Over the three decades of its existence, BioWare rightfully earned the reputation of a legendary role-playing game studio. The news of its closing understandably has fans in mourning, and we’re left reminiscing about game franchises like Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age. But every studio has at least one oddity within its gameography, and the clear outlier for BioWare has to be Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.
The 2008 Nintendo DS game is BioWare’s first--and only--handheld game. While the studio was no stranger to working with other IPs after making a Star Wars game, the upbeat and colorful world of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, et al. is a far cry from what those storytellers were used to. And it wasn’t some small, side project for BioWare; the studio assembled a team of 30 developers, led by director Mark Darrah, who also directed the first two Dragon Age games, and writer Jay Turner, who wrote for Mass Effect 2 and 3.
Storywise, The Dark Brotherhood was a bit more complex than what Sonic the Hedgehog was used to, though noticeably simpler than usual BioWare fare. It’s a plot that involves a tribe of echidnas from an alternate dimension, introducing new, otherworldly characters and concepts. It’s a serviceable addition to Sonic canon (well, it was), and it should be no surprise that BioWare was able to come up with sharp dialogue for the Sonic characters we’re all familiar with.
Living up to the promise of a Sonic RPG, you, well, played the role of Sonic. Conversations had multiple dialogue options for the blue hedgehog, with choices allowing your Sonic to be compassionate, inquisitive, or straight-up rude. While your choices might have affected the direction of the conversation, added romantic tension with Amy Rose, or even skipped some battles, this was still no Mass Effect, and your decisions didn’t cause any ripple effects on the plot.
The game itself took advantage of the DS’s capabilities, with overworld navigation happening on the bottom screen. You controlled Sonic (or one of his many friends) using the stylus, running around 2D hand-drawn environments from an isometric perspective, which felt awkward as heck. As opposed to a combat system with real-time elements, BioWare instead employed more traditional turn-based battles. Special attacks would have you tap and slide on the touch screen, following prompts like Elite Beat Agents. It was unique and engaging enough, but it quickly became tiresome.
The quality of Sonic Chronicles is certainly up for debate, but the soundtrack is widely reviled, with the most ghastly MIDI tracks that couldn’t have possibly come from a reasonable human mind. Gossip from the internet and numerous retrospectives claim that the actual soundtrack was replaced for legal reasons about a week before copies were printed, but it’s hard to pin down a reliable source for that claim.
Ear-grinding music notwithstanding, the most interesting lore behind The Dark Brotherhood has to be the reasons why no follow-up materialized. EA’s purchase of BioWare certainly did Sonic Chronicles no favors, but many point to the infamously litigious and self-aggrandizing Sonic comic artist and writer Ken Penders, the bane of many hardcore Sonic fans. Penders sued Sega and EA, claiming that the villains of Sonic Chronicles were too similar to his own villainous echidna clan from the Sonic Archie comics. While the lawsuit was dismissed, it’s believed that Sega has avoided using the characters since then to avoid further legal headaches.
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood concluded with an ominous “THE END?” title card, and a cliffhanger would never get resolved. It will never have a legacy anywhere close to that of BioWare’s other works, and it may not deserve one. But like all games, it deserves to be talked about.
When we eulogize BioWare (and any departed studio, for that matter), it’s important to acknowledge the good, bad, and weird in equal measure. That means recalling the duds like Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem just as much as Jade Empire or Baldur’s Gate. Many of us might look back at them with disdain, while a rare few will look at them with affection. Yet all of us should look back at them with curiosity. And when considering BioWare’s body of work, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is a more curious game than any.