It's been a rough stretch of years for Sonic the Hedgehog, but Sega wants to change that in Sonic Forces.

The upcoming game follows the example set by the earlier Sonic Generations, letting players tackle both 3D worlds (as Modern Sonic) and 2D worlds (as Classic Sonic). But there's also a third Sonic in this game: the one you create.

Capitalizing on the "Sonic Original Characters" meme -- often shortened to Sonic OCs -- Forcesgives players a full-fledged character creator to play with. You don't even have to be a hedgehog; there are seven animals to choose from, including dog. So everyone should be a dog, obviously.

Whatever you choose to create, it becomes a playable piece of the game with its own gadgets and quirks. How your Sonic OC factors into the story remains to be seen.

On the internet, Sonic OCs are fan creations of varying quality. Just search for your first name with "the Hedgehog" after it and you'll find examples. Most of them come from a place of sincere fandom, but that doesn't make them any less hilarious.

Obviously, the Sonic Forcescharacter creator sets a reasonable quality bar for your creations. Much like character creators in other games, you're choosing looks for different parts of your Sonic OC's body from a set (and presumably growing) assortment of options.

Will this be the feature that lures Sonicfans back to the series that's wronged them time and time again? We'll see. But Sega wisely decided that the community might know best when it comes to figuring out what fans actually like.

Sonic Forcesis coming in late 2017 for PC, PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One.