But it’s so clearly made out of a place of love, both for the characters and for murder mysteries, rather than being a parody that’s constantly winking at the camera and going “haha, isn’t this absurd that this even exists at all?” Forget that. It’s still a Sonic game, after all, and Sonic games are for kids. It’s just a straight up whodunnit VN set on a train, albeit a lighthearted and pretty easy one. So imagine my surprise when The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog drops out of nowhere and it’s actually one of my favorite Sonic games in yearsĪside from the intentionally tongue-in-cheek, attention-grabbing title (and Sonic doing the Family Guy Death Pose), there isn’t an ounce of irony here.

The fact that this happens like clockwork every year has made me come to dread April Fools Day These games will get widely reported on for being so ~wacky~, while devs pouring their hearts into doing sincere, interesting work with the medium of visual novels are usually out of fucking luck. Companies can afford to commission some bullshit like the KFC dating sim and write it off as a marketing stunt. Even when these prank dating sims actually go and get made rather than just being a few fake screenshots, it feels like it’s just because VNs are seen as cheap, disposable entertainment compared to “real” games. They’re parodies of parodies of parodies. And said jokes about dating sim stereotypes have been done a million fucking times by now. Here’s a thing you should know about me: I am deathly allergic to ironic visual novels, and the related trend of announcing dating sims (which are synonymous with the medium of visual novels as a whole to many people) on April FoolsĪside from an incredibly small selection of titles that have seen wider success, it feels like much of the game industry is only willing to acknowledge visual novels as a punchline.

Ken penders sonic comics