2024, was one of my favorite years to be a gamer. Sure, plenty of great games released that year, but above all else, I fell back in love with a franchise I'd grown up loving and with whom I had a falling-out. You see, it was the "year of Shadow", thanks to SEGA's sudden and ferocious push to bring the Sonic series, and specifically Shadow the Hedgehog, back to the forefront of gaming discussion. And beyond all of my wildest dreams, they delivered. An entire Sonic movie dedicated to him (which ended up being the best one), a symphony focused on his music, and above all else, a brand new 3D Sonic game that promised to be something truly special.

Enter Sonic X Shadow Generations, a package deal that included an entire standalone game that I'd been dreaming of since childhood: a sequel to Sonic Generations with Shadow as the main character, aptly named Shadow Generations.

"Sequel" comes with an asterisk, though. See, the game takes place concurrently to Sonic Generations, chronicling Shadow's own endeavors while the two Sonics are making their way towards the two Doctors Eggman. This, of course, means that the story is anchored to the confines of the original game's narrative, and because that narrative was written by the creators of Happy Tree Friends and not someone who understood Sonic, Shadow Generations had some writing obstacles that it needed to overcome in order for it to really shine in the story department.

So, how does it fare? Well, I know the bar's pretty low for storytelling in a Sonic game (the comics are an entirely different story), but I do truly think this is one of the best stories one's had since Unleashed. Actually, I think I like it for much of the same reason that I like that of Unleashed. The story is extremely concise and focused, and the pacing never drags. It did move a little too fast at times, but it never went at a breakneck pace like Forces, which never let one single idea breathe unless that idea was bad level design. And because it still moved along swiftly, I found it miles more engaging than Frontiers's entire second half.

It also helps that much unlike both Forces AND Frontiers, Shadow Generations is only attempting to do one thing with its narrative.

Let's compare. To succeed narratively, Forces had to cover these bases:
- develop an entirely new villain
- write a custom player character with no dialogue into the role of protagonist
- write four returning villains into the story in a compelling way, one of them being a heel turn for Shadow who is by and large the series's most complex character
- fit Classic Sonic into the story so that the SEGA executives are happy
- establish a consistent tone that tastefully reflects the more mature premise of rebels going to war against an oppressive force

Forces only had 7 hours of playtime to do this and suffered for it, checking zero of these boxes.

Frontiers had to:
- worldbuild an entirely new part of the Sonic universe, including unprecedented lore exposition about the Chaos Emeralds and their origin
- convey a deeper and more mature tone than the series had ever had while staying true to five of the series' most important characters and their lighthearted roots, all without creating tonal whiplash
- offer engaging character interactions that kept their identity intact while showing growth throughout the game
- introduce an entirely new character AND make her matter enough for her impact on the game's ending to move the player deeply
- structure the game by splitting it into four arcs that follow the same formula without it feeling repetitive or boring over the course of a 20 hour playthrough

While it was a dramatic improvement over Forces, it was still far too ambitious for its own good and left much to be desired, especially since it meandered where it could have taken the time to check off more of those boxes. Now let's look at Shadow Generations.

Shadow Generations had to:
- reintroduce multiple characters from Shadow's past without it feeling contrived
- successfully use those characters as a tool for Shadow's growth, without them feeling like just a tool for Shadow's growth
- happen concurrently to Sonic Generations, expanding on its narrative and letting Shadow's character thrive independently without contradicting the (admittedly little) time he spends in it
- give Shadow a brand new and meaningful character arc, despite the fact that his "story" had debatably concluded 18 years ago by this point
- respect the inherently darker nature of centering a game around Shadow, without the tone coming off as corny or try-hard like it did in a certain 2005 game

Shadow Generations only had around four hours of playtime to do all of this, but there's one massive discrepancy between Shadow Generations's goals and that of its predecessors. Notice how every single bullet point had the word "Shadow" in it. The game is about one thing and one thing only: Shadow the Hedgehog. Everything that happens in the game serves to expand on his character and create a compelling, nuanced case study of him. And because the scope is so much more focused, so much more intimate, it needs to do a lot less to achieve what it sets out to do. And it passes with FLYING colors. Shadow is at the most nuanced he's ever been in one of the games, and forcing him to face his past was a perfect way to move his character into the present without just retreading his arc from Sonic 06 again with a new coat of paint on. My one, single complaint about the story was that toward the end it just barely moved too fast, and because it had to lead directly into Sonic Generations's final moments, it was unfortunately a tad anticlimactic. It didn't feel incomplete, per se, but it could have used just a little more time to breathe and let Shadow wrestle with his emotions more. Other than that, I think it was pretty much flawless in execution, and proves to me that Sonic Team needs to just narrow their scope a little bit and focus on what definitively works. Story of their life, though, to be honest. They over-experiment and under-refine, and I hope this game's massive success has finally taught them to, for the love of god, stop doing that.

I've gone on way too long about the story, though. What I really want to talk about is the gameplay. Gameplay-wise, this is Sonic Team's Resident Evil 4 Remake moment. This is the culmination of everything they've learned over the past decade plus, from successes and failures alike, all in the form of one big love letter to arguably the most beloved entry they've ever made.

Let's take a good look at how the game feels to play in general. Shadow's movement is based heavily on Sonic's overworld movement in Frontiers, which is probably the best Sonic has ever felt to control in 3D. Shadow is slightly slipperier and barely floatier, but not in the way Sonic is in Forces, and in fact these different physics both complement the level design and make Shadow feel like a tangibly different character in gameplay rather than a reskin.

Shadow's moveset grows overtime as he gains new "Doom Powers", and I can't say I dislike a single one of Shadow's abilities. The powers allowed the developers to almost treat the game's stages as metroidvania-style dungeons, where you can go back to them after gaining new powers to unlock secret paths and obtain collectibles. Doom Surf makes for some extremely entertaining setpieces (ESPECIALLY in a certain boss fight), Doom Morph is rewarding to learn and master, and Doom Wing is an excellent stand-in for a super form that retains continuity with the original Generations's plot.

The stages are also quite literally some of the best levels I've ever played in a Sonic game, and I'm saying this about a game bundled with Sonic Generations right next to it. Sonic Team finally learned how to create a balance between 2D and 3D sections in Sonic, and their answer was to make each level EXCLUSIVELY 2D or 3D with not one single hybrid in sight. The 3D levels (Act 1 levels as they're called) use the 3D space to their full advantage. They're focused on cinematics and open-ended routing that rewards exploration with speed. The 2D Act 2 levels are focused far more on reaction time, and unlike the 3D levels use the theatrics as a vehicle to create interesting platforming challenges. For example Sunset Heights Act 1 contains an action-packed quick-time event where Shadow dodges attacks from a Death Egg Robot, which ends in him landing in a new part of the level; it's a means to an end. Sunset Heights Act 2 uses that robot to destroy parts of the level. This both creates new paths for Shadow and presents an unique and creative obstacle that's actively trying to kill you; rather than a means to an end, it's both the means AND the end.

Notice that I'm not even saying that I like either the 2D or 3D levels more. This is the only Sonic game I have ever played where I can confidently say I loved both elements equally. Before this, every instance of 2D in Sonic I've enjoyed has been in games exclusively dedicated to 2D levels, and everywhere else it's been more or less tacked on, and without question my least favorite parts of their respective games. This game completely changed that. The 2D levels feel like top tier, high budget evolutions of Sonic Rush, which I sincerely consider a really high form of praise. I look at this and think, "Yes, Sonic Team. More of this, please."

The bosses are incredible as well. While Frontiers's Titans will forever be my favorite (I'm a Sleeping With Sirens fan if that explains why), I feel like removing my biases from the equation Shadow Generations's bosses are much better. For the first time since Sonic Unleashed, the bosses in a Sonic game have been tied to important story moments rather than just arbitrarily placed there because that's where a boss goes in that part of the game. Even Frontiers didn't really do a whole lot to give its boss fights narrative weight. They're explained, sure, but the plot overall would be almost identical without them. Shadow Generations, on the other hand, makes sure every boss is used tactfully to challenge Shadow's character in one way or another. >!The Biolizard!< tests Shadow's identity as the Ultimate Lifeform, and also serves to show how much Shadow has grown since his first encounter with it. >!Metal Overlord!<has fully-fledged dialogue exchanges with Shadow and very unsubtly challenges Shadow to assess his very sense of self. All of these are important moments for Shadow's growth throughout the story, and I see them as extensions of what Shadow 05's various endings were going for ("This is who I am!") but with far more concise writing and without the ridiculous Linkin Park AMV-ass tone.

I love Shadow Generations, and I seriously recommend getting Sonic X Shadow Generations for it even if you already own Sonic Generations on its own. The only significant complaint about the game I have is that there isn't more of it for me to drop my jaw at, and that's really a testament to how good what's there is. I'm almost glad it's as short as it was, because despite the small pacing issues it presented in the end, it also didn't overstay its welcome for one second. My next goal in life is gonna be to make a real life Time Eater, so that I can go back and tell my younger self, "Hey little man, Shadow Generations is actually going to happen. And it's going to be your favorite Sonic game."