Surely there aren't many who would dispute the success of Sonic Mania and its updated release Sonic Mania Plus, as it was easily one of the best Sonic games released in recent years on any platform.

It now seems that many of the key members who were responsible for developing Sonic Mania in conjunction with Sega are now forming their own independent game studio, Evening Star.

Here's a bit more about the newly founded company from their website...

"Evening Star is a boutique game studio founded in late 2018. Headquartered in Los Angeles, with operations in Melbourne and London, Evening Star's mission is designing fresh, fun games which will stand the test of time.

For Evening Star, being a “boutique” game studio has a specific meaning. Every member pursues a goal to make their own great games. By encouraging strong technical foundations in every discipline, members are given a voice and latitude to impact games in unique ways. By reinvigorating gaming history's more cunning techniques, the team boldly explores directions long since left behind. With that driving approach, and a proprietary engine and tool set, Evening Star has developed an innovative workflow which minimizes the barriers between ideas and execution.

Creating games that shine bright... Evening Star casts a light into the future."

Alongside the well-know Christian Whitehead as the Creative Director and Lead Engine Architect, is Dave Padilla who is the CEO and Producer, Tom Fry as the Art Director and Brad Flick as the Design Director. All of whom have previously worked on Sonic Mania Plus prior to this new venture.

It is hard to see how such an experienced team in addition to other members could be destined for anything less than brilliance when it comes to designing new games in the future especially as their mission is "designing fresh, fun games which will stand the test of time" using the Star Engine but we'll have to see how everything pans out.

Here at N-Europe we'd like to wish the new company nothing but the very best for the future and who knows... maybe we'll end up reviewing Switch games by Evening Star in the not to distant future, we can only hope.

What do you think about this latest announcement? Was the release of Sonic Mania Plus one of your favourite gaming moments of 2018? Are you excited for the potential of this new games company?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or join in with the discussion on our forum.