Astro Bot is meticulous love letter to PlayStation’s rich history

If you are a PlayStation 5 owner, chances are Astro Bot has already found a way into your heart. The would-be Astro’s Playroom tech demo showed off exactly what the console could do but did so with ample amounts of charm, and innovation and by honouring PlayStation’s history. Team Asobi returns with the titular character’s first standalone release. Ratcheting up the visuals and level design, a moderate amount of new DualSense integrations and using a ton of PlayStation crossover characters, Astro Bot quickly became a GOTY contender.

I’m a firm believer in there being too much of a good thing. So in my first few hours of Astro Bot, I kept thinking, “Can this really be sustained through to the credits without losing its charm?” The answer is a bonafide yes. The reason is nothing ever felt half-baked. Team Asobi brought so much creativity and thoughtfulness to their game, that you can’t help but want to spend more time playing. From the intricate ways, Astro Bot pays its respect to the nearly 30-year-old brand to the music. There wasn’t a minute across my 12-hour playthrough to gain the Platinum Trophy that I wasn’t smiling, humming, or laughing.

Price, availability and specs

Astro Bot will be available on PlayStation 5 on September 6th for $59.99. As a sequel to Astro’s Playroom, Astro Bot is a 3D platfomer. Incorporating innovative puzzles and themes, where players can traverse 80 unique levels and rescue over 300 bots, including many character cameos.

What I liked about Astro Bot

Astro Bot is a celebration of gaming across many incredible character cameos.

The game offers 80 well-detailed levels, split across six galaxy clusters (with a few surprises in the mix). In each level, I jumped, twirled, and worked towards rescuing lost Bots, many of which are inspired by classic PlayStation mascots. Seeing video game characters come together in miraculous ways never fails to put a smile on my face. Astro Bot does this at a rapid pace. Of course, you get to see Astro Bot rescue and interact with some of the most prolific faces of the PlayStation brand. To no surprise, characters like Joel and Ellie make an appearance. Partnering developers and publishers of PlayStation also lend their characters to the game. There are also some surprisingly deep cuts to discover. Going as far back as the original PlayStation console, mascots can be found and discovered. Once rescued, they’ll return to the Mothership Crash Site where they can help solve puzzles around an open map. You can also spend coins on the Gacha machine to unlock items for each character. This allows you to interact with each one on a deeper level. It doesn’t matter if you know the character or not, they each have a uniquely inspired design and thoughtful interactions. Without spoiling anything, one of my favourites is Metal Gear’s Psycho Mantis.

None of the core levels are overly difficult or long. However, I found myself spending upwards of 15 minutes on each one looking around every corner and making sure there was no stone left unturned. Astro Bot is a game where you just want to interact with everything. Each level is themed or has a core concept. Whether it’s a haunted graveyard, a series of platforms in the clouds, or the level at which Astro gains the ability to turn small. There’s so much attention to detail in each level. Astro Bot quelled some of that pain by making the level so vibrant and interesting to explore. Even levels that are considerably safe as far as 3D platformers are concerned still feel fresh all because of enemy placement, the music swelling throughout, and the pacing to reach the finish line. As Astro reaches the end, your reward is seeing Astro and the rescued bots dance their little robotic hearts out. 80 levels in, this never got old.

Beyond all the cameos and the cute PlayStation nods, Astro Bot shocked me with its well-curated PlayStation franchise levels. Each galaxy cluster offers a unique experience. In one case, you’re transported to an Astro Bot-inspired version of Midgard. After meeting Kratos and Atreus, you’re able to wield the Leviathan Axe in all its glory. What makes these PlayStation character-specific levels so memorable is how well-detailed they all are. It’s not that you’re playing through a run-of-the-mill level. No, each one offers gameplay mechanics, abilities, and visuals all drawn from the source material. Even the music is wonderfully drawn from the respective franchise. It didn’t matter to me whether I was a die-hard fan of the inspired IP or not, each franchise-inspired level left such an impression on me.

What I didn’t like about Astro Bot

Astro Bot was a game I never wanted to finish playing. Yet it ended after 12 hours.

Astro Bot resonates with me to such a strong degree. I’ve been a lifelong fan of 3D platformers and to see such a strong entry in the genre release in 2024 excites me to no end. Team Asobi clearly put a lot of time and effort into curating every facet of its game, resulting in a higher mid-tier pricing model. At $59.99, Astro Bot is considerably reasonable for the quality of the game. That said, I am trying to be mindful of its run time. I fully completed Astro Bot, Trophies and all in about 12 hours according to the PlayStation 5’s tracking. As credits began to roll and I ran through the limited endgame content, I was slightly disappointed I completed the game this quickly. Not for a lack of disappointment in how much Team Asobi created for the game. Moreso that I played the game so quickly for review that I now live in a post Astro Bot world. As I sit here, writing this review, I’m actively counting down the moments until post-launch content releases.

The other thing to consider is that Astro Bot is built off the framework of Astro’s Playroom. The ways in which you traverse and engage in combat are roughly the same as its predecessor. However, Astro Bot does include 15 new abilities to use, which are all a delight. The Twin-Frog Gloves, for instance, give Astro the power to punch enemies from afar. There’s also a delightful ability given when Astro wears a PS VR2 headset, allowing me to slow down enemies and platform sections. With all this said, there’s only so much Team Asobi can do to really extract new uses from the DualSense. Though Astro’s Playroom felt like a brand new experience, where subtle haptics and uses of the adaptive triggers were fascinating, they’re slightly less novel in Astro Bot. It doesn’t mean that gameplay or combat is stale by any means. However, that exciting response I once got from pulling back on the DualSense’s triggers and feeling the resistance has worn down a little. That said, feeling the haptic feedback from Astro running around won’t ever grow old.

Should you play Astro Bot?

Astro Bot is a not-so-small PlayStation 5 powerhouse.

When Astro’s Playroom debuted alongside the PlayStation 5, it was a “best-of” highlight reel, showing off the potential of the console and its accompanying DualSense controller. Flashforward four years, and expectations have understandably been heightened. Team Asobi took that to heart. It gathered all the bones of Astro’s Playroom and expounded on every little impressive feature we collectively gasped at in 2020. Astro Bot is bigger, bolder, and uses the PlayStation 5’s power to a meaningful degree.

Astro Bot isn’t just a success story for PlayStation 5. I’m firmly in the belief that anyone who’s followed the PlayStation brand for over 30 years will take a lot away from playing Astro Bot. It capitalizes on nostalgia, memories, on bonds we’ve formed with mascots and characters. But it does so in authentic ways, paying homage to everything that’s come before it. That goes double for the PlayStation 5. The PlayStation 5 is as important as Astro Bot in this game. Thus, the game has to properly give its flowers to the rich history of hardware.