Sonic Mania may have been a solid reminder that there's still an audience hungry for old-school, high-speed platforming, but let's not forget that tiny indie outfit GalaxyTrail got there first with their sleeper hit, Freedom Planet, which originally released to little fanfare but eventually became a multi-platform hit.

While Freedom Planet 2 won't be ready in time for 2017, GalaxyTrail have at least been kind enough to end the year with a bundle of blazing fast gameplay footage, plus an updated demo, allowing you to sample a lengthy and explorable level as all four playable characters.

Even Sonic Mania was a glorified fan-game, made by a crew of veteran Sonic modders and hackers. As far as returning to old-school design goes, the future is indie. Check out some of our favorites of the past few years.

It would be short-sighted to call Freedom Planet 2 a mere Sonic clone. Just from the footage you can see above, it's easy to see that it draws inspiration from other platformer studios, such as Konami's more combat-heavy Rocket Knight series, and there's more than a dash of Treasure inspiration there, with nods to Gunstar Heroes in a lot of its boss designs. But Sonic is clearly a key design touchstone, as you can see from the spring-boosting, loop-de-looping breakneck movement speed.