The Sonic series’ broodiest hedgehog is getting his own playable episode in the upcoming Sonic Forces.
It’s been awhile since we spent time with Shadow the Hedgehog outside of an ensemble piece like Sonic Colors or Sonic Generations. Shadow has typically been on the opposite side of the ring from Sonic, choosing to antagonize and minimally sympathize. But his angsty, kind of dark nature has earned him fan adoration as Sonic’s more emo counterpart.
In Sonic Forces, Shadow will once again be squaring off against Sonic, having allied with the insidious Dr. Eggman after the world has been conquered. As a henchman of the Eggman Empire, we know little about what role exactly Shadow will play. Fans have called Shadow a “traitor” for choosing to side with Sonic’s longtime rival, with many speculating that he’s become outright evil in nature.
However, Sega has shared that outside of encountering him in the main game, players will have another way to spend some one-on-one time with Shadow.
Shadow is playable in the Episode Shadow add-on content, a new episode where players can step into the shoes of this most mysterious of hedgehogs. This episode plays out much like a level with Sonic would play, a side-scrolling adventure collecting rings and slaying the enemies that crop up in your path. Shadow’s levels also include swaths of floating red blocks that move with an eerie fluidity, and hitting any of these blocks will cause Shadow to take heavy damage.
After some hands-on time with Shadow’s episode, it’s definitely a tad more challenging than your typical time with Sonic and requires some real fancy footwork in how you time your platforming later on down the line. But it’s all worth it: the events shown in Episode Shadow will explain why the hedgehog decided to team up with Dr. Eggman in the first place, and delve a little deeper into his goals and motives for Sonic Forces.
Sonic Forces will be released on November 7 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.
