In Sonic X Shadow Generations, Shadow's Story has him facing off with his old enemy "Black Doom." This monstrous Alien Conqueror intends to turn Shadow into his perfect warrior to lead the Black Arms into battle, and taking him down is the main goal of Shadow's Story.

One way that Black Doom impedes Shadow's progress and tests his strength in Sonic X Shadow Generations is by creating Doom Zones. These warped zones turn up throughout the game's main levels, but they also act as the way to access the game's Hard Mode. Once you reach a certain point in the story, you can turn Shadow's White Space Hub World into a Doom Zone, causing new Hard Challenges to appear and unlocking Hard versions of all the Bosses.

Sonic X Shadow Generations_Doom Wing 2
Sonic X Shadow Generations: All Doom Powers, Explained

Shadow gains new power from his Black Arms DNA in Sonic X Shadow Generations and mastering them is essential to completing his story.

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How to Activate Doom Zone in Sonic X Shadow Generations

Sonic X Shadow Generations_Doom Zone_Tutorial

When you unlock Shadow's final ability, Doom Wing, Black Doom will transform White Space into a Doom Zone. This causes all of the Hard Challenges and Boss Fights to appear, but once you clear Radical Highway and beat Neo Devil Doom, it will revert to normal. Luckily, once this happens, you can reactivate it freely by interacting with the miniature Black Moon that appears in the center of White Space.

Interacting with this Black Moon will cause White Space to turn back into a Doom Zone, allowing Shadow to freely access the Hard Challenges and Boss Fights that appear. There is one new Challenge per Act, and the Boss Portals will take you to the Hard Versions of their respective Boss Fights when the Doom Zone is active. You can teleport to the new Challenges from the menu in the same way you can warp to the existing Challenges, or find their Challenge Gates between the existing ones for each Act.

Sonic X Shadow Generations_Hard Mode Challenge

Activating the Doom Zone also causes the Hub World Challenges (Ring and Clock Collection) to be replaced with new, harder, variants. These offer fresh rewards to players who take them on and are necessary for 100% completion, so it's important to take them all on if you're a completionist. There are a total of 14 Hard Challenge Gates that appear, three Hard Bosses, and every Hub Challenge will be replaced with a harder version, so you'll have your hands full clearing them all. Luckily, you don't need to hunt for Collection Keys in the Hard Challenge Stages, since they don't have any.

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Sonic X Shadow Generations
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9 /10
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Released
October 25, 2024
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DIGITAL
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ESRB
E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Fantasy Violence
Developer(s)
Sonic Team
Publisher(s)
Sega
Engine
Hedgehog Engine 2
Franchise
Sonic the Hedgehog
Steam Deck Compatibility
Verified
PC Release Date
October 25, 2024
Xbox Series X|S Release Date
October 25, 2024
PS5 Release Date
October 25, 2024
Nintendo Switch Release Date
October 25, 2024
Genre(s)
Platformer
OpenCritic Rating
Strong