Shadow is so damn cool, guys. There are a lot of positive things I'm going to say about this game, from the narrative to the replay value to the level design. But if there's one major thing I took away from this game, it's that Shadow The Hedgehog is one of the coolest characters ever to come out, and it's been a long time since I thought that. Playing this game made me feel like a little kid overhearing everyone talking about this awesome, new black hedgehog that would appear in Sonic Adventure 2. I never played that game when it came out, but I can only imagine we're experiencing excitement on a similar level. This is the year of Shadow The Hedgehog, and Sonic X Shadow Generations is another fantastic cornerstone in that year.

First, let's get some technicalities out of the way because Sonic X Shadow is a game within a game. This is packaged as an expansion of a pre-existing game, Sonic Generations. This is similar to what Nintendo did with Bowser's Fury for Super Mario 3D World; you have a whole game with an additional expanded game that loosely relates to the primary game. I don't want to spend too much time discussing Sonic Generations because not much about it differs from its initial release. It runs beautifully on the PS5 and still features some of Sonic's best boost-era 3D levels. It seems like the game was re-dubbed with script alterations, and some cutscenes were tweaked, but overall, the story is more or less the same.

Players are here for Shadow, who went on an entire journey in the background while Sonic dealt with the crisis in Sonic Generations. Still, calling Sonic X Shadow a side-story undersells how much Shadow goes through during this outing. Sonic Generations is a game where you go up against a creature that can manipulate time, which was just an excuse to throw Sonic into familiar levels from his past. Sonic X Shadow has a similar gimmick but weaves a narrative around these flashbacks. Unlike Sonic, Shadows' backstory is tragic. When Sonic replays through his classic levels, it's a beautiful trip down memory lane. When Shadow replays levels from his past, he's reminded of all of the traumatic events he endured, whether it's reliving the death of the only family he ever really had, being reminded of the alien DNA that runs through his body, or confronting the tortured demons that he had to put down.

Sonic X Shadow Generations teases Shadow with a potential reality where he could possibly undo some of these events. Scenes pull at your heartstrings despite how brief they might be, and a lot of that did come down to the character writing alongside the wonderful voice acting. This is probably the best Kirk Thornton has ever sounded as Shadow because, unlike previous games, he's given excellent material to work with. He works alongside Stephanie Sheh, who takes up the role of Maria, and as a long-standing veteran of the industry, she kills it. The ending is a bit anticlimactic, as it still needs to tie into the ending of Sonic Generations, but the character moments sprinkled throughout make Sonic X Shadow Generations worthwhile.

Speaking of levels, I know Sonic Generations already has some of the better 3D levels in the franchise, but I was shocked at how Shadow's gameplay raised the bar. I thought we would get recycled 3D levels from previous games with minor tweaks, but while there are familiar themes to older games, almost every level in this game is beautifully recreated from the ground up with multiple branching paths, hidden secrets, and structured for speedrunning. It's almost enough to forgive SEGA for Sonic Forces! Sonic X Shadow Generations levels could take up to ten minutes to fully explore, and then, once you've had your fill, you can find the optimal path to finish it in about a minute to get those S rankings. What's great about these levels is that they're not just repackaged Sonic levels; these are specifically designed for Shadow. They require his abilities and powers that unlock throughout the game, like water surfing and time manipulation.

Players start in a central hub, and more of that hub world is unlocked as you complete primary levels and bosses. To access those bosses, players need to get keys that will only unlock after they do challenge runs of all levels. The variety of these challenge runs isn't the best, to the point where you can complete a lot of challenges by just playing the levels again normally. Some are time trials, some are “make sure to use this ability,” and others are “kill this many enemies.” On the one hand, this makes the challenges feel unintrusive, but on the other hand, it does mean that the mini-challenges feel like they're just there for the sake of padding. Still, I appreciate that the boss fights were all distinctly unique, asking you to utilize the abilities you unlock in each section to expose their weak point.

These experiences are coupled with, you guessed it, an amazing soundtrack. It's mostly filled with recreations of familiar music and leitmotif from throughout the franchise, but I'll be damned if they're not fantastic updates and re-creations. Rarely does a Sonic game drop the ball regarding music and Sonic X Shadow Generations is no exception. There are a multitude of collectibles to acquire throughout the world, like music samples, concept art of Shadow from throughout the franchise, and more. Many of these don't enhance the game, but they are cute little distractions that celebrate Shadow as a character.

I had a feeling that I would like this game when Sega announced it, but even I was caught off guard by just how much I fell in love with it. It is, top to bottom, the best Shadow gameplay we have ever seen. It is a strong contender for one of the best 3D Sonic experiences, which is ironic considering Sonic isn't the focus of the expansion. The level design is fun, the powers add so much variety to what you can do, and the story is emotionally gripping. Some things feel repetitive, and you could still beat the game in only a couple of hours, but I could easily see myself revisiting this multiple times in the future, trying to perfect everything it has to offer. What a day to be a Shadow fan!