If you’re a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog – and let’s be real, you folks account for a good deal of our traffic these days, for which we’re eternally grateful – chances are you’re familiar with indie title Freedom Planet. The correlation, you ask? Well, the fact that it’s a 2D Sonic platformer in all but name, for starters. Those loops and cartoonishly blurred running animations ain’t no coincidence. The colourful assortment of mammalian and reptilian anthro characters, too; not to mention the fact that its sequel has taken roughly as long to materialise as any substantial new instalment in the hedgehog’s universe since Forces. Basically, the two IPs are peas in a pod at this point, and so it’s only fitting that they’re both getting long (long, long) awaited titles in 2022. For the Blue Blur, it’s Breath of the Frontiers, and for FP protag Sash Lilac, it’s Freedom Planet 2. This thing’s been over five years in the making, and now, we have a release date. Some things are worth waiting for, eh?
Release date and new details
As GameRant reports, developer GalaxyTrail have announced via their Twitter account that the game will be hitting shelves and digital storefronts on September 13th. To be perfectly candid, that’s two days before my dear dad’s birthday – though I’m not sure how much he’d appreciate the gift, being as he is a bit of a platformer refusenik. One too many deaths in Crash Bandicoot in the 90s, eh, pa? Players of Freedom Planet 2 can expect “a focus on fast combat and even faster movement,” and “higher-resolution sprites to create more detailed characters” that incorporate the newly-used Unity Engine, differentiating the sequel from the retrolike, pixelated original.
Check out the announcement Tweet below:
In the announcement, GalaxyTrail offer some explanation for the game’s delay. They cite “testing and certification for console ports and the lead developer unfortunately suffering a hand injury,” which, all joking aside, we wish them well with on their way to recovery. I would imagine game development is rather hard with your limbs bound in bandages, so pushing the game back to ensure it’s shipped in the state you want, rather than by the date you want, is totally justified. State, not date. That’s my motto. As of now.
Freedom Planet 2, then, will release on September 13 for PC and consoles. Will you be picking it up six months from now to continue Sash’s story? What fond memories of the original do you have? Let us know!
Via, GameRant.
