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. Crash Site serves as a kind of hub world, in which players can find 35 Bots and 11 Puzzle Pieces. Like many of PlayStation’s limited edition DualSense controllers, the Astro Bot DualSense is based on one of its many franchises, specifically 2024’s Game of the Year, Astro Bot. The controller features a white and blue trim that perfectly matches the Dual Speeder in-game, as well as a smiling set of eyes on the touchpad. Sony just never seemed to have an answer to Nintendo’s Mario or Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog.
These are structured in a certain order, so you’ll need to beat each level to unlock the boss battle, something that requires a set number of bots to have been unlocked. Thankfully, should you return to a previously completed level, you can pay a small amount of PlayStation coin currency to have an assist bot show you where the remaining bots and puzzle pieces are. So, at this point, it’s fair to say that Team Asobi nailed the core game feel, the level design and the visuals. It’s a beautiful game that plays like a dream and offers things that manage to feel completely new and fun – and ultimately, as I think about my time playing Astro Bot, I can’t help but feel great about it. It’s pure joy and a reminder of what the first three generations of PlayStation embodied.
The game provides a complete experience with all content available through gameplay. https://f168.direct/ through inventive levels filled with surprises, from sticky-tongued frog gloves to mouse-sized adventures. Each stage brings new abilities and challenges, making every moment a delight. Astro Bot represents the pinnacle of PlayStation’s platforming excellence, evolving from its origins in The Playroom VR to become one of gaming’s most beloved mascots. Originally introduced as a tech demo character, Astro Bot has grown into PlayStation’s definitive platforming hero.
The next step is to unlock the Rolling Star Gatcha Collectible from the Gatcha Lab. Look for Kratos Bot and Thor Bot near the bridge that leads to the Jungle Temple at your Crash Site (northwest of the crashed Mothership). Kratos Bot will hit Thor with his axe, freezing him into a cube! Repeat this at all four slot machines in this area (including the one to the far right where you can find a Rescued Bot!) to unlock the Time to Cash In! Unlock a total of 150 prizes from the Gatcha Lab in your Crash Site to unlock the Money Well Spent trophy.
Unlocking all of them can be incredibly difficult, but not half as challenging as trying to figure out which games and series all of the cameo bots are from. What makes Astro Bot such a genuine treat to play, however, is the fact that you never know what to expect from any given level. Some are on the linear side, testing your platforming skills, but others are more open, giving you some freedom as to how to achieve your goal. You might find yourself equipped with gloves that allow you to pummel enemies at range, for example, or a bulldog strapped to your back with which you can charge into heavy items and send them flying. As previously mentioned, anyone that has played Astro’s Playroom will have a good idea of what to expect here. Controlling Astro is a joy, with him being extremely responsive as he runs, jumps, uses his foot-lasers to hover a small distance, and lash out at enemies with his short metal arms.
It’s light touches of irony and slapstick humour like this that keep Astro’s playful tone going throughout. It really is just a delight from start to finish in this regard. Astro Bot succeeds in so much of what it does that it feels traditional in both the best and worst ways.
Sony proves with Astro Bot that the company can still put out charming action platformers, but the love letter to PlayStation fans fails to include features that made previous games of the genre so fun to replay. Even within a level, an ability is used in several different and creative ways, but always stemming from its singular mechanic featured in that level. It ramps up the platforming and combat sequences via an approachable but challenging incline and chains these little moments together in such a way that there’s never a lull in any level. Whereas many platformers may drill down on a key feature or small set of features, Astro Bot displays confidence by often disposing of exciting new tools shortly after introducing them.
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. Customers find the PlayStation 5 console to be an incredible value for money and report that it works perfectly. The build quality receives mixed feedback, with several customers noting that it feels flimsy. The hardware quality is also mixed, with one customer reporting no marks or scuffs on their unit.
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It’s not brand-new for the series at this point, but still hits all the right spots. If 2020’s Astro’s Playroom was like a museum – albeit one with fun playable exhibits – Astro Bot is like a theme park, throwing a new thrill at you around every corner and after every double-jumped gap. It doesn’t always deliver the bonkers creativity that drives the likes of Super Mario Galaxy and Odyssey, but that’s hardly damning criticism when swings of that size are rarely taken outside of Nintendo’s walls. What developer Team Asobi has designed here, though, does successfully evoke the spirit of those great platformers by birthing novel stages full of visual flourish that never cross the line into becoming mere novelties. Unlike ASTRO’s Playroom, ASTRO BOT is a standalone, full-sized adventure that offers over four times more worlds, 300 bots to rescue and dozens of new powers and features to discover.
Expert, Exclusive Gaming Analysis
Back during the era of the platformer, when everyone was taking a swing at things, this was a point in gaming that hadn’t yet approached making certain aspects of its design built around accessibility. Still, for as hard as Sony has been going with accessibility, I expected far more. For decades, Nintendo has been the de facto standard when it comes to platformers. There have been some to come close to creating similar and memorable experiences, but few have stood the test of time or really felt like genuine competitors. When it comes to some of Nintendo’s best, both Super Mario Odyssey and the Mario Galaxy series are two that are considered the best the genre has ever seen.
Part of the enjoyment of games like this is discovering stuff and figuring out puzzles. Using a complete walk through from day one just reduces the amount of enjoyment you can have. Astro Bot has a full set of PS5 Trophies for you to collect as you make your way through the game. As part of our Astro Bot guide, we’ve got a page dedicated to helping you earn every Trophy, including the coveted Platinum. People have entire online communities based around the enjoyment of a title, whether that’s Elden Ring or Astro Bot. So thoughtful and it pays such an awesome homage to PlayStation consoles and games over the years.
I remembered why games were so important to me growing up and how they shaped my creativity. Naysayers will say that no childhood memory comes from sitting in front of a TV, but that was never true for me. Astro Bot still takes advantage of the console’s power too, but not by dipping into photorealism or needlessly flashy spectacle.
It’s nothing fancy, yet somehow it’s able to sneak in amazing interactions between the bots, and that just makes everything a lot better than I think it actually is. To start the year on a good note, we are delighted to announce new Astro Bot content is coming starting today. You might have noticed that a, yet unreleased, level of Astro Bot was featured at the PlayStation XP Tournament Final in London, England on January 18. That very level, along with 4 additional ones will be coming your way inside the brand-new Vicious Void Galaxy, starting today. @Yousef- I never said it was for “helpless people who already can’t beat the game”. It’s fine as a resource, but I don’t think it makes “all the sense in the world” to have it ready on day one.
Are you all so desperate for a new game to play that you over hype a children’s game so highly? That cheapens the achievements of the better games that proceeded it. Digital foundry was stunned by the technical achievement of astrobot, so it beg’s questions about the purpose of a ps5 pro. I don’t deny this game is great, his character with the beams with his legs/his charming character design/personality & visuals are great, but that’s not enough for me. Nothing else has come close this gen. So it’s great to hear the follow up game is even better.
But it’s not just PS1 reminiscing that makes Astro Bot so great—not by a long shot. A true audiovisual tour-de-force, Astro Bot makes full use of the PS5’s DualSense controller, utilizing it in ingenious, but also somehow obvious, ways to maximize enjoyment. And “enjoyment” is certainly an apt descriptor, as few modern games are capable of evoking the sense of childlike joy that Astro Bot excels at, regardless of player age. Strong and varied platforming mechanics are other building blocks of Astro’s gameplay, allowing for exhilarating and unexpected interactive opportunities. All of this is to say that Astro Bot’s four Game Awards victories, including the coveted Game of the Year Award, are more than deserved.
