. My headcanon is that she's the sister Maria mentions having back on earth in Shadow Gens, and if I'm correct then that would be one hell of a way to build out the lore a little more, but nothing is confirmed yet. Prof. Tori has been the topic of much speculation before, since back when she appeared in the background of the very first TailsTube. No fan could recognize her from any past game, so theories were rampant. My point is that she's a "Twitter topic."
Another such topic is original locations, such as the steampunk city and "ice cherry blossom area" described here. People are sick and tired of seeing Green Hill, Chemical Plant, Sky Sanctuary, and other such familiar locations in mainline Sonic games, and Twitter users absolutely love talking about it. What's funny is that the cherry-blossom locale isn't even entirely original - educated Sonic fans will remember Mania's Press Garden Zone Act 2. Of course, CrossWorlds makes the steampunk biome also technically unoriginal. As I mentioned earlier, though, Leak #4 made this specific location of great importance to the discourse machine.
Rolling physics and a new model have been some of the most discussed topics in the fanbase for such a long time now - the Modern Sonic model has remained virtually unchanged since 2005, and true rolling physics have been absent from the franchise since arguably the original Adventure (or, for a pessimist, since Sonic and Knuckles). The fans want a new model and a return to pinball physics in mainline games, and like with original locations they have been VERY outspoken about it for may years now. Sonic Team knows that the fans want these things very well now. So, for a leak like this that seems almost tailor-made to generate speculative discourse, it makes sense to include these details.
That's where the next, and our final, 4Chan leak comes in.
Leak #8
I'll let this one-day-later leak speak for itself.
Leak describing specific aspects of Frontiers 2 including time-travel, the return of mach-speed sections, and the complete absence of Boost.
Not even joking, check the dates (format is MM/DD/YYYY)! The very next day, this user comes out swinging from the bushes with some insane new claims about Frontiers 2. As you can imagine, they are talking about Leak #7 being mostly full of hot air and some incorrect information. Leak #7 talks about "rolling physics," and Leaker #8 claims that not only is classic-style momentum gameplay returning but the boost will be gone entirely. More specifically, they claim, an Adventure 2-esque feel is to be expected. Leak #5 mentioned CD-esque time travel mechanics for entering Action Stages... well, I hope you did keep that game in mind because we now have an alleged return of the time travel feature itself! An open-zone take on CD's different time periods would certainly be something fascinating, so as far-fetched as this sounds on paper I would not object to this being real. Finally, what I presume to be the linear Action Stages take the form of Mach Speed stages, similar to those from '06. This leaker claims them to be "bonus challenges," so I could be off here, but it's what I'll go with for now. Silver also gets thrown to the wayside with some scathing words for Leaker #7, which gave me a laugh.
To my knowledge, this is the most recent 4Chan leak for Sonic Frontiers 2. It is relatively self-explanatory, but it combines convincing new information and corroborations of past leaks in an interesting way. Now that we've looked over everything from 4Chan, we have a pretty good idea of what this leaked Frontiers 2 version may look like when it releases. Of course, keep in mind my earlier warning and be ready with your various grains of salt to take my following predictions with.
Keep holding onto those grains, too, because we're not done just yet.
Leaks and Rumors from Twitter
User: ramona (@p0wyful)
The most prominent supposed leaker for Frontiers 2 on Twitter, who goes by "ramona," has been sharing a few teases of supposed information regarding the game that really get my gears turning. I'll link her posts here under the "xcancel" domain, so non-account holders can read the relevant posts, quotes, and comments as well. Of most note is this short thread containing an initial post and a reply. She claims that "Sonic has a bright Future," and that this refers to more than "just a title." Later on, she claims (here) that she will not discuss the game at all until its official reveal because from what she knows it'll be "an awesome game." Fron this alone, we can conclude that the title Sonic Future, first mentioned by Leak #6, is now more likely to be legitimate. Moreover, time-travel mechanics described by Leak #8 also have a lot more reason to be believed. Finally... well, we should have reason to be excited for this game!
There is one very important tweet to take note of, however: this reply and this tweet posted after every leak I've shown allege that all of them are entirely incorrect. While I acquiesce that some aspects of each leak are unlikely to be legitimate, I have my own doubts that Ramona is on the money here. First up: she alluded to Sonic Future, a detail that already got shared in Leak #6, as I mentioned. These 4Chan leaks being incorrect, therefore, casts doubt on her own validity as a trustworthy source. If all of the 4Channers are off, doesn't that mean that Sonic Future isn't the real title, and the phrase therefore means nothing? In addition, multiple previously-discussed leaks (and Ramona herself, funny enough) also collectively allege that the dev team of Frontiers returns and is doubled in number, they have a much higher budget, and that both of these facts will be evident in the work they put forth to the public on TGA night. Of course, anyone following Sonic Team's recent development closely (such as Twitter users AllSharkQueen/@AllCristina2 and SegaInformant/@SegaInforment, as well as myself) could easily say this with certainty. Like with previous leaks, there are some contradictions here.
I'm not one to jump to conclusions like this, though, so let's analyze another possible angle. Perhaps after analyzing all of the leaks that came before, she's just trying to quell fan expectations and hopes before the announcement itself. Discussion and anticipation are at a boiling point, and she understandably doesn't want to be the one to blow the lid clean off. From what little she's revealed, though, there is still reason to believe that at least some information revealed through 4Chan leaks is legitimate. Blame my math-brain, but not "a singular 4Chan leak" being "at all correct" cannot be true at the same time as Sonic Future as a phrase having relevance from where I'm standing. This is a more naïve interpretation of events, but I'm willing to present it as at least a possible explanation for what's been talked about, because I honestly don't doubt that Ramona at least knows... something. I'll still choose to consider the 4Chan leaks seriously, and to otherwise take Ramona's word that Sonic Future is significant.
User: "Chichariito" (@ch1ch4riito)
This user has been a bit more vocal than Ramona, but not necessarily about Frontiers 2 alone. They mostly share information regarding an alleged new Sonic animated series in production, as well as other unrelated projects. They have sent this cryptic tweet, which only adds fuel to the whole "Sonic Future" fire if you ask me. Of much more note, however, is this reply to similarly cryptic user NERO (@roxochixo). This suggests that the next mainline game will incorporate significant elements from CD, '06, Frontiers, and Advance 2. Fron what has been shared on 4Chan, this also lines up remarkably well. We've already discussed CD, but '06 mach-speed sections as mentioned in Leak #8 also pertain here. Not only that, but it can be argued that the existence of inhabited villages in the open-zone is also akin to how '06 handled things, because Leaks #1 and #2 both mention missions related to these villages which bring back only the warmest and fondest of memories of the town missions from that game... how we loved them. These missions haven't been brought up again since those very early leaks, though, so perhaps these were ultimately scrapped. Frontiers is, of course, self-explanatory.
Let's focus on the alleged Advance 2 connection, though. In that game, if Sonic maintains his speed for long enough he enters a proto-Boost state where he gains blue after-images and runs so fast that he can even outrun the rate at which the screen scrolls to keep up with him. If you've been paying attention, this should remind you of how Leak #4 described the Bullet Blitz as "tricky to maintain," as well as how Leak #5 described the method by which Sonic enters Action Stages and the similar way in which Leak #8 described time-travel.
Final Predictions
And now... we're finally done. That's everything I could find.
I'm sure I could have found a few more leaks if I looked hard enough, but I'm willing to put down the topic here and summarize what has been shared so far. As far as things are concerned right now, I think it's possible to make some general claims about Frontiers 2 with at least moderate confidence. In other words, I don't expect absolutely everything I'm about to talk about to come true, but as far as general ideas are concerned I think I'm at least on the right track. This was mostly done for fun, so I'm certainly not going to be disappointed or upset if we're shown something entirely different. Speculation and research like this are fun, what can I say?
Without further ado, here are my current half-hearted predictions for details to look out for in Sonic Frontiers 2.
The Verdict: What I Think
This game will be an open-zone game, with Action Stages included and made accessible via portals or terminals in the overworld akin to how Frontiers handled Cyberspace Portals. To access the stages themselves, Sonic will need to use his movement well to maintain top speed long enough to make the jump. To make this task more than mindless busywork, each portal will be positioned in the world in such a way that reaching them to begin with is part of the intended challenge. This makes maintaining top speed for a certain amount of time another aspect of the stage-entry challenge, because if accessing the portal is nontrivial then leaving the area is likely to be as well. Unlike Frontiers' multiple open zones, this game will feature one absolutely massive, floating open-zone called "Summit Spire," whose accessible area will expand as the game progresses similar to how Shadow Generations handled its progression. If I had to throw out an estimate right now, I would anticipate the final playable area to be about one-half the area of BOTW's Hyrule (remember - Sonic is fast! He can run from one corner of Hyrule to its opposite in under 5 minutes, if Frontiers modding is anything to go by).
Sonic's movement in the open-zone will be much more freeform than it was in even Frontiers: classic pinball-style momentum will once again be made a central focus and marketing gimmick for the game. The level design of both the open-zone and the Action Stages will be altered from what we're used to in accommodation of this radical change in style: paths will intertwine in every which way, with traversal being largely left up to the player. The Boost concept isn't entirely cast aside, however: some ability which helps get Sonic up to speed faster than simply running from a standstill will exist. Not only that, but maintaining top speed for long enough, even outside of entering Action Stages, will augment Sonic's abilities in some way. Invincibility, dramatically higher camera FOV, access to a more familiar Boost-like state - there's no telling exactly what it'll be just yet, but the player will be rewarded for mastery over maintaining top speed in some significant way thorughout normal gameplay.
The open-zone won't be as desolate as it was in Frontiers or even Shadow Gens. Inhabited villages or towns of some kind will exist, featuring interactible NPCs and optional side quests that the player can partake in. Villages may fall under attack by enemies, or perhaps certain characters will have an always-beloved fetch-quest for Sonic or one of his frielnds to complete. Yes, you read right - Sonic's friends, specifically Tails, Knuckles, and Amy, will also return as playable characters following their re-introduction in The Final Horizon. They will feature unique movesets from Sonic as they did in TFH, but with tweaks and certain new moves and abilities which account for player feedback from that DLC. They will also feature the same momentum-based physics and mechanics as Sonic does, but will lack some of his own unique abilities. They will also be rewarded for keeping high grounded speed for long enough, though their augments won't be identical to Sonic's. They will also be able to access the same Action Stages that Sonic can, and take alternate routes that he couldn't.
Combat will also make a return, functioning similarly to how it did in Frontiers. Each character will have a more expansive repertoire of skills than they did in that game and its DLC, and each character's abilities in this regard will be given adjustments and additions to account for player feedback from base Frontiers, its patches, and TFH. For instance, Sonic's moves will serve different functions from "damaging cutscene" this time around, which will depend on the specific attack. Enemies will come in different varieties which are greater in number than those featured in Frontiers - standard foot-soldier fare will have to be handled differently depending on enemy type. Guardian-tier enemies also return, with significant rewards being given for their defeat. About as many different types as were in Frontiers can be expected, though more of the intended fight strategies will task the player with using movement and combat abilities in tandem.
Summit Spire won't remain the same for the whole game: time travel, the gameplay mechanic currently unique to Sonic CD, returns and is able to transform the entire Open Zone into an archaic past or potentially desolate future variant. Travelling between eras will be required multiple times to progress the story, and optionally to complete certain side quests, but can be done at the player's discretion otherwise. The past will feature more naturalistic biomes throughout the open-zone, with inhabited villages becoming much rarer and more primitive in design. Terrain slopes, loops, and pipes will remain, though may be subject to some change with the erosion of time. The present will be a blend of natural and artificial environments that can be interpreted as more accurate to the real world, though the environments themselves certainly won't be: steampunk towns, great rolling hills, towering mountaintops, and natural loops and pipes abound on the Spire. In the future, everything looks a lot more man-made... perhaps made by Dr. Eggman, who returns as the main antagonistic force for the majority of the game, accompanied by daughter AI Sage. Pollution fills the sky and water, pipes and metal plates cover every inch of the place, and the color palette becomes dark and grungy. Think Sonic SatAM. But... perhaps the future is only so bleak if you let it be so?
Fittingly, the game will be named Sonic Future.
Closing Thoughts
Wow... I kinda got carried away in fantasy-land for a bit there. Ah, how I love taking a vacation to the land of what-if! I absolutely love the idea of a CD-esque past-present-future trichotomy for an open-zone Sonic game: this gives the player at least three technically different open-zones based on the same landmass, but with different obstacles and elements. Most of the leaks I've looked at today also seem to point toward momentum-based gameplay returning in some form, which would only make these areas even more fun to traverse if handled well. If TFH is anything to go by, I think we're in good hands in that regard.More playable characters, interactable NPCs, a lengthy campaign, Action Stages as described by the leaks, and the proposed art direction I think are shoe-ins for this game.
All that being said, though... I'm definitely on some strong copium right now. TGA is only days away, and the entire community is expecting this game to be revealed officially at that presentation. I've been thinking about what the future holds for 3D Sonic ever since I first beat Frontiers when it released in 2022, during my first semester of college. Now, I'm in my first year of graduate school! How the time flies. Like I said before, I don't think I'm completely on the nose with my pre-announcement predictions for this game, not even close, especially since we don't know anything officially. I just think it's fun to try to predict what Sonic Team is gonna be up to! I even think that my predictions are on the safer side - I could have gone off the deep end, in all honesty, calling out things like a return for Super Sonic Cyber or massive-scale Titan-esque bossfights with music by Kellin Quinn again. I could have described my newfound ideal vision for an open-zone soundtrack created in part by Thundercat, or a main vocal theme by The Weeknd (and, no, these names aren't ass-pulls; there's real reason to believe they're involved with the next game right now). But I tried keeping as realistic as possible given what leaks and rumors have popped up and what information agrees between them.
In addition, I would love to know what other people think is in store for that next game. I'm not totally confident in my ability to implement comments directly on this site quite yet, but you can scroll to the bottom of the page and click on my name to tag me on BlueSky if you want! I'll probably not make another speculative post about Frontiers 2 until we get an official reveal, and even then I have other ideas for blog posts I'd like to write soon, so stay tuned for more yaps from yours truly! Now, if you've read this far, I cannot thank you enough for reading. This post took about two days to write, and it's my first topic post on this brand-new site. I hope you enjoyed the read, long as it may have been (sorry). I'll see y'all around!