More often than not, indie titles draw their inspiration from Nintendo’s NES and SNES games. Sega’s answers to the NES and the SNES, the Master Drive and Genesis (or Mega Drive, depending on your geographical region), tend to get left behind in the nostalgia vanguard. GalaxyTrail’s sidescrolling platformer, Freedom Planet, bucked this trend back in 2014 by reinterpreting elements from the Genesis’ classic Sonic games. And now, a year and a half later, Freedom Planet 2 makes its appearance in teaser trailer form, with updated artwork and gameplay.

GalaxyTrail made the announcement on Twitter yesterday, along with followup tweets that state the game is being made in the Unity engine. They also revealed voice actors for the characters.

Freedom Planet 2 is now in development! https://t.co/VLRjR4nefL

— GalaxyTrail (@galaxytrail) December 25, 2015

The trailer can be viewed below:

On Freedom Planet 2’s official website, project lead Stephen DiDuro stated that the new game will be leaving behind some of its Sonic roots to make way for a more distinctive gameplay experience.

The original Freedom Planet was modeled as a tribute to Sega Genesis platform games. We’ve learned what works and what doesn’t, what’s fun and what’s frustrating, what we should expand on and what we can afford to lose. With all of this in mind, we feel that we are ready to bid farewell to nostalgia and create a sequel that will define Freedom Planet’s identity as a franchise.

The original game’s three heroines – Lilac, Carol, and Milla – will all return as playable characters. Plot-wise, they will band together to fight an ancient evil that threatens to send the game’s three kingdoms into chaos.

Freedom Planet’s “momentum-based” gameplay will remain relatively unchanged from the first game. Players will zip around stages and send enemies flying using the speed they’ve built up from running through the stage. Stages offer more avenues for exploration than your standard Sonic game, and both item-collection and speedrun play styles will find a home in Freedom Planet 2. GalaxyTrail found that the amount of players who preferred to view cutscenes made up about half of their playerbase, so now the game offers two storytelling modes: Adventure, which features cutscenes and full voice acting, and Classic, which does not feature cutscenes.

Freedom Planet 2 will also feature two new additions to further distinguish it from a certain blue hedgehog. Players will be able to adjust the game’s difficulty (by proxy) using Gold Gems found or crafted in the game. Gold Gems adjust your character’s parameters, such as adding more lives or altering your attack power. Players can also revive themselves when they’re knocked out by using one of their spare lives, gaining a few frames of invulnerability in the process. Lastly, Freedom Planet 2 features a Guard system. Players can tap the Guard button to block or parry attacks for a split second. While players won’t be able to guard forever, the Guard mechanic seems to add a skill-based system for creatively fighting tough enemies and bosses.

No word has been given yet on Freedom Planet 2’s release date. For now, you can purchase the first game on Steam for $9.74 US, which will return to its usual $14.99 US once Steam’s Winter Sale ends on January 4th.