Saturday is April Fool’s Day. So, as usual, companies are out here releasing joke trailers and “funny” tweets. But then you have Sega, who just published a brand new, completely free, actually real, murder mystery game on Steam that is all about someone killing Sonic the Hedgehog. That’s how you do April Fool’s, people. Also: Holy shit.
Launched today on Steam for the perfect price of zero dollars and no cents, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is a short mystery game starring popular characters from the Sonic franchise working together to figure out: Who the hell killed Sonic the Hedgehog? I mean, I know his 3D games have been kind of bad for years and his fans can be annoying, but I don’t think the blue blur deserved to get got, you know?
In a trailer posted on March 31, Sega proudly boasts that it has heard all the feedback from players and its next game is taking the franchise in a “bold new direction” adding that it is excited to “announce” that Sonic is dead.
According to the game’s Steam page—which again, I have to emphasize is real and exists—Sega says the game is set on Amy Rose’s birthday. She’s holding a murder mystery party on the Mirage Express. Sonic ends up being the first victim, however, “something feels a bit off” according to the game’s description. “Is it really an innocent game or is something more sinister afoot?”
Sega says players will get to interrogate some of their “favorite characters” as they try to figure out who killed Sonic and why. The game features fully hand-drawn landscapes and character art. However, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog wasn’t developed by Sonic Team, as noted on the game’s Steam page. So don’t consider this official canon, unlike the time Sonic kissed a woman. Or do. What do I care? I’m not your dad.
While most April Fool’s Day jokes are bad and not funny, I’ll give Sega credit for this one: Killing Sonic and making a game about it is a very good bit. Bravo.