Gaming

Sonic the Hedgehog’s murder goes viral with one million downloads

The rare example of a good April Fools’ Day joke.

by
Roger Feeley-Lussier
April 6, 2023

sonic the hedghog is standing in the street A person stands in the street.

Image: Steam

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On March 31, 2023 the notorious Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account posted what, on first glance, looked like an (early) April Fools’ Day prank.

Except this time around, the “prank” was real.

The world’s most famous erinaceid had fallen victim to a murder most foul.

The Sonic Social team proudly presents: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog!

A brand new Sonic game. Available right now. On Steam. For FREE! pic.twitter.com/qOsvdwCU2b
— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) March 31, 2023

What happened to Sonic? Is he okay?

screenshot from the murder of sonic the hedgehog game

Calm down, it’s just a video game.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is a point-and-click style detective game, in the the style of LucasArts classics Grim Fandango, Maniac Mansion, or The Secret of Monkey Island.

The freeware game was released via Steam and has received overwhelmingly positive reviews, and currently has a rating of 87 on Metacritic.

The game is killing it on Steam

On April 5, 2023, Sonic the Hedgehog social media manager Katie Chrzanowski, posted that the game had reached an auspicious milestone.

https://twitter.com/KatieChrz/status/1643677451208519680

In six days, the game had reached 1,000,000 downloads and now boasts 11,146 positive reviews, ranking it in the top 100 best-reviewed Steam releases of all time.

And she had good reason to celebrate, because she was part of the team that developed The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog – as she detailed in a thread when the game dropped.

A little over a year ago, I pulled together a group of friends and pitched the idea of making a game that would go on to become The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog.

I am SO dang proud of this team and what we were able to create, and there's SO many thanks I want to give:

(thread) pic.twitter.com/tweFufsYf0
— Katie – MiniKitty (@KatieChrz) April 1, 2023

If you like the Sonic the Hedgehog series, or point-and-click detective games, put your sleuthing skills to the test and try to solve this intriguing mystery on your own.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog game is available for free download on Steam.

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