New Chao Garden inspired indie game, Star Garden, launches Kickstarter and downloadable demo

Hey, Sonic fans. You miss the Chao Garden. I miss the Chao Garden. We all miss the Chao Garden. Game Garage misses the Chao Garden too, so they made a whole new game based on it.

Star Garden is an all-new 3D action racing game from indie developer Game Garden. Taking the cuddly creature customization and caring aspect of Sonic Adventure 1&2’s Chao Gardens, the unconventional, yet fun racing action of Nintendo and HAL Labratory’s Gamecube classic Kirby Air Ride, and the cute and whimsical Y2K stylings of many games on both the Gamecube and the Dreamcast, Star Garden promises a unique racing and exploration experience for you and up to 5 other players in multiplayer. Now the game is ready for the big time, with a demo now available on Steam and a Kickstarter which has burst WAY past it’s initial fundraising goal of $35,000 USD. As of this writing, the game has raised over $140,000, 4x their goal, with no sign of slowing down and more and more stretch goals coming in. People seem to think this game’s kinda neat.

Currently, the game is only planned for a PC release on Steam, with Nintendo Switch 1&2 ports being considered as a potential possibility. A stretch goal was added later on to guarantee PlayStation and Xbox ports when (At this rate, there’s no point in saying “if”) the Kickstarter raises $165,000.

EDIT: Sure enough, that stretch goal was reached. PlayStation and Xbox ports are happening now.

To find out more about this game, and its surprising star power that Sega fans may be familiar with already, as well as directions to the Kickstarter if you got money to spare, you can race past the break and learn more.

Star Garden sees you fill the shoes of Leo or Lyra, two out of six space ecologists who have found a planet of adorable little Chao-like creatures called Lumi. Much like the Chao of Sonic Adventure, the Lumi can be cared for in a special garden by feeding them special foods that also raise up several stats and add different features to their bodies. Unlike Chao, Lumi can evolve into special flying vehicles depending on how they were raised. You ride the Lumi through a special adventure field where you find secrets that expand the areas you can explore and unlock new areas and abilitie, further develop your relationship with your Lumi, and advance a story in which this team of explorers uncovers mysteries about this planet, the Lumi, and a mysterious cloaked recluse.

The game is planned currently to feature 10 unique racetracks and 5 adventure fields. The racing and exploration action, as well as how the Lumi vehicles control, are all based on the mechanics of Kirby Air Ride. Each environment is filled with items to raise your Lumi and challenges to conquer. These environments are also part of the multiplayer mode, which includes races and a battle mode similar to the unique City Trial mode of Kirby Air Ride. These multiplayer modes are accessible both locally and online, with up to 4 players able to play locally and up to 6 online.

The game’s also got some star power behind it. (Pun not intended) The mysterious possible-antagonist in the game, Lynx, will be voiced by the original voice of Shadow the Hedgehog: David Humphrey. Humphrey was previously the voice of Shadow in his debut title, Sonic Adventure 2, as well as in Sonic Heroes and Sonic Battle. The announcer for the game will be TJ Davis, best known as the singer featured in Sonic R. Thanks to a certain stretch goal in the Kickstarter being achieved a while ago, Davis will also be singing a new vocal theme song for Star Garden.

As a special note for Sega/Atlus fans, one of the player characters, Lyra, is voiced by Lizzie Freeman, who voiced Metis in Persona 3 Reload. She’s also best known as the voice of Pomni in The Amazing Digital Circus. A special character from a free DLC collab coming later, Jack Flash, will be voiced by Zeno Robinson, who was previously Junpei from Persona 3 Reload and Squares from Puyo Puyo Tetris 2.

Jack Flash comes from Endless Fantasia, an indie comic created by IDW Sonic the Hedgehog comic book writer Daniel Barnes. Endless Fantasia is also currently funding on Kickstarter, where it has yet to reach its goal of $30,000 USD with more than 30 days left as of this writing, so go check that out and consider backing that one too.

The Star Garden Kickstarter page went live on September 2nd, 2025, where it then eclipsed its $35,000 goal in a matter of hours. While the Kickstarter is still live, you can consider backing the game for a variety of different rewards, including a copy of the game for yourself on Steam or copies for you and a couple of your friends, all at a discount from the full game’s launch price. There are also plenty of physical rewards you can get spring for if you have plenty of dough, such as t-shirts, plushies, keychains, stickers, and a printed prequel manga.

If you’re not already sold on the game, consider trying the free demo that launched on Steam simultaneously with the Kickstarter. It features a look at the Lumi Garden and the battle mode, which is also playable online. Believe it or not, the demo immediately shot up to the top of Steam’s popular demo charts when it launched and active online lobbies always seem to be available. If you didn’t already download it and help send it up those charts yourself, you can find that demo here, where you’re also encouraged to wishlist the game if you like it. Game Garage also has a discord where you can chat with fans and development staff, submit bug reports from the demo, and coordinate with others for joining online lobbies and voice chat during matches.

Before you back the Kickstarter, remember that Kickstarter is not to be thought of as a store. Remember that the purpose of Kickstarter is to crowdfund a project, in this case, a video game, still in active development and you may not be guaranteed a refund if the whole thing goes pear shaped. You’ll also be expected to wait a while for any physical rewards that are part of your pledge. You should be at peace with all that before you pledge money to any Kickstarter and ask yourself how important that project really is to you. After that, you can check out the Kickstarter page right here and go over all the detailed info on the game, stretch goals, and pledge rewards. Links to the demo and the Discord server, among other things, can also be found there.

Fortunately, Star Garden is far enough in development that Game Garage feel confident enough to commit to a December 2027 release date for the game. If the demo is any indication, there certainly seems to be some truth to that declaration. All of Game Garden’s staff have already worked tirelessly on Star Garden out of their own pockets and have this demo ready to prove they mean business. It seems likely that your Kickstarter rewards will not go unfulfilled here, even if the game misses its current release schedule.

So tell us now, will you be backing Star Garden (and/or Endless Fantasia) on Kickstarter? Have you tried the Star Garden demo? What did you think of it? Is this looking like a worthy successor of Sonic Adventure 1&2’s Chao Gardens? Are you a fly on the wall within Sonic Team with a scoop on why they won’t bring Chao Gardens back when an indie game developer is literally making a Chao Garden game of their own, as their first game, and already seeing crazy success on Kickstarter and Steam? (When one party doesn’t supply the demand, another one eventually does.) Anyway, leave us your comments below.