Sonic Frontiers recently received its Final Horizon update. As the name implies, it’s probably the last significant update the newest 3D Sonic game will get, and also the first one that adds to the game's story. I know the reviews for Frontiers were mixed, but I loved it, and the additional story content, not to mention the ability to play as other characters, has solidified its position as one of my favorite Sonic games ever.

There is one thing about the Final Horizon DLC that was a little unexpected. How damn hard it is. I've loved Sonic games for longer than I can remember, but they're rarely what many gamers would consider difficult. The final few story beats of Frontiers are tough no matter who you are, although I did think it might've just been me. It wasn't until I checked social media and saw people comparing the update to Dark Souls that I was reassured I hastatic.aayyy.com/topic/dn/'t simply forgotten how to play.

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The bosses at the top of the new Trial Towers might well be the hardest I have ever come across in a Sonic game. Tough bosses aren't what's bothering me most, though. I'm actually a fan of a tough boss fight, even if they do take me 50 tries and leave me tearing my hair out. No, it's the aforementioned Trial Towers the bosses are waiting on top of that have affected me most.

After spending a little time with the three newly playable characters, you return to Sonic and must ascend each of the towers. It's effectively Sega's answer to Only Up - good news for fans of the indie hit after it was recently delisted. The difference here is Sonic can eventually reach the summit, but that summit is really, really high up.

While climbing the second tower, I made the mistake of looking down. I've attached the view I had via the screenshot below. Thankfully, the blue blur distatic.aayyy.com/topic/dn/'t drop, but my stomach did. Although Sonic doesn't take fall damage in Frontiers, I had been climbing that tower for a while. Smashing through panels and carefully maneuvering around explosives. One wrong move and I'd fall all the way to the bottom and have to start over.

via Sega

At first, I coulstatic.aayyy.com/topic/dn/'t recall ever feeling jeopardy like that in a Sonic game, and then it hit me. That feeling in my gut, that a wrong move could undo all my hard work, I had experienced it in a Sonic game before, it's just been a while. The last time my nerves were wracked that way by the blue blur was in the early '90s, experiencing Sonic for the first time, racing through the very first game's Labyrinth Zone as fast as I could.

Water levels that force you to go beneath the surface have always been a sticking point for me, and Sonic's Labyrinth Zone is the reason why. I'd desperately try to find a way through the level without having to go underwater at all, knowing damn well that wasn't possible. Instead, I would race through as fast as I could, occasionally missing an air bubble I so sorely needed. That would result in the dreaded countdown to Sonic's underwater demise, the music from which still haunts me.

Miss an air bubble or fail to make it back to the surface before the countdown reaches zero and Sonic is sent back to the nearest checkpoint – or even worse, the start of the level – just so you can face it all over again. Hence why the feeling I had climbing that trial tower felt so familiar. Knowing that if I don't do everything to perfection, I'll fall to the ground and have to start over. Good to know Sonic games are still capable of making me feel things I felt for the first time 30 years ago, and that I can now add a fear of video game heights to my fear of video game water, although thinking about it, having to walk Abby between skyscrapers in The Last Of Us Part 2 may have started that. I'm really not looking forward to watching that recreated in live-action.

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