Like its predecessor, Astro Bot is a love letter to PlayStation–not just its current make-up, either, but its illustrious history. From first-party icons like Kratos and Ellie to third-party heroes tied to the hip with Sony’s gaming past, such as Lara Croft and Leon S. Kennedy. There are 195 hidden cameo characters in Astro Bot’s dozens of levels, and part of the fun is tracking them all down. Bots make another appearance in Astro’s Playroom, now residing with Astro Bot in the PlayStation 5.
I’ve only spent an hour with it, so far, but I can already say there’s a good chance this will be my GotY. I was smiling like an idiot the entire time and loving every second of it and its charm. The dev that was interviewed even said specifically “I only make kids games” which is confirmed by the age rating of 7. For £60 I want a game I can invest time in to enjoy for at least 2 weeks with a script and story that I will sit and ponder and go “wow” like the original horizon zero dawn or the last of us and remember for years. Astrobot does a great job but even if I am fine with the few that gave 10s then the 9s of those going oh it’s not game of the year material. Same with racing, my favourite racing games are from the past because modern ones suck.
Team Asobi clearly designed it for players of all skill levels, and that includes children and newbies, but at its core Astro Bot feels purpose-built for video game fans. It’s a skill-driven celebration of everything that makes the format so memorable and joyful, and at the same time, it’s an excellent introduction to the language of games. With precise and responsive controls, adorable characters, and an exciting variety of mechanics and environments, Astro Bot is easily one of the best games that Sony has ever produced. Astro Bot is a platformer adventure game released on September 6, 2024, for the PS5, serving as a sequel to Team Asobi’s Astro’s Playroom from 2020 and the third game in the series.
Some worlds require special powers to navigate, and those, too, are pretty standard in function if not in form. The monkey power-up lets you scale walls, while the mouse ability shrinks you down to access tiny spaces. There’s even a Super Mario Sunshine-esque F.L.U.D.D power that uses liquid to move Astro around. Astro Bot is filled with standard platformer tropes, but it pulls off a sense of wonder in their presentation. As you explore galaxies to find your fellow robots and unlock new parts of the game, you’ll find a lot of familiar elements, only to see them executed in quirky and delightful ways. Just about every platformer has an ability that lets you shoot across longer distances, but none of them let you do it by strapping a bulldog to your back.
It feels finely tuned from top to bottom and I think that’s something to commend. Astro Bot is an explosion of colour and creativity that constantly flips your expectations on its head. When it hits, you’ll feel the urge to stand up and cheer in excitement – but let’s step back and break this down into chunks to better understand why it’s so impressive.
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Overall, it’s a super enjoyable game and definitely worth playing. Astro Bot is a platform video game developed by Team Asobi and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 5. It features an adorable robot hero on a mission to rescue his scattered crew across the universe. Astro Bot also doubles as a celebration of all things PlayStation. You’ll meet little robots themed around other PlayStation heroes and heroines, including Ratchet, Rivet, Kratos, Atreus, Aloy, Nathan Drake, Sly Cooper, Jak, Crash Bandicoot, and many more.
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Airtight platforming and level design give Astro Bot a strong foundation, but its real secret sauce is its toy-like appeal. If you talk to a parent who has played a game with their child, you’ll likely hear them outline how differently kids and adults interact with games. While adults tend to barrel forward with a focus on the end goal, kids are more likely to interact with as much as they can, picking up on more subtle animation details. Astro Bot embraces that by turning each of its levels into playgrounds that give players plenty of space to poke around in the name of fun.
Filled with references to hardware throughout PlayStation’s history and boasting an abundance of cameo appearances from popular characters, Astro’s Playroom celebrated PlayStation’s history in a unique way. This made Astro not just the new kid on the block, but established the bot as a character integral to the PlayStation brand. This became The Playroom, Team Asobi’s first game.The Playroom came preloaded with the PS4 when it launched back in 2013 and functioned as a showcase of what the PlayStation Camera and DualShock 4 controller could do. One of the mini games featured was AR Bots, a tech demo-like experience that made it seem as if 40 little robots were inside the DualShock 4. By swiping the touchpad you could throw them into the room and interact with them through the PlayStation Camera in AR, before sucking them back into the controller.
But then I remembered that communication between player and developer is not only what to do but also what to feel. And suddenly, it felt like they were hovering just over my shoulder, holding back their laughter as a dear friend would while they waited for me to get a joke. g28 ’d intentionally held back an explanation because they wanted me to experience the feeling of figuring it out for myself. They wanted me to laugh, like I suspect they did when designing it. Like its predecessor, Astro Bot is filled to the brim with PlayStation references and cameos. The most visible ones come in the form of the Special Bots — bots dressed up as famous and obscure PlayStation family characters.
Astro Bot Guide: Walkthrough
From 2012 to 2020, the Tokyo-based outfit made small games, often distributed for free, whose purpose was to demonstrate the interactive potential of Sony’s hardware. The Playroom demonstrated the PlayStation Camera; The Playroom VR and Astro Bot Rescue Mission the PlayStation VR headset; Astro’s Playroom the PS5’s DualSense controller. The team had a talent for unearthing delightful and satisfying interactions from the devices, and they peopled their games with cute little robots who acquired more personality with each installment.
I haven’t seen a platformer marathon through so many varied, whimsical, and blatantly cool ideas like this before. Sony just never seemed to have an answer to Nintendo’s Mario or Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog. Crash Bandicoot was an iconic character that was exclusive to the PlayStation at the time, but he belonged to a third-party studio. And while Toro from the Doko Demo Issho series reached mascot-like status in Japan, the cute feline character was hardly known outside of PlayStation’s home country. That was followed up with the PSVR-exclusive game Astro Bot Rescue Mission.
Astro Bot may feature a simple tale, yet it is a gleeful game that absolutely nailed all the aspects of a platformer. It became the highest-rated standalone game of 2024 for a reason, right? Team ASOBI redefined the modern 3D platforming experience with the vibrant adventures of Astro Bot. From beloved PS5 pack-in game to Game of the Year winner, Team ASOBI’s ASTRO BOT has achieved gaming’s highest honor at The Game Awards 2024, triumphing over acclaimed titles with its innovative gameplay and creative excellence. No, each planet already has plenty of coins to find and spend in the Gatcha Lab! The game provides a complete experience with all content available through gameplay.