What is presented as an elaborate April Fool's Joke ends up being an extremely competent murder mystery visual novel from SEGA in The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog. The setup is exactly as you'd expect. The familiar faces of the Sonic cast come together on a train to celebrate Amy's birthday with a murder mystery party, but things go wrong fast and you (with Tails' help) must deduce whodunit. The twists and overall story aren't mindblowing like any of its contemporaries, but SEGA manages to pack a lot into this little package. Scenes are mostly self-contained, as you enter a room, find the evidence, and then cross-examine each suspect in a Phoenix Wright-style trial. No deduction is really difficult, but the act of raising objections to the charismatic Sonic friends is a gimmick that stays fresh for the hour and a half that it needs to. Once you find the correct evidence, you must enter a mind palace state where you collect rings as Sonic. This functions like an autorunner, and is a welcome and surprising switch-up from the majority of reading the game otherwise has to offer. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog also sports a stunning art style and a par for the course banging soundtrack. If nothing else, the work that went into this little free title was all passion and all for fun first. Some if not most Sonic fans will probably not care at all for the slower paced nature of the visual novel genre, but if you are a fan of games like Frog Detective or other visual novels, this is a goofy, but enjoyable way to spend an hour or two.