Sonic the Hedgehog (2026)

Sonic the Hedgehog (2026 release) is an upcoming game part of the Sonic game series released in, as the name implies, 2026. Writer Ian Flynn returns working out the main story for the game as well. In similar vein to Sonic 2006, fans often refer to the game as "Sonic '26" due to the lack of a unique title. This game marks the first mainline game appearance of both Tangle the Lemur and Wisper the Wolf.
== Plot ==
Out on South Island, Sonic the Hedgehog and Doctor Eggman are in the middle of a high-speed chase, Doctor Eggman attempting to steal animals from South Island for his latest robotic creations. A fight ensues between the rivaled pair, during which a laser full of high energy is blasted at the Hedgehog, only for the Hedgehog to kick the laser skyward, causing a beam of energy to shoot into the sky. Sonic gains the upper hand and quickly defeats the mad doctor, sending him flying away. Sonic goes off to enjoy his victory with the other animals. Off in the distance, the laser beam continues to fly higher into the sky, eventually reaching far out into space. In the void of space, the laser beam becomes entrapped inside of a purple hue, its energy being drained and absorbed. An unknown figure looks into the energy source, and links it back to Earth, its next target. ...
few months later since, Sonic is in Sunset City, meeting up with Miles "Tails" Prower, and Amy Rose for a get together over some chili dogs. They all catch up with one another, Amy mentioning the Restoration HQ: a group evolving from the Resistance after the defeat of the Eggman Empire, and how the new leading mind Jewel the Beetle is working wonders over there. They begin pointing out then that Eggman had been "quiet" since the last defeat, making Sonic wonder what he's up to. As they continued on though, the city starts becoming dark in a thick shadow of an oncoming cloud. As it closes in, the residence start to feel weak and fall over, as a purple mist begins engulfing the city. Sonic, Tails, and Amy manage to escape the city, only to be confronted by one of the invaders, referring to themself as Null. They all attempt to fight Null, but Null gets away, warning them that their world is as good as gone under the "New Race", and that it was all Sonic's fault. Sonic, confused by the accusation, starts off to try and help wherever else he can as Amy and Tails report this toRestoration HQ. Jewel tells them the aliens had been showing up in every big city in the world over the last week. Sonic still thinks Eggman was somehow to blame for everything, but then Jewel reveals that she's tried, but couldn't find anything on him beyond a small record log:
* Not long after his last fight with Sonic, Eggman begins to work out a scheme once again, trying to find a power source for his latest fighting machines. He ponders his hatred towards the Hedgehog, promising that this time there will be no next time once he's done with him. Before he can continue though, the alarms in his base ring out, and he is suddenly ambushed by an unknown adversary.
Hearing this, they were convinced that Eggman isn't behind the alien invasion, and that they have to drive the invasion away before this "Big One" arrives. Sonic tells everyone to keep track here while he scouts around to look for Null. 
Sonic travels from town to town, destroying the invading alien hordes as he went. During this, he runs into Tangle the Lemur, who's also been running around and fighting off the "alien creeps". Since they were doing the same thing, they both team up and go off to Spiral Hill Village, which at that moment was being invaded as well. There, they run into Null again, resulting in another fight. During it, Tangle accuses Null of being with Eggman, Null saying that they never met the doctor before ... not as a threat. They fight Null off, but their actions accidentally wreck a nearby building, injuring some residence and making them easier to absorb, turning them into more alien subordinates. Null thanks Sonic for the aid before leaving the frustrated Hedgehog.
Sonic and Tangle leave Spiral Hill and go town to town to fight off the alien invaders. During the run, Sonic contemplates what happened so far, trying to assure himself he had nothing to do with Null and his invasion. They start to find that some of the aliens weren't completely controlled and were actually residence being transformed. They also note how the aliens chant for the "big one" to arrive. Eventually they reach a seaside town completely invaded, and they try fighting them off, but they get cornered by Knuckles the Echidna, who is revealed to have been transformed himself. Null soon appears once they're cornered and unable to fight. Sonic demands to know what he has to do with Null's invasion. Null, amused by Sonic's ignorance, reveals the laser beam during Eggman's last fight Sonic redirected into space, signaling their kind to Earth. Sonic insists that Eggman was the one that fired the laser, Null ordering the troops to destroy him. Before any of them could, shots ring out in the air, and several aliens are destroyed immediately and making Null retreat. Sonic is brought to his feet by Whisper the Wolf and is informed through her about the state of the world, claiming that the aliens were everywhere all at once. Knuckles returns to try and fight again, but Whisper shoots at him to knock him out.
Venturing out once more, Sonic and company continue to defend and fight off wherever they could. After defeating the last of the remaining bosses, he receives a call from Restoration HQ. The caller, revealing to be Null, simply tells him thanks for leaving him some more vessels to transform. Terrified, Sonic races back to Restoration HQ, and find it completely wrecked and everyone there gone except for Null himself. Null thanks Sonic for making all of this possible for them, only enraging Sonic even further. Sonic shouts that he is NOT the one who did anything wrong and tries fighting Null again. During their fight, Null tells Sonic how many aliens he fought and destroyed that could possibly be his friends, how it was HIM who kicked the laser into space to bring them here, and how all the fighting actually made it easier to keep the people focusing on the wrong target as the "Big One" was coming close to them. Null continues mocking Sonic and tells him he should've put the pieces together days ago, otherwise the Big One wouldn't have had it so easy. Suddenly though, Null is teleported away, and a voice tells Sonic that if he wants to end this, meet the voice outside.
Sonic goes out and finds a colossal floating mass of silver and metal floating overhead, revealing itself as the Big One. Sonic rushes to it blindly but is then teleported away to a room inside the big one. The room lights up to reveal his remaining friends locked up in hanging cages, and Eggman himself under control of the Big One. The Big One, speaking through Eggman, threatens Sonic for his medaling, and wants him to be broken. Sonic demands it to let his friends go, to which it actually wants to comply ... hanging them AND Eggman over the city and threatening to drop them all. The Big One asks Sonic which one he will save, as the other one will fall to their demise, adding that any hero wouldn't let ANYONE die. Sonic, in that moment of desperation, tries to get them all out just for Null to reappear from the shadows to confront him. Null remarks on Sonic "rushing into things again", trying to make him feel guilty yet again for his brash actions. THIS time though, Sonic admits that he did have a part in all of this but that doesn't mean he's going to stop trying to fix this. With that, Sonic faces off with Null, this time finally defeating him. Angered, the Big One drops them all outside, Sonic leaping out to try and save them but are rescued at the last moment by Tangle.
The group fought against the Big One itself, and in a combined effort, they all manage to defeat it for good. The defeat of the Big One caused all of the effects caused by the race to be drained away, all of the transformed people returning to normal. Sonic brings everyone back to Restoration HQ, safe and sound, and then continues off to his next adventure.
== Gameplay ==
The game is set in a third-person, 3D environment which, while having a main story to follow, the player can freely explore at their own pace. While only able to play as one character at the start, as the game progresses, the player is able to switch between other characters within their respected party, the maximum party count being up to three characters like in Sonic Heroes. In the main story mode, only Sonic, Tangle, and Whisper are playable, each character having their own set of skills and abilities.
Following the "Open-Zone" concept from Sonic Frontiers, the game has the player explore a wide-ranging map with multiple areas split up into several zones that the player can travel to, each area having four to five towns within them. The player is required to free various towns and cities from the invading alien race in order to regain control of the world: the progress the player makes is recorded within a progress bar within the navigation's menu. When a player defeats a main boss within each area, that area becomes freed. As the player fights these enemies, the player is gained XP points, which they can use to upgrade moves, increase health or increase speed through Jewel the Beetle.
Although the game has a main story, the player can also complete bonus side-missions in order to gain extra XP points, many of these able to be found through villagers and townsfolk from rescued towns. These aren't required to complete for the main story, but make it easier to gain XP points for said upgrades.
=== Sonic Gameplay ===
Sonic's gameplay is similar to other styles he has in other 3D games, albeit now with a more varied move set. He is naturally the fastest of the main three playable characters, with the highest top speed. Like other appearances, Sonic is capable of using the Spin-Dash and the Homing Attack to fight enemies, though the Homing Attack is now more akin to the Adventure-style structure rather than the boost-style.
As the player levels up, they can also unlock the speed boost, allowing them to run faster than ever. However, if used too much, the player will slow down severely and will have to wait until the cooldown period is over before being able to run at normal speed. The higher the level on the speed boost, the farther the player can go with the move before needing to stop and cooldown. 
=== Tangle Gameplay ===
Tangle's gameplay labels her as a main power-type, with the most physical attacks out of the three characters. Averaging in speed, Tangle's moves mostly involve her using her long tail as an extra fist in combat. She is able to tailspin similarly to Tails' tailspin from Sonic Adventure, or to boost herself up using her tail as a spring.
The new move capable of being unlocked with Tangle is the Tail Grapple, Tangle being able to grab enemies with her tail and swing them at other opponents. There is a limit to how big of enemies she can grab however, and the higher her level is, the bigger enemies she can grab. She isn't able to grab sub-bosses and bosses though.
=== Whisper Gameplay ===
Although she herself can't technically fly, many of her abilities allow her skills and projectile attacks that label her well in the flight-type. Many of her moves involve use of her signature Wispon, allowing her to utilize numerous Wisp abilities in similar manor to the Avatar from Sonic Forces. Many of these include a blue projectile shooter, and an orange rocket homing attack. Even with this, this also makes her the slowest of the three characters.
Her unlockable move is what is described as a "Wisp Laser" - a highly powerful yet slower laser cannon upgrade. The move requires a few seconds to load before firing, leaving the player vulnerable, and a cooldown period after firing. The higher levels mean less time to activate the wisp laser. 
== Characters ==
Image	Name 	Description
 	Sonic the Hedgehog	"The blue savior of his own home planet, Sonic is as praised by his friends as he is hated by his enemies. Ever since he left his home of South Island, he hasn't had one day without a big adventure waiting for him - which is completely fine by him. Whatever evil stands in his way, you can always bet that Sonic will be there to show just what kind of hero he is!"
 	Tangle the Lemur 	"A girl for adventure from the village of Spiral Hill, Tangle's adventurous and excitable behavior made her more than happy when she found out about the alien invasion - in that she can go on her own adventure to fight em off! There's little to nothing that can damper her positive look on life, even if they try to take over the entire world."
 	Whisper the Wolf 	"Whisper the Wolf is also known as the "Guardian Angel" during the Eggman Empire's reign of the world. She's a wolf of few words, but her actions speak more than the whole world: she's a warrior of the resistance with a heart of gold, and a spirit that can't be broken even by the most horrible of creatures. Just let them try to keep up with her skills!"
 	Restoration 	"While the Eggman Empire has been defeated, that didn't mean the world was completely safe. After the initial defeat, the resistance members turned into the Restoration: dedicated to keep the peace in the world and help build it back up from Eggman's reign."
 	Null 	"A mysterious lifeform as part of the New Race invading the planet, Null appears to be the smartest of the invading alien troops sent by the Big One. With their ability to turn those around them into their own troops, it's hard to say just what can stand against them when they can just as easily turn them to their side."
 	The "Big One" 	"The mind behind the New Race hive, and only ever known by that one simple name. The Big One's conquest to absorb the energy of other planets has led it to arrive to Sonic's homeworld ..."
== Trivia ==
* Although he does appear in the game briefly, this is one of the few games which Doctor Eggman is not the antagonist and marks this game as the first game - since Sonic and the Black Knight - where he isn't involved directly in the plot.
* The character Null first became known as a scrapped character concept from the old Archie Comic books, making him the only Archie-exclusive character to appear in a Sonic Game. He is also the only scrapped character to re-appear completely in a Sonic game.
* According to the dialogue shared between characters, it's possible the game takes place at least after the Zombot Arc of the Sonic IDW comics.
Category:Games
Category:Sonic (series)
Category:Action Adventure Games
Category:Open World Games
Category:Gempony7