Japan’s Sonic Forces demo on Nintendo Switch only lets you play its stages for one minute

What's the point then?

You have to feel for Sonic fans sometimes as they really do get the short end of the stick in just about everything. While things were looking up with the high reception of Sonic Mania, it seems things are off to a bit of an iffy start with Sonic Forces, and I'm not even talking about the gameplay itself. Today, Japanese Nintendo Switch owners (or indeed anyone with a Japanese account) got the chance to download a playable demo of Sonic Forces.

The demo features three stages, Green Hill Zone, a boss battle against Eggman (Robotnik), and an Avatar level, each of which features a countdown timer allowing players only one minute of game time. GameXplain posted a new video today titled "The Sonic Forces Demo is Awful," showing off each level and the befuddlement of the sudden "Thanks for Playing Screen" that pops up when time runs out.

Now, it'd be one thing if the levels had a timer, and there were objects in the environment to collect to extend the time, but no. It's just one minute, and that's it.

This isn't to say that Sonic Forces is going to be a lousy game if anything it's just impossible to determine one way or the other when the demo takes the game away from the player just as they're getting going. I don't know if SEGA is worried about giving away too much, or what, but either way this restriction doesn't reflect well on the company or the game.

Sonic Forces releases next month on November 7th for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

[GameXplain via Gamespot]