As the digital edition of Sonic Forces goes on pre-order, a Shadow falls

Sega’s second Sonic title of 2017, Sonic Forces is now available for pre-order digitally. That’s not all today, as Shadow has been announced as free DLC.

Free Shadow and a digital deluxe edition

First, let’s talk Shadow, because he’s the (arguably) bigger reveal this week. The black and red ‘Hog is indeed coming to Sonic Forces. Even better, he will be a free downloadable for the game as of day one. As to how he’ll be implemented in the game itself, Shadow will have a fresh set of three stages to play through. In addition, he’ll also be playable in a 10 pack of “Modern” Sonic’s own levels.

All together, the level pack is known as the Episode Shadow, and takes place before the main game’s story. According to Sega, the pack will follow Shadow and focus “on the mysterious backstory between Shadow and Infinite” (Forces’ main villain).

Again, the pack is free to download for everyone who buys a copy of the game. And that means whether you pre-ordered or not. What will be exclusive to pre-orders though, and specifically Digital Bonus Edition pre-orders, is a Shadow costume that you can use when making your Custom Hero Character. Apparently you won’t be able to get that little extra anywhere else.

Important to note, is that the Digital Bonus Edition won’t be made available on the Nintendo Switch. And also, while pre-orders are live now for that version of the game on the PS4 and Xbox One, the PC version won’t be pre-orderable till the 21st of this month (September). So watch for that.

Sonic Forces arrives on the Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC on November 7.