Sonic and The Gates of Time Demo

Indie platformers have had quite the tremendous success lately, and some of them even got to reach the bestseller status. Thus, it is proof that next-gen graphics engines and a high polygon count are not always needed to make a fun video game. Naturally, that’s not true in all cases and it must be admitted that most indie projects are scrapped the early stages.

Sonic and The Gates of Time is an indie platformer in which you obviously play the role of the famous hedgehog by the name of Sonic. Your role is to navigate the trap-infested levels and try to unravel the mysteries behind the Gates of Time. Although the game borrows its gameplay mechanics from the classic Sega titles, some of them are a bit sketchy and they do not work as you might hope.

To begin with, it is worth mentioning that the developers took the story a bit too seriously, and they have integrated a few long pages of text you can read before the missions start. However, since the writing is atrocious and the plot doesn’t make sense anyway, barely anyone is going to read them, which makes the effort a bit redundant from the start.

In essence, Sonic can jump and roll just like in the original releases, but the way you do it in this game is a bit too annoying. Hence, you must tap the buttons in a very uncomfortable way in order to roll and jump, which is annoying when you also have to avoid the traps at the same time. Not only that, but you are not guided at all and it takes you a while to learn how to do all of these things.

The level design is not fantastic, but the environments seem to be detailed and quite intricate, at least sometimes. Obviously, the worlds are nowhere near as impressive as they were in the actual games, but it’s a valiant effort nonetheless. The graphics are made to look retro as well, which should at least treat your nostalgia pretty effectively.

In the end, Sonic and The Gates of Time may not be the best platformer out there, not even when it comes to Sonic remakes alone. However, if you played everything else and you are still not satisfied, you might as well give this one a try as well.