April Fools SEGA Releases Playable April Fools Game, "The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog"

[Solister]

SEGA says they've listened to all of your feedback, and their response has been to murder Sonic. Well, at least someone has.

A day early for April Fools, but SEGA has released a new, free game today, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog. The bizarre adventure game/visual novel sets the cast aboard the Mirage Express for an old fashioned murder mystery, with (as the title suggests) Sonic as the victim. You, Tails, and Amy attempt to hunt down the killer among the other familiar guests.

Though released as an April Fools gag, the game had been in production for a year, per producer Michal Shafrir (on Twitter), and features the work of Greg Batha (UI designer of Dream Daddy, Hero Forge, others) and artist DEEGEEMIN (IDW Sonic, Spark 3).

The game is available now to download via Steam. If previous promotional games are anything to go by, you may want to get it ASAP at the risk of it being delisted later.

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Solister

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[Indigo Rush]

Oh my word that is the hardest laugh I've gotten out of this series 

[MetKey]

Out of nowhere before April Fools day (depending on your timezone) this thing dropped. A 2D drawn mystery game where Sonic has apparently been killed, and we gotta solve who is his murder. It's out now on Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2324650/The_Murder_of_Sonic_the_Hedgehog/

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

They legit shadow-dropped this game before April Fool's Day just to shine a light on how real it is.

[Badnik Mechanic]

WE'RE FREE!!! 

IT'S OVER! 

WE CAN LEAVE!

[Sonictrainer]

The Conductor looks like Kit Tsunami in a trench coat wearing a fake mustache.

[Danj86]

Haven't seen Eggman yet. Probably wise to remove him. He'd be the prime suspect.

[Jango]

But does he have any Continues?

[LegoFedora]

Alright! I've been waiting since 2017 for another sonic virtual novel!

[Dr. Detective]

The twist is that his diet of mostly chilidogs finally caught up to him. Poor fucker.

[Sonictrainer]

Some info from people who worked on the game

Quote

Deegeemin: Very much excited to tell you all that I worked as the lead character artist on The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog!!!!! I'm very proud of the game and everyone who worked on it! I HOPE YALL ENJOY THE GAME WE WORKED HARD ON!!!

Quote

Ellen Alsop: HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S (OBSERVED)! I'm super happy to announce that I worked as art director on The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog! It was a delight to work on, and everyone on the team CRUSHED it. I hope you enjoy playing it!

Quote

Michal Shafrir: SURPRISE!! I spent the past year producing and developing an actual Sonic game! This project has been nothing short of a dream come true and I’m so proud of it

We all put so much love into this game, I hope you try it out and let me know what you think!!

Quote

Michal Shafrir: One more launch day treat for the Sonic fans: here's a backgroundless render of Dead Sonic. Go nuts

 

[Matt98]

Is this Canon?

[Sonictrainer]

3 minutes ago, Matt98 said:

Is this Canon?

No, unless you want to make this an AU

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Real talk, this is genuinely a really fun take on the Ace Attorney/Danganronpa formula with some really great artwork, and great character writing. For what amounts to a shitpost taking the piss out of the constant screams of “SONIC IS DEAD, DEAD SERIES”, it genuinely has no right to be both this detailed, this high quality, and this fun.

Kind of a shame this is just a April fools joke so it’s just a short ride, but honestly some real proof that these characters are fun enough to work in genres and situations you wouldn’t suspect them to do so. I don’t think I would ever thought a Sonic murder mystery visual novel is an idea worth noticing beyond laughing at, but here we are.  

Also reminder to grab this asap, even if you don’t intend to play it immediately, SEGA have a habit of being quick to nix promotional titles. 

[Salamander]

There are some great redesigns for the cast being shown off here.  It's really cool seeing the cast, even the usually clothing-averse members, being  appropriately outfitted for the genre.

[ZinogreVolt]

This is fantastic. Even as an April Fools thing, I'm honestly surprised it's free at all. Top shelf characterization too.

[Perkilator]

Rest in chili

He died on this hill-i

[Rabbitearsblog]

How long will this game stay on Steam?  I really want to play this game, but I'm trying to decide if I should play it today or tomorrow.

[DaBigJ]

I hope someone preserves the game

[Kaze no Klonoa]

Read through it, wow! Genuinely a lot of fun and makes me miss making VNs...

It tonally matches pretty well with the IDW comics and stays earnest throughout - it'd totally work as a standalone one-off arc or side-story, but doing it as a VN with some pretty neat mechanics and polish thrown in is definitely the best execution of this concept. 

[Danj86]

7 minutes ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

How long will this game stay on Steam?  I really want to play this game, but I'm trying to decide if I should play it today or tomorrow.

It doesn't appear to say if it's staying up. But if it was meant as an April Fools joke, it'd be fair to assume it would still be up tomorrow. But if you immediately put it in your library, it should be permanently safe to my knowledge. I've got a game that had been removed from Steam years ago, which I can still freely download since I purchased it before the game was taken down.

Steam has been acting weird for me so I can't test the game. I can still play my games, it's just that the store page seems to refuse to load, but it will in a browser.

[Rabbitearsblog]

3 minutes ago, MilesJFox said:

It doesn't appear to say if it's staying up. But if it was meant as an April Fools joke, it'd be fair to assume it would still be up tomorrow. But if you immediately put it in your library, it should be permanently safe to my knowledge. I've got a game that had been removed from Steam years ago, which I can still freely download since I purchased it before the game was taken down.

Steam has been acting weird for me so I can't test the game. I can still play my games, it's just that the store page seems to refuse to load, but it will in a browser.

I just downloaded the game. Hopefully, it could stay up throughout tomorrow.

[DaBigJ]

Good news: The game is DRM free, meaning it can be played without Steam (to my knowledge)

In the event of the game's delisting, I'm gonna be uploading it to Archive.org for preservation purposes. @DreadknuxWould I be allowed to link the archive once it's up, since this is a free game?

[ZinogreVolt]

Finished it up just a bit ago, lovely surprise of a game. Enjoyed just about everything about it.

[fink]

Usually, these SEGA April Fool's games only get visually delisted (as in no Steam Store page), but they can always be downloaded by typing/pasting the steam install command into your browser. For example, this game would be steam://install/2324650.

8-Bit Bayonetta: steam://install/567090

Streets Of Kamurocho: steam://install/1368430

Armor Of Heroes: steam://install/1368440

ENDLESS Zone: steam://install/1368450

Golden Axed: A Cancelled Prototype: steam://install/1368460

(Bonus lol) Codename Gordon: steam://install/92

Edited March 31, 2023 by fink