Coming from the official page of Sonic Forces, it appears that the ESRB has given Sonic Forces the E10+ rating for the latest 3D adventure. This will be the seventh time a mainstream Sonic game has gotten this rating. The only reason for this rating was because the game is to have “Fantasy Violence”. Which would make sense because Sonic was getting beat up by Infinite in the previous trailer.
This rating will also justify the “darker tone” of the story, as Shun Nakamura, producer and story writer on Sonic Forces, says that they will be using the Japanese story rather than Colors and Generations writer Ken Pontac and Warren Graff. Instead, they will be used to localize the script for the western audiences. Overall, Sonic Forces wants itself to be taken seriously.