Creeper Gorge

Creeper Gorge is the seventh area of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric. It is a black gorge with a nature befitting its name, filled with thick fog, giant living vines covered in thorns and abandoned structures. The gorge is apparently not meant for living beings to wander in as indicated by the local remains of once great beasts.

During the events of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, Team Sonic journey through Creeper Gorge in search of the Twilight Crystal where Eggman eventually comes after them with his newest mech.

Overview
Creeper Gorge is an extremely hostile and uninviting environment. It is completely comprised of menacing, jagged spires made of black rock with blue veins and form countless gorges filled with water. The entire region is covered in thick fog in eerie colors: the fog in the gorges are completely back and obscures view, while the fog overcasting the sky is a sick green. The entrance to Creeper Gorge is marked by a rock formation resembling a skull with glowing eyes and a grinning mouth, and the paths are smooth, yet extensively cracked surfaces. Additionally, the area is unstable due to constant earthquakes and rock slides.

Creeper Gorge is seemingly an uninhabitable area for living beings and holds skeletons of animals at the size of buildings in the walls. Regardless, it holds flora like pale flowers and grass, and, most prominently, gigantic vines. These vines are up to several meters thick with pink thorns, white flowers and grow in abundance. More unnerving about them is that they are alive and extremely hostile, moving around or spouting roots to attack.

Through Creeper Gorge lies abandoned and heavily eroded constructions from the Ancients, such as broken wooden structures, empty buildings and still functional hangars. Deep within though, lies a reserved complex from the Ancients (which is presumed to be the reason why nobody comes to Creeper Gorge), surrounded by metallic objects resembling planets. This complex shoots a column of light into the sky which can be seen everywhere.

Story
A thousand years ago, the Ancients hid away the Twilight Crystal, one of their own Chaos Crystals, away in Creeper Gorge so that Lyric would not be able to find it.

In the present day, Team Sonic came to Creeper Gorge to find the Twilight Crystal, where they split up upon arrival. Later on, Tails and Amy saw Lyric salvaging a device he needed for his robot army when he was confronted by Dr. Eggman in his mech. Lyric tried taking control of Eggman's mech, but its manual controls made it impossible. Eggman, intending to eliminate Lyric and become the dominant villain, attacked him with his mech's missiles, but they all missed and Lyric left. Furious, Eggman saw Tails and Amy nearby and went after them. With Eggman on their heels, Tails and Amy reunited with Sonic and Knuckles, and they took the fight to the Ancient's complex, where Eggman intended to crush Sonic for good. Once again though, Team Sonic defeated Eggman and made him retreat, and the team took the Twilight Crystal, which Eggman had found prior, from the mech's remains.

Gameplay
In Creeper Gorge, the player travels through several gorges to arrive at the Ancients' complex in the center. Like other areas in Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, Creeper Gorge includes speed level sections, where the player runs down a long path with speed-enhancing gimmicks while avoiding hazardous obstacles, and as well slower-paced areas for exploration and combat. It also features puzzles the player must solve with the Enerbeam mechanic and Button.

Creeper Gorge contains gimmicks for all four playable characters' specific character actions, though they are fewer in number than in previous levels. These include Spin Ramps for Sonic, Climbable Walls for Knuckles, Tails Vents for Tails and Balance Beams and Beam Swings for Amy. Environmental hazards in Creeper Gorge mainly revolve around the large vines that when touched cause damage to both players and enemies alike. Some vines block the player's path by holding rocks, but they will retract or move away when the rocks are destroyed. Other vines block the path by moving around in circles, with only small spaces between their ends, meaning the player has to time their movements to get pass them. In open areas, pillars of vines can also instantly sprout out of the ground and then retract as traps, though the ground will start moving at their emerging point just before they appear, allowing the player to anticipate them. Additionally, in speed level sections, the vines or their roots can suddenly sprout out on the path and become damaging obstacles.

Besides vines, there are platforms with pink cracks that will fall into bottomless pits shortly after stepping out on them, though they will respawn. At times, the floor will also crumble away (though this actually reveals new paths) and blocked paths or enemies will be cleared by falling boulders when approached. In the second half of the level, the Eggman Mech will also pursue the player, where it will either shoot cannonballs or missiles, which cause damage, at the playable character. While the player cannot block cannonballs, they can lasso missile with the Enerbeam and use them to break down barriers.

Description
The player's objective in Creeper Gorge is to find the Twilight Crystal. At the beginning, the player enters a speed level section. Once cleared, the player takes control of Sonic and Knuckles. The player must then scale a vine-infested cliff to reach a bottomless pit, filled with vines and with small platforms leading across it. Cross the platforms to reach the other side and enter another speed level section there. This will take the player to a path of unstable platforms over a pit, which the player must cross to reach an Ener-Rail and ride it.

At the new section the player must throw enemies into some vines to make them retract and unveil a new path. This will lead into a labyrinth of vines where the player must find a Bounce Pad leading to another Ener-Rail. This rail will take the player to a field with vine hedges and spontaneous vine sprouts which has a puzzle on its opposite end. Solving this puzzle will create a path, upon where the player takes control of Tails and Amy. The player must then follow the created path into a speed level section.

At the end, the Eggman Mech appears where its missiles must be used to destroy a barrier. Continue down the opened path, while dodging Eggman's cannon fire for the first half, to a cargo area. Here, the player must press some Buttons that will unlock doors holding character gimmicks. Move these gimmicks out and use them to reach a path above which leads to an Ener-Rail. The player must ride the Ener-Rail while dodging the Eggman Mech's cannon fire, until they reach a platform where they have to lasso the Eggman Mech's missiles into two nearby rock pillars while dealing with Eggman's artillery and enemies. Once the pillars are destroyed, a new path is opened and the player gains control of Sonic and Knuckles too. The player then has to continue down the new path and take a speed level section to the site of the Eggman Mech boss battle, thus completing the level.

Collectibles

 * Crowns: 21
 * Shinies: 6
 * Robot Scrap Chests: 20

Trivia

 * The entrance to Creeper Gorge resembles the face of the Time Eater from Sonic Generations.