adminEach level presents new challenges, from navigating tricky terrain to overcoming environmental hazards. As galaxies are explored and Bots are rescued, Astro Bot’s hub world stations begin to unlock, including a closet with outfits for Astro and a claw machine that gives players a place to spend all their collected coins. The machine dispenses new Astro costumes, cosmetic options for the PS5 controller spaceship, and joy for the rescued PS-themed Bots.
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.
You can enjoy them in the moment, and it’s not until afterwards you realise it’s an empty sugar high. Across that lifetime of experience, I think Astro Bot is worthy of a medal. The ever-growing install base of the PS5 has allowed many players around the world to enjoy Astro’s Playroom. 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.
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But what I really love about Astro Bot is that it’s also just filled with bits and pieces. Stuff to roll around in, stuff that forms little piles that can be kicked about. I’ll open a chest and there will be lumps of gold rolling around at the bottom. In one completely dazzling level I was given a magnet, and soon I was vacuuming up metal bars by the dozen and spray cans by the hundreds, all ready to form a bait ball I could fling at a distant target.
Even before picking up any cool new toys, Astro has a laser-propelled hover ability that lets him destroy enemies while jumping over them, plus a standard punch and a chargeable spin move. These three abilities, plus whatever tool he picks up, are the entirety of Astro’s arsenal. This mechanical focus allowed Team Asobi to perfect each move and then apply them all in a thousand different ways, and the result is a rewarding and robust platformer. Astro Bot’s best moments take inspiration from some of PlayStation’s biggest games while adding a unique twist. Astro Bot packs a ton of variety into its level design, both visually and mechanically. Team Asobi cements itself as an essential PlayStation studio with an imaginative platformer for the ages.
It makes me sad to think that today’s young players have so few options if they want to play something like Spyro the Dragon. Outside of Nintendo, it feels like the landscape is dominated by a few free games that are built to exploit parents with microtransactions. Too few games embrace the joys of play, and I fear that we’re building a more cynical generation of players because of it.
At Team Asobi – Sony’s inhouse development studio best known for the Astro Bot series – artwork along the walls depicts PlayStation’s 30-year journey. Master Onion is the secret 301st bot, the last one you’ll unlock in the game. Tell us in the comments section below, and check out our Astro Bot guide for lots more.
As part of Update 1.016, the game has added a new level called Armored Hardcore, which focuses on Astro Bot’s Iron Suit ability. In addition to the new platform-heavy level, players will have a new cameo bot to rescue and can earn a new Trophy called Rolling Rescue to fill out their collection. “For Astro’s Playroom, there have mainly been two types of audiences,” says Doucet. They’re mostly the type who crave more colorful games and want to go back to 3D platformers. These players are also happy to see how we treat the PlayStation heritage. Hardcore PlayStation fans will likely be both pleasantly surprised and disappointed to uncover what characters are included and how much love their franchises receive in Astro Bot.
Your job as Astro is to go around to all the planets and collect your friends. The games have lots of fun platforming to execute, with grappling hooks and hover-jumps and all kinds of fun things. There are also plenty of alien and robotic enemies and bosses to take on.
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Suddenly, he’s attacked by an unsubtle-as-hell Xbox-green alien monster who trashes his ship and scatters its parts and his 300 friends to far corners of the universe. The game doesn’t seem to use any specific name for them, but players have taken to calling them cameo bots, secret bots, or hidden bots, depending on who you ask. Whatever you call them, they’re made much more reachable thanks to our Astro Bot collectibles guide, which reveals an in-game mechanic that allows you to track down hidden cameo bots with ease. It’s not the only hidden in-game mechanic either, as you can unlock a secret photo mode in Astro Bot, too. The worst sin that a game like this can commit is repetition, and Team Asobi firmly understands that. Platformers like Kirby and the Forgotten Land are at their best when they’re introducing new ideas that consistently surprise players.
Astro Bot just received its latest free update, adding five more levels and new bot cameos to Team Asobi’s Game of the Year-winning platformer. That soundtrack scores levels that seem simple at first, but soon unfurl themselves to reveal tantalising depths and secrets. Most are fairly linear, but some go the extra mile and are enjoyably knotty, providing sandbox-like areas to hunt for collectibles in. There’s never the openness found in the large-by-comparison Mario Odyssey levels, but enough nooks and crannies to get stuck into nonetheless.
It’s a sustained tech demo, one that never runs out of new wonders to show you, new marvels to fling at you and swiftly discard. Previous Astro Bot games have been employed to showcase new bits of kit. It feels like Sony is trying to channel its whole spirit into this game.
Unlike all of the other Astro Bot DLC stages, Winter Wonder is accessed via the Galaxy Select screen. To do so, players will need to find and crash into the floating planet with the Christmas hat. Players will be able to find a Puzzle Piece floating around in space in the Tentacle System, Serpent Starway, Camo Cosmos, and Feather Cluster galaxies. 88vv serves as a kind of hub world, in which players can find 35 Bots and 11 Puzzle Pieces.
