Sonic Frontiers' Kocos Have an Obvious Endpoint

gamerant.com:

Upcoming SEGA platformer Sonic Frontiers will be bringing the Sonic franchise into the open world genre for the first time, and it will feature a number of big changes. The speedy hedgehog will still zip around collecting rings, but he will have a whole new realm called the Starfall Isles to explore complete with puzzles to solve, towers to climb, and, of course, collectibles to find. One collectible in Sonic Frontiers comes in the form of the Kocos, small rock-like creatures who are native to the Isles. While it has been confirmed that the Kocos will serve as a collection quest for players to complete, some suspect that the Kocos might also play a role similar to the Chao of previous Sonic titles.

The Chao, a race of mystical beings with gelatinous appearances, have been seen throughout Sonic's world. They are peaceful creatures who prefer to live safely in Chao Gardens, where they can swim, play, and eat fruit to their heart's desire. Although Takashi Iizuka, the head of Sonic Team, confirmed in an interview that Kocos would be quite different from Chao, many fans still theorize that the Kocos' inclusion in Frontiers herald the return of a mode similar to previous Sonic titles' Chao Garden mini-games.

Sonic Frontiers Gameplay Shows Open World, City Level

First introduced in Sonic Adventure, the Chao Gardens were a number of locations where players could raise, play with, and breed Chao. Performing various tasks could reward the players with Chao Eggs, which would hatch into Chao if stored in the garden. Depending on how well the Chao was cared for, and which Chaos Drives and Animals it was fed, it could evolve into one of over 100 adult Chao variants. These Chao could then be entered into Chao Races and Chao Karate, and