Note 2: I'm not against the idea of a lighthearted Sonic game story, I just want a sort of balance like the adventure era and other games have.

Note: I do not think games like SA2, heroes, Unleashed etc etc are grim dark, the "serious stories" are stories like the adventure era and some games from the dark age.

I guess I'm immune to cringe.

Perfection!

Yeah it's better than rise of lyric but still not the best, however like some sonic games it had a lot of potential.