The “Sonic is dead” aspect is obviously the main thing that’s supposed to reel you in (and it works). You go in, expecting a quick 20-minute-ish April Fools laugh, but… It turns out to be more than a simple joke. It’s a genuinely nice little story. It’s clear a lot of love was put into this visual novel. It’s chock-full of fun details and references to Sonic’s other adventures.
Of course, being a visual novel, the main focus is the story and characters.
We have some new characters exclusive to this story - the conductor, the protagonist, and… the train. I’ll only cover the protagonist here.
They’re your typical relatably socially awkward protagonist, but… The writers turn that up to an 11, to the point of absurdity. I personally really love that, but some may find that annoying. At many points the game got me thinking “me too, buddy” at their internal monologues and funny antics.
And as for the already-existing characters… I think their characterisation was really good! Honestly, I don’t have much to say here.
The plot was great, in my opinion! The mystery is not very complex or hard to figure out, but the game doesn’t treat you like you’re incapable of solving it yourself, which is something even big commercial games struggle with. Going along and solving the mystery is really fun!
Apart from the main, “intellectual” side, there’s also the sonic special stage-style “THINK!” minigames. They’re alright, they’re a fun distraction from the reading. And if you just do not care for them, or find them frustrating, you can tweak almost every difficulty aspect in the accessibility options, which is fantastic, in my opinion. I personally did play through each one of them, because they were a nice little challenge.
Oh and I should mention - the artwork is just gorgeous. The character sprites are so good, and the backgrounds are beautiful and so full of fun details.
It’s a quick play/read: I finished it in 4-5 hours, according to Steam; in one sitting. It is a fun one, though!
If you’re a Sonic fan, I think you’ll enjoy this, if you’re not, I think there’s some enjoyment to be had here too - the narrative is from the perspective of a character who has heard of Sonic and his friends in passing.
This game’s a treat, and was obviously made with a lot of love for these characters and the franchise. It’s awesome that SEGA let the team make something like this, and release it for free.