Freedom Planet

Freedom Planet is a fast-paced action platformer inspired by Sega Genesis classics, particularly the Sonic series, which arrived on Wii U as a downloadable eShop title after first winning fans on PC thanks to its own, independently developed engine. The player chooses among several playable characters — the dragon Lilac, the feline fighter Carol, and others — each with a distinct movement repertoire, special abilities, and slightly different levels, which gives the game noticeable replay value across repeated playthroughs.

The game's pace relies on high-speed traversal of levels combined with platforming action and battles against minor enemies as well as prominent, multi-phase bosses who require memorizing attack patterns, much like in classic Sonic titles. The visual style, with detailed pixel art, colorful backgrounds, and smooth animation, evokes the peak of the 16-bit era, while the story layer with voiced dialogue and a fairly branching plot gives the game an unexpectedly more serious tone than its genre inspirations, which usually pushed story into the background. The energetic, electronic soundtrack ranks among the most praised elements of the whole game.

At the time, Freedom Planet was praised as one of the most convincing modern attempts to revive the style of classic Sonic platformers, both technically and in terms of gameplay, despite being a smaller independent project. Within the genre of fan-inspired action platformers, it became a reference point for similarly styled projects and even received its own sequel. It's still valued today as an energetic, well-crafted game that stands on its own without requiring familiarity with its inspirations, thanks in part to the choice among several differently playable characters within one campaign and the pleasantly balanced pacing of individual levels.

Why play: For an energetic, well-crafted tribute to classic Sonic platformers that can be enjoyed even without knowing its inspirations, thanks to its character selection and well-balanced level pacing.