Easy recommend, for multiple reasons. It has faults though. Also I don't exactly shy from spoilers here but I don't just reveal the whole plot either.

Let's start with the faults. The game isn't exactly that clear on what you're supposed to do early on, which consequentially makes the first island my least favorite. There's a ton you can do almost immediately and there's very little insight on what actually progresses you aside from the very obvious things you need to do.

Cyberspace is bad. Control wise at least. These are the "regular" Sonic stages for the game and they follow the boost formula we've had since 2008. This is definitely the worst boost Sonic has felt ever though, and that's including Forces. Everything else about Cyberspace is good though, music is superb, graphics are on point, level design is mostly rehashing past design, but it's rehashing design that hasn't been rehashed before so I'm kind of okay with it. The requirements to S rank are also not too bad either, save for the very first 2.

The "open zone" is where this game shines and clearly where all the effort went. The islands are pretty big, and there are 5 of them, but they also kind of feel bland. There are multiple biomes but the first biome gets reused for the final two islands so it feels like there's less to explore overall. Exploring is fun though, you really feel like Sonic or the Flash running around at such high speeds. Cyloop is also cool as a way to interact with the world and I do hope it returns.

This game is tied with Generations for me as my favorite though, and that is for two primary reasons. The story and the bosses. So, starting with the bosses, they are all Super Sonic fights. This seems like it would be repetitive, but honestly I lived for these fights after experiencing that first one. I could not put the game down because I wanted to play the next boss and I wanted the story to progress. These are the most hype Super Sonic fights in this franchise's entire history. They have moved the bar for Super Sonic fights so much higher that I fear they won't reach it again. The music, the speed of the action, the cinematics, the finishers. It's all beautiful. Plus for me seeing Super Sonic actually talk to people right after is fun, since he normally doesn't.

Finally, the story. I'm gonna try not to spoil things, but it's definitely written by a fan of the series, specifically a fan that wants the overall lore to move forward. Ian Flynn, the writer for the comics, wrote the dialogue for this game and it makes every character so much more likable than any previous game. This is my favorite story in the franchise. It also seems like they took Sonic twitter saying "everything is canon" literally, but it feels cohesive. They reference past games and shows a lot, which I thought wouldn't feel right given how wildly the world in this franchise has changed just between each game, but it feels natural. I can believe this Sonic is the same Sonic that took down Dark Gaia or Chaos or the Deadly Six. It actually makes me angry about the writing for Generations. If we had this team writing for Generations, I feel like the lore of the series would be in an extremely different spot today.

Either way, this game puts Sonic in a great spot and I hope Sega doesn't mess it up. I do think $60 is slightly too high for it. Maybe wait for a sale or price drop, but I wouldn't feel bad buying it at like $50. Like I said at the beginning, easy recommend.

Edit: With mods this game is amazing. Recommend the "Showin's Momentum Tweaks" mod to make the open world more fun to traverse.

Edit 2: With the 3 major content updates this becomes an entirely different beast. This is peak Sonic the Hedgehog, and officially my favorite Sonic game of all time.