21st of July 2025

Freedom Planet & Freedom Planet 2

I grew up with the 16-bit Mega Drive Sonic games, and while I largely lost interest in the franchise after they switched to 3D, I've tried to keep up with what's going on with Sonic, hoping for a game that'd revive that spirit of the good Sonic games. (This is of course subjective, as some feel nostalgic for the clunky first 3D games like Sonic Adventure.) For sure, we pretty much got what we wanted when Sonic Mania was released, but that merely left us oldskool fans craving for more.
Freedom Planet started off as a Sonic fan game, and it shows. The zones are filled with loops, jump springs, speedy characters, the plot is about preventing the bad guy from getting his hands on a gemstone, and Lilac, the protagonist, is obviously modelled after Sonic. That being said, if Freedom Planet is essentially a Sonic fan game, it's better than any Sonic game since Sonic & Knuckles (and yes, that includes Mania). The game is fun, challenging, replayable and has one of the best videogame soundtracks out there.

Having played through the sequel five times now, the first Freedom Planet seems a bit crude now in graphics and presentation. But therein also lies its charm, an innocence lost if you will. Balance-wise it's a bit too heavy on bosses being unforgiving; they have patterns, but they're often so fast that learning the patterns becomes a process of trial and error. For the most part it's okay, but they went a bit overboard with some of the stuff in the last few zones where you might easily die a hundred times. (You'll also quickly realize that lives mean nothing, as continues are functionally identical to lives, and there's no way to run out of them. Perhaps this was a quick solution when they saw their playtesters were getting slaughtered.) As said, the zones are of the Sonic variety with lots of similar gadgets and badniks. They are engaging as well: Unlike in, say, Spark the Electric Jester, you cannot just sleepwalk your way through them. Music is excellent all-around, borrowing influences from here and there, reminiscent of Sonic and many other things from the mid-to-late-'90s while still sounding modern, being uplifting, loud (but never annoyingly so) and highly melodic. (I'd check out at least Dragon Valley, Relic Maze, Aqua Tunnel, Pangu Lagoon and Thermal Base for the best tunes.) Voice acting is charming and cute even if slightly amateurish occasionally (but not really to the game's detriment).

Sonic didn't have much in the way of cutscenes, but the little it had was hugely impressive to a kid back in the day ('member the betrayal scene in the Hidden Palace; how awesome was that?!). Freedom Planet is quite story-heavy in comparison with pretty long cutscenes between its zones. While they are entertaining, they definitely stretch out for too long, and this is one of those games where pressing Ok immediately cuts to the next text box rather than fully revealing the previous one first (which would make it easier for us quick readers to get on with it). That being said, there's a Classic mode for those who don't care about the story at all. But if you're playing for the first time, I wouldn't recommend skipping the story. There's a lot of light-hearted stuff that some may find annoying (then you're playing the wrong game) but also some serious, even shocking scenes while never forgetting its upbeat, can-do undertone.

You've got three characters: Lilac, Carol and Milla. Each character has different abilities that make playing the zones feel even significantly different, especially the boss battles. (And Milla has far less health than the other two, making her essentially a hard-mode character. She has a shield to compensate, but it's never obvious where it's useful.) This along with changes to cutscenes boosts the game's replay value. But really the biggest reward is that a few of the zones are entirely character-specific.

Freedom Planet 2 suffered from a series of delays, no wonder really for an indie project that's considerably longer and more ambitious than its predecessor. The sequel feels less like a Sonic fan game, but it's still strongly within the genre of Sonic-type platformers. In addition to the old cast of Lilac, Carol and Milla you've also got Neera, the "scary panda lady" who served as a semi-antagonist in the first game. This time the game is more fleshed out with its story and lore. You navigate on an overworld map that gives you a good sense of where everything in the first game was located in. The zones are better balanced; bosses are a bit more forgiving now, but you start each zone with just two lives and are punished for using continues (although unfortunately not really significantly). This incentivizes exploration and being careful (admittedly these two often conflict). The are still plenty of cutscenes, but overall I felt their share of the total playtime (not counting retries) is considerably less than in the first game. Voice acting now sounds more polished and professional while still being lovingly cheery and cartoony when the situation calls for it. Those annoyed by such things can once again skip all of it by playing the Classic mode. It's also now possible to speed up dialog boxes without missing important text.

Combat is more fun this time around with added moves and invincibility frames that you really need to master if you wish to beat the game, especially its six-stage final boss (although Merga is still admittedly easier than Brevon from the first game). Lilac is still the easy-mode character (I cannot tell how much I enjoy being able to now interrupt her Dragon Boost attack) while Neera has taken Milla's place as the hard-mode character. Carol has her moments, but in my opinion she's the least interesting character to play as in both games. Rewards for playing as different characters are less this time around, as everyone gets the exact same set of levels, but I still had plenty of fun playing the game from start to finish five times despite the sequel being about three times as long as the first one. Some of the bosses can be aggravatingly difficult but still ultimately fair; each playable character has her strengths and weaknesses that are most visibly exposed in these boss battles. Against some bosses the aggressive approach works (you'll accept taking more damage but hope the boss dies first; this doesn't work so well or at all on hard though) while with others you really need to pay attention to their patterns and play carefully.

The zones are also varied enough and provide different gameplay gimmicks (many still reminiscent of Sonic), although the "core" gameplay always stays more or less the same (aside from a single "shmup" stage). Graphics are better than in the first game with more vivid colors and more detailed backgrounds. You now also get permanent inventory items that you can select and switch up between the zones. Some of these are handicaps that boost your rewards. When the game was released there were some annoyances with respect to the inventory interface and controls (especially for selecting stuff like potions), but I've gotten used to these idiosyncracies over multiple playthroughs (and they did fix some issues with patches). There are also collectibles to collect and a secret final map, so there's a lot of replay value here - not to mention the ultimate test of your experience, the hard mode. (Too bad though the collectibles don't stack over multiple playthroughs.) Oh, and the music is still excellent, similar in style to the first game but more refined and varied. In fact, I'd rate it up there among five best videogame soundtracks of all time. (Check out at least Dragon Valley, Sky Bridge, Bakunawa Map and Merga.)

Conclusion: If you're tired of waiting for Team Sonic to realize there's money to be made in Sonic platformers, look no further than these two games. Freedom Planets 1 and 2 have a great selection of zones and characters that offer plenty of exploration and replay value, the boss battles are plenty of fun (and often tears) and both games have soundtracks that rank among the best of all time. The first game has some balancing issues, and the cutscens may be too long for some even in the better-adjusted sequel, but you can get around that by opting for the Classic mode. A cannot-miss if you're looking for something like the oldskool Sonic experience and don't mind a bit of challenge.

Freedom Planet:

Freedom Planet 2: