Despite still not having a firm launch date, Sega remains adamant that Sonic Frontiers will be here before the end of 2022. Whether that remains the case or not, we continue to learn more about what might well be the most ambitious Sonic game in decades. Whether it be good stuff like the first looks at its Cyber Space levels, or bad news like no Chao Gardens.
Yes, that's right, despite hope, speculation, and hope so strong that it became speculation, Sonic Frontiers will not be the stage on which Chao Gardens returns to the series. That much has now been confirmed by Sega's Takashi Iizuka who has been working on the hedgehog's games since Sonic 3. Iizuka answered a number of Sonic-based questions during a rapid fire interview with Game Informer, and among his answers was confirmation that Frontiers will not include Chao Gardens.
Iizuka was asked a lot of things during the interview, and Chao Gardens came up a couple of times. One of the first things he was asked is what do Sonic fans request the most, to which the answer was Chao Gardens. That sounded like it was setting the foundation for good news a few minutes later, but no luck. When asked if Frontiers will have Chao Gardens, it was a definitive no from Iizuka. No ambiguity or avoiding the question as he does a number of times in the video below, just a flatout no.
There was a little bit of good news for those of you who have been nagging Iizuka and Sega for more Chao Gardens. After confirming they won't be in Frotniers, Iizuka did assure Sonic fans that Chao aren't extinct. He pointed out that they still exist in Team Sonic Racing. As for those of you unfamiliar with Chao Gardens, they were areas in older Sonic games where you could retire to hatch and raise the creatures that were once responisble for guarding the Master Emerald.
Chao Gardens aside, there is already a lot of pressure on Frontiers. Those who have been following along with its reveals have been giving mixed reviews on what they've seen so far. The reaction to Origins, a remastered collection of the very first Sonic games, hasn't been great either. One modder working on a patch for Origins recently threw in the towel, labeling the game “absolute shit”.
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