The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is a 2023 point-and-click visual novel video game developed by Sega Social Team and published by Sega for macOS and Windows via Steam. The player converses with various Sonic the Hedgehog characters to investigate Sonic's apparent murder on Amy Rose's birthday. The game was released as freeware on March 31, 2023, to coincide with April Fools' Day, and was positively received.

Gameplay
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is a visual novel with some elements of point and click adventure gameplay. In the game, the player moves sequentially through each car of an express train towards its front. Each time the player enters a new car, they must investigate it by clicking on objects to examine them and locate evidence. Once enough evidence has been gathered, the player will be able to interrogate the other characters in the car, and must present the correct evidence in order to confirm or refute the characters' claims. During interrogations, the player will occasionally enter a "Think" minigame. In these segments, the player controls Sonic in an auto-running game using an isometric perspective, and must collect rings while dodging oncoming hazards. The player must collect a target number of rings in order to advance to the next phase of the interrogation, with these minigames rising in difficulty as the game progresses. Once the interrogation is complete, the player will be able to advance to the next car.

Plot
To celebrate Amy Rose's birthday, she and her friends Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Espio, Vector, Rouge, Blaze, and Shadow gather in the Mirage Express, a train designed for special events, to participate in a murder mystery game. The player controls a new quokka employee aboard the train, identified as "Barry" in the game's code and marketing material, though the player can choose the character's name. Barry is directed by the conductor to assist the participants as needed. Shortly after the game is meant to begin, the train speeds up suddenly and causes Barry, Amy, and Tails to be thrown back into a storage closet and knocked unconscious.

When they reawaken, Amy, Tails, and Barry return to the dining car to find Sonic, seemingly actually deceased. While Amy begins investigating on her own, Barry accompanies Tails as they move between the different themed cars, interrogating each of the participants to verify their alibis. Progressing through a saloon, a library, a casino, and a lounge, Tails and Barry reach the conductor car at the front of the train.

Using evidence they gathered along the way, Tails and Barry determine that Espio was the villain of the murder mystery game, and knocked Sonic out with a blowdart. Unbeknownst to Espio, he had been following instructions given by the train itself, which is revealed to have been converted into a giant badnik by Doctor Eggman as part of a scheme to take control of various cities' infrastructure. Upset with the conductor for planning to retire and leave it behind, the train plots to deliver everyone to Eggman's base in exchange for a bounty, which it intends to use to force the conductor to stay with it forever.

Everyone is dragged back to their cars and locked inside. With Barry's help, Sonic, who has recovered, spindashes through the doors to free everyone and reach the conductor car. Racing alongside the train, Sonic and the others attack it until the Flicky powering it is freed, and Espio retrieves it as Amy destroys the train. Before the train deactivates, the conductor promises to never forget his memories with it.

The group disembark at a station, with the conductor reuniting with his wife and beginning his retirement, now accompanied by the Flicky. Sonic buys a cake from a nearby bakery, and everyone wishes Amy a happy birthday. At his base, Eggman and his henchmen are left to lament his plan's failure. A short epilogue follows where Barry explains that, following the incident, control of the train system was reclaimed from Eggman by the citizenry. The player is then given multiple choices to decide what happens to Barry afterwards.

Development and release
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog was developed over the course of one year by the Sonic brand's social media team, led by the current social media manager, Katie Chrzanowski. The concept of the game was conceived during the premiere of the 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog film. Cream the Rabbit and Charmy Bee were considered for inclusion as suspects in the game, but the team ultimately decided against it, believing they would be too young to participate. The game started being worked on in late March 2022 and was released on March 31, 2023 to coincide with April Fool's Day. The game was inspired by the Victorian murder mystery party theme, and characters were matched to roles that the development team felt made sense for them. The new protagonist, Barry, was created so the player could interact with all of the characters from the eyes of a third-party.

Reception
According to the review aggregate website Metacritic, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog received "generally favorable reviews". Grayson Morley on Polygon praised the game for how it went beyond expectations of a free April Fools' Day joke game with its art, humor, music and sincerity.

Eurogamer noted that the game was received positively by players, with its Steam user reviews in its first weekend of release garnering it an "overwhelmingly positive" rating. According to Chrzanowski, the game was downloaded more than one million times in its first week.

According to NME, the game is the highest rated Sonic game on Steam and was the 62nd highest rated game overall as of April 6, 2023.