Freedom Planet is a 2014 platform video game created and published by GalaxyTrail. Players control one of three main characters: Lilac, a dragon girl; Carol, a wildcat; or Milla, a basset hound. With help from a duck-like alien named Torque, the characters try to stop Lord Brevon, a villain who wants to steal the Kingdom Stone and take over the galaxy. The game includes fast-paced platforming levels and slower action scenes.

The game’s director, Sabrina DiDuro (also known as Strife), first made Freedom Planet as a fan game inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog. She used characters designed by a DeviantArt user named Ziyo Ling. Later, she decided to create an original game instead of copying Sonic. She changed the main character, Sash Lilac, from a hedgehog to a dragon. The villain, Doctor Eggman, was replaced by Lord Brevon, who has eyebrows similar to Eggman’s mustache. The game also removed the ring-based health system from Sonic. Fans gave suggestions that were added during development. The game was made in Denmark and the United States, and its art style includes influences from East Asian culture, such as medieval Chinese art for background designs.

Originally planned for Windows, the game was first released as a demo in August 2012. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, the full game was released on Steam in July 2014. Later versions came out for the Wii U in October 2015, PlayStation 4 in 2017, and Nintendo Switch in August 2018. Critics mostly praised the game’s gameplay, visuals, music, humor, and mix of Sonic-style elements with original ideas. However, some were unsure about the game’s pacing, voice acting, story, and long cutscenes.

A sequel, Freedom Planet 2, was released for Windows in September 2022. It later became available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in April 2024.

Gameplay

Freedom Planet is a 2D platform game. The player controls one of three characters—Lilac, Carol, or Milla—to run, jump, and defeat robotic enemies in levels. Levels include obstacles such as corkscrews, loops, hills, ramps, and rock walls. Each level has a miniboss in the middle and a main boss at the end. After defeating the boss, cutscenes advance the story. Freedom Planet is often compared to Sonic the Hedgehog games from the 1990s because of its visual style, level design, and fast-paced gameplay.

Unlike Sonic, the player character has a health meter instead of a ring-based system. To restore the meter, players collect red leaves dropped by enemies or found in levels. Lilac and Carol have a maximum of seven leaves, while Milla has four. When hit by enemies or bosses, the character’s health decreases. If health reaches zero, a life is lost. If all lives are lost, the game ends, but the player can restart from the last checkpoint. Extra lives, shields, and invincibility power-ups are hidden in levels.

Each character uses an "attack" and "special" button. Lilac and Carol have an energy gauge on the screen that recharges automatically and limits their special moves. Collecting crystals and keystones recharges the gauge faster.

Lilac’s basic attacks include strong but slow hair whips, an uppercut, a crouching kick, and a midair dive kick. Her "Dragon Cyclone" move, activated by jumping midair, lets her spin and deal damage while acting as a double jump. Her "Dragon Boost" special move allows her to dash in any direction, deals heavy damage, and makes her temporarily invincible.

Carol’s basic attacks are three quick punches or a single strong claw attack during a roll or pounce. Her pounce acts as a double jump. Her special move is a series of rapid kicks that use energy. Collecting a fuel tank lets her enter "motorcycle mode," increasing her speed and acceleration. In this mode, her double jump becomes a rolling attack with properties similar to Lilac’s cyclone move. Her "nitro boost" special move uses energy and increases speed. Carol can wall jump normally, and in motorcycle mode, she can ride up walls. She can also interact with jump pads, which lead to different paths when used in sequence.

Milla does not have an energy gauge. She can create an energy cube by holding the attack button and throw it at enemies. Holding the special button lets her use a shield to reflect attacks. Using the special button while holding a cube activates the "Super Shield Burst," a mid-range beam that pushes her backward. Milla can fly briefly by holding the jump button midair. She is often seen as the most challenging character to play because she has fewer lives and needs time to recharge her energy cube after using it.

Players can complete the game in "Adventure" mode, which includes cutscenes, or "Classic" mode, which skips them. In Adventure mode, players start by choosing Lilac or Carol after a cutscene. Milla is unlocked after completing the second stage, Relic Maze, as either Lilac or Carol. Once a stage is cleared, it becomes available in the character’s time attack mode, where players race to complete levels as quickly as possible. Players earn achievements by completing goals, such as finishing the game as a specific character or defeating a boss with a special move.

Plot

The story begins when Sash Lilac, a dragon, and Carol Tea, a wildcat, rescue a duck-billed creature named Torque after his spaceship crashes on their planet. Torque asks them to protect a powerful relic called the Kingdom Stone. This mission draws them into a conflict between three nations: Shuigang, ruled by King Dail, who has militarized his country; Shang Mu, controlled by Mayor Zao, who is focused on wealth; and Shang Tu, led by a Royal Magister unprepared for war. Lilac and Carol rush to the Kingdom Stone's shrine but are attacked by General Gong and Neera Li from Shang Tu, who doubt the Stone is in danger. The heroes arrive just as Spade, a henchman hired by Zao, steals the Stone. After the shrine collapses, Carol is trapped under rubble but is saved by Milla, a timid basset hound.

That night, Torque explains he is an alien sent to stop Arktivus Brevon, a warlord whose spaceship crashed on the planet. Brevon has invaded Shuigang, killed its king, and brainwashed Prince Dail to be his servant. He plans to use the Stone to power his ship. The heroes decide to reclaim the Stone from Zao but are attacked by Spade and Brevon's general, Serpentine. During the fight, it is revealed that Spade secretly worked for Dail. The battle delays the group, allowing Dail and Brevon's forces to steal the Stone.

Later, Zao sends the heroes as diplomats to Shang Tu to form an alliance against Shuigang. Traveling by airship, they are attacked by Shuigang's sky battalion and crash into a river near Shang Tu. At the palace, they are arrested by the Magister, who accuses them of hiding Zao's crimes. After Milla fails to escape jail, Lilac falsely claims guilt to free Torque. Lilac, Carol, and Milla break out to find Torque but discover he has been captured by Brevon and Serpentine. Carol argues with Lilac and leaves. Lilac sends Milla to find Carol and then goes to rescue Torque, but she is captured and tortured by Brevon. Meanwhile, Carol and Milla team up with Spade to storm Brevon's base and rescue Torque and Lilac. During the chaos, they are separated. Neera captures Lilac and brings her back to Shang Tu, where the Magister declares her innocent and sends her on a mission to recover an artifact containing information about the Kingdom Stone.

The Magister later reveals that Zao has challenged Shuigang for the Stone. Lilac reunites with her friends and convinces Shang Mu and Shang Tu to join forces against Dail and Brevon. During the battle, Brevon announces his ship is repaired, and Lilac, Milla, and Carol board it. They fight Brevon's forces, including his AI assistant, Syntax, and a mutated Serpentine. Brevon captures Milla and transforms her into a monster that attacks the group, forcing them to knock her unconscious. Lilac and Carol defeat Brevon, but the Stone is destroyed, and he escapes. After the battle, Milla wakes up in a medical tent, and the group sees the sky glowing with energy from the Stone. This energy ends the war. When Milla recovers, Torque says goodbye and promises to return one day.

Development

Freedom Planet was started in late 2011 by Sabrina DiDuro, an American game designer and programmer who had recently created the independent game company GalaxyTrail Games. Using the Multimedia Fusion 2 engine, the game was first planned as a small Flash game to help DiDuro practice and improve her skills as a game designer. However, the project grew into a full indie game set in a new, original universe. When DiDuro struggled to find a name for the game, she chose the first two words that came to mind: "freedom" and "planet."

Freedom Planet began as a game inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog. As development continued, DiDuro felt the game was becoming too similar to Sonic and not truly her own work. To fix this, she created a main character who honored her inspiration but had unique traits to stand out.

At first, the game was a Sonic fangame, a type of game that uses elements from an existing franchise. Early versions included rings and Doctor Eggman as the main antagonist. However, DiDuro decided that the Sonic connection would limit the game’s potential. By the time the first public demo was released, the rings were replaced with red leaves, and the characters’ abilities were changed. For example, energy for special moves was no longer based on speed but built gradually. The game’s physics and controls were also adjusted to make movement more responsive, such as making wall jumps easier and jumps less floaty to help players avoid attacks. While the game kept the fast-paced platforming style, it introduced combat mechanics inspired by one of DiDuro’s earlier Sonic fan projects. Instead of jumping on enemies, players now fight them with punches, kicks, and special attacks.

DiDuro described Freedom Planet as inspired by 1990s Japanese platform games, such as Sonic, Mega Man, and Gunstar Heroes. Lilac’s Dragon Boost ability is based on a mechanic from the game Ristar, where the main character slams into enemies. Carol’s Wild Kick resembles Chun-Li’s special move from Street Fighter, and her wall kick is similar to one in the Mega Man X games. Milla’s floating ability and item-picking feature are inspired by Yoshi’s flutter jump and Super Mario 2’s throwing mechanics.

Although the game was developed in Denmark and the United States, its art style was influenced by medieval East Asian art, especially from China. The game’s visuals also include elements of modern science fiction and fantasy. Much of the text in the game is written in Chinese characters, and the logo includes a subtitle in Japanese katakana: Furīdamu Puranetto (フリーダム・プラネット), even though the game originally did not support Japanese language.

DiDuro’s first attempt to design her own main character was not successful. She found Chinese artist Ziyo Ling on the art website DeviantArt and asked for permission to use her characters Sash Lilac, Carol Tea, and Milla in her game. Lilac was originally designed as a hedgehog but was changed to a dragon after feedback about her similarity to Sonic. The character Lord Brevon, who replaced Robotnik, was inspired by Dr. Sloth, a character DiDuro admired from Neopets.

The game’s soundtrack was created by DiDuro with the help of Leila "Woofle" Wilson and Claire "Blue Warrior" Ellis. Woofle worked on final arrangements for most tracks, while DiDuro provided initial compositions in MIDI format. Voice actor Dawn M. Bennett, who voiced Lilac, recorded samples for two tracks. There were disagreements about the music’s direction, with DiDuro wanting fast-paced, energetic music and Woofle preferring a more gradual, happy tone that grew intense over time. Woofle found composing the track "Sky Battalion" particularly challenging and described it as the hardest project of her career. Despite this, she praised DiDuro as a talented musician and a pleasant collaborator.

After the game was released, updates were added, such as making Milla playable in Adventure mode in December 2015. Plans to add Torque and Spade as playable characters were delayed until 2016 to focus on the sequel. DiDuro also expressed dissatisfaction with how Torque’s movements felt in existing levels, which contributed to the delay.

Release

Freedom Planet was first released as a demo for Microsoft Windows in August 2012. It received positive feedback from players. The full version of the game was funded through Kickstarter. After that, it was sent to Steam Greenlight and approved for release on Steam. The game was originally planned for early 2014, but the release was delayed to June 30. It was delayed again to July 19 because the developers wanted to promote the game at a convention in Miami, Florida, and avoid competition from discounted games during Steam's Summer Sale. A third delay moved the release date to July 21, as Steam did not allow game releases on weekends. On the same day the game was released, GalaxyTrail also released the Freedom Planet – Official Soundtrack as downloadable content (DLC).

To advertise the game, GalaxyTrail created branded T-shirts. The character Lilac was included as an Easter egg in the 2013 game Sonic: After the Sequel. DiDuro considered but decided against making an Android version of the game. Instead, the company saved money to port the game to the PlayStation Vita. The game was later released on GOG.com in late 2014. GalaxyTrail also made versions for Mac OS X and Linux, which were released on Steam on April 17, 2015.

A version of Freedom Planet for the Nintendo Wii U was planned for release on the eShop in late 2015, later set for August 13. A demo was released as part of a promotion called "Nindies@home," where players could try several upcoming Wii U games from June 15 to 22. However, the release was delayed due to a "console-freezing bug" that caused the system to freeze. This bug was difficult to detect because it only occurred in retail versions of the console. Fixing the bug required a hard reset, which could damage the hardware. After the issue was resolved, the game was released on the eShop on October 1. Players who tried the demo received a 15-percent discount. On the American Nintendo eShop, Freedom Planet became a top-selling game, reaching the second spot, just behind Super Mario Maker.

In November 2015, GalaxyTrail partnered with IndieBox, a subscription box company, to release an exclusive physical version of Freedom Planet. This collector's edition included a flash drive with a DRM-free game file, the official two-disc soundtrack, an instruction manual, a Steam key, and custom-designed collectibles. As of June 2016, combined sales of the Steam and Wii U versions reached over 250,000 copies.

A version of Freedom Planet for the Nintendo Switch was released by Marvelous Inc. and Xseed Games on August 30, 2018. Quality-of-life updates and new language options were added to other versions shortly after. In 2019, GalaxyTrail worked with Limited Run Games to release a physical version of the Switch edition. The Switch Limited Run #35: Freedom Planet and Freedom Planet Deluxe Edition included a cover with interior art, a full-color booklet, the two-disc soundtrack, a reversible poster, and a Genesis-style case. The Deluxe Edition was available for pre-order.

Reception

Tony Ponce from Destructoid said the demo for Freedom Planet was good because it used a familiar style in a new way with new characters. Jeffrey Matulef from Eurogamer called the preview an "indie Sonic-esque platformer done right" and liked the redesigned health system. Dominic Tarison from IndieStatik praised the game’s use of classic 16-bit game elements in a new way but said the amount of visible gameplay area was too small. John Polson from IndieGames.com noted that special moves like loops and wall runs were not as exciting as in Sonic games but encouraged fans of platformers to try the demo.

Nathan Grayson from Kotaku said the demo balanced old Sonic elements with new ideas, calling it "a love letter to classic Sonic, except when it's not." He liked the enemies but had some control problems. He said the game moved slower than old Sonic games because of added combat, but this let players explore more. Grayson did not like the voice acting. Ponce praised the visuals but said the background designs were too simple. Polson noted small audio and visual issues, like reused sound effects from old Sonic games, but liked the music. Tarison praised the music, visuals, and the variety of environments and characters.

Freedom Planet received mostly positive reviews when it was released. Jahanzeb Khan from Hardcore Gamer said it was a good follow-up to the 1994 game Sonic 3 & Knuckles, calling it "perhaps the most Sonic game since 1994." Jonatan Allin from Eurogamer’s Danish version agreed with Khan. Griffin McElroy from Polygon said the game balanced ideas from Sonic and Rocket Knight Adventures without feeling too similar to them. McElroy and Pablo Taboada from MeriStation compared the game to work by developer Treasure. Taboada said the game was not well-known and suggested it might have been more popular if Treasure had made it.

Khan said the game’s levels felt just right in length and included exciting moments like chase scenes, mazes, traps, and shooting sections. Taboada thought the game was short enough for speedrunners but not deep enough for others. Japanese site 4Gamer said the game’s unique features kept players interested for a long time, and Taboada liked the large, exploration-focused levels.

Taboada said the game’s visuals were "technically excellent" and praised the colorful backgrounds, character animations, sound effects, and music. Khan agreed, saying the game looked artistic and had high-quality graphics. He called the audio a mix of catchy music and fun beats. Both Khan and 4Gamer noticed the game’s East Asian visual style. Taboada said the characters were fun to play, and Allin said the story was engaging, though some players might skip cutscenes.

Sequel

A follow-up game, Freedom Planet 2, was released on September 13, 2022, for Windows computers. Xseed Games published versions for consoles on April 4, 2024.