It’s currently the highest rated Sonic game on Steam
Once upon a time, April Fool’s Day was an internet-wide extravaganza. Everyone frommobile game developerstoGoogleparticipated in the jokester’s holiday, to varied results. These days, the festivities still exist, butthey’re tepid enough to confuse legitimate news with gags. That said, if there was one clear winner of April Fool’s Day 2023, it is absolutelySonic the Hedgehog.
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, the free promotionalSonic the Hedgehoggame released for PC via Steam on April 1, has surprised one million downloads in less than a week. Katie Chrzanowski, the social media manager for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, shared this newson April 5. The success of the title is particularly meaningful to Chrzanowski, as she brought together the team that pitched and created it.
“it’s definitely not standard process for a Social team to develop and publish a game,” said Chrzanowskiin an extended Twitter thread, “but everyone was so patient and helpful in guiding us through the process and I’m so thankful for them going out of their way to assist.”
Over 1,000,000 of you have grabbed The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog and it’s currently the #61 highest rated game on Steam of ALL TIME.
Absolutely unreal. Thank you all so, so much. 💙pic.twitter.com/Cy2cIo2AHl
— Katie – MiniKitty (@KatieChrz)Aug 07, 2025
A new legend in the Sonic canon
Clearly, this unorthodox approach worked for the game in the end. Not only doesThe Murder of Sonic the Hedgehoghave a spectacular download count, it has been received enormously well.With an Overwhelmingly Positive review consensus, the game unironically is the #61sthighest rated game on Steam. While the novelty of Sonic’s murder clearly drew eyes on the title to begin with, the quality of the content itself clearly lived up to expectations.
“This game has no business being SO GOOD as an April Fool’s joke! Like what?!” Saysone top-rated review on Steam. “Unironically a very fun game. Great music, well written plot and characterization.” Readsyet another top review.
It’s important to put this release into context, of course. A free game with an immediately eye-catching hook will naturally garner enormous goodwill from the community. WhetherThe Murder of Sonic the Hedgehogis legitimately, seriously the bestSonic the Hedgehoggame is obviously debatable.
Still, seeing the success of this little game that could is undoubtedly heartwarming. The Sonic community isfamouslypassionate for this franchise, to the point thatone of the greatest Sonic games of all time is sometimes called a fangame. Chrzanowski’s team was clearly able to tap into that memetic energy that has kept the fandom alive for all these years and give something special back to the fans. Or maybe everyone was just ready to see Sonic the Hedgehog murdered.
Either way, congratulations to everyone responsible for giving the people what they always wanted.
