Sonic Origins has a few problems, but it's a neat little collection. That's what I thought when I reviewed it on PlayStation anyway. It turns out that PC players aren't having a good time at all. Graphical and performance issues have plagued this re-release of the Mega Drive games since launch, with modders having to come to the rescue. However, for one fan who was working on a huge unofficial patch, it's all just too much.
BetterOrigins, a massive mod that aimed to fix dozens of errors and bugs, has been put on hold. Creator Xanman says that digging through the game's files has brought him to one conclusion: the game is "absolute shit". Because of this, he's put BetterOrigins on an indefinite hiatus. He says he might come back to it one day, but for now, the message is clear: "screw this game."
"Hey, so we decided to stop the development of this project. After really digging into the files for this game, it's become way clearer that this game is absolute shit", writes Xanman over on the mod's GameBanana page. "We've fixed enough where the game is a bit more serviceable but really, especially without scripts, there's not a whole lot we can 'fix' without just redoing sprites."
Signing off, it doesn't sound like anything else will be added to BetterOrigins for some time. "MAYBE I'll come back to this in the future, when script editing becomes a thing. But for now, screw this game."
Even with development being pulled, BetterOrigins still fixes a whole lot of issues. These range from a bunch of sprite fixes, making it so the correct colours and animations are displayed, to amending other various apparent mistakes in the game's visuals. It also updates the information that appears in the game's museum mode, giving song tracks more accurate titles and rewriting their in-game descriptions.
All in all, it's safe to say that Origins was met with a mixed reception from fans. While it was great to re-experience these classic Sonic titles, much of the conversation centred around the performance issues on PC. Many suspect that this is because of the use of DRM, which was a very unpopular decision as soon as it was revealed.
Sonic Origins is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.