Astro Bot takes ideas from these earlier titles and compiles them into a focused 3D platformer with dozens of main worlds, a bevy of additional unlockable planets and a wide range of satisfying mechanics. On top of this, the robot protagonists are super cute in every situation. LUCK8 that some of the characters and settings in Astro Bot are recognizable from popular video games only makes the whole thing sweeter. When we arrive on a planet, we typically have to complete a series of skill-based challenges, which, importantly, aren’t frustrating and remain enjoyable even in the endgame. Along the way, we rescue robots, find collectibles, and solve very simple environmental puzzles. All of this is incredibly fun and allows the PS5 to truly shine (more on that in a moment).
In this Astro Bot guide, we’ll walk you through how to get every collectible in this level “Trapped In Time” so you can fill out your Crash Site. This year has been a very special journey for us at Team Asobi, and we thank you for joining us. Until next time, we wish you a very relaxing and restful end of the year, full of gaming of course, but above all, full of good health and happiness all around. Once you land in the final room, where the normal exit appears on top of the lamp, turn around and climb up the stone wall behind you. At the top, break the pot and you’ll notice that the shards appear to float ahead of you.
This is because while Astro Bot is that celebration of PlayStation’s history, it’s also a visual graveyard of IP that will never again see the light of day, making their appearance absolutely sting. It’s great to see ASOBI showing this level of appreciation of what has come before, but it also shows Sony’s very apparent inability to leverage what built them up in the first place. Jigsaw pieces can also be discovered if you’re skilled and/or keen eyed, which eventually open up a variety of features that enrich the entire experience.
I grudged having to play through my most anticipated game of the year before getting to play more Astro Bot – that’s how good this game is. Like Stephen has mentioned, this is an endlessly inventive title that joyously plays around with the level design, the mechanics, and the themes of every level. There are enough ideas in Astro Bot to fill a dozen regular games.
We won’t spoil the others, but PlayStation fans will be delighted with these Astro Bot renditions of some favourite franchises. Astro Bot, out now on PlayStation 5, is a collect-a-thon platformer. You play as the robot Astro adventuring in space in his PS5-shaped mothership with 300 of his friends — some of them simple bots, others robot-ified versions of famous video game characters.
It’s boss fights when you expected them and boss fights when you absolutely didn’t. There are jokes about tech demo ducks in here, then, but there’s also the sense the whole thing is, on some level, a huge tech demo. 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.
Astro Bot Gets New Challenge Levels And Revised Controller
More recently, this was followed by Astro Bot’s Winter Wonder update, a free, Christmas-themed level with plenty of fun holiday surprises for players to discover. If you have read my Astro Bot review, you must be already aware of how this game is an elated love letter and a rich celebration of Play Station’s legacy. This videogame has the outright power and quality to challenge your perception of platformer games and it will make you say it duly earned the GOTY 2024 once you take Astro Bot for a spin. There are more levels like the Ape Escape one, in which Astro fully absorbs the personality and toolkit of another PlayStation hero and romps through a level based on that character’s own games.
Astro Bot Overall – 96/100
The most alluring feature, though, is its PlayStation-themed collectibles. Every level has a set of hidden bots that Astro needs to rescue. That would be a charming Easter egg hunt, but Team Asobi isn’t just investing in empty references. It uses the opportunity to show its love for PlayStation history.
For example, the dog power-up lets you charge straight ahead and smash through walls, the clock lets you slow down time, a penguin gives you a quick dash through water, and a monkey holds cymbals that let out a massive shockwave. Even though these power-ups appear across multiple levels, they’re always used in tandem with that level’s unique design, making them feel fresh. That focus on variety also applies to the game’s visuals and aesthetics, with the game painting a huge swath of memorable locations — from ghoulishly haunted mansions to arid desert settlements and vast space stations. Astro Bot is an action and platformer game for the PlayStation 5 which features Astro. Jump on your Dual Speeder and explore tons of planets, and meet up with iconic PlayStation characters across the game.
Because of that success, there are likely plenty more Astro Bot titles in Team Asobi’s future. PlayStation 5 launched four years ago, shipped with a pack-in game known as Astro’s Playroom – a brilliant platform game full of heart and creativity that captured the imagination of new PS5 owners. Many of us dreamt of a full-blown sequel that could expand these ideas into a larger adventure and that dream has finally been fulfilled with Astro Bot. Let me say this up front – Astro Bot is so good, it single handedly reminded me why I enjoy video games in the first place. This is a game that celebrates the entire history of video games and one of the few 3D platform games I’ve played that truly goes toe to toe with the best Nintendo has to offer. One of the biggest announcements during last week’s PlayStation State of Play livestream was Astro Bot, the full-fledged sequel to the excellent Astro’s Playroom that comes preinstalled on PS5.