It’s not intentional, but just days after Sony humiliated itself with the closure of Concord, along comes a PlayStation 5 exclusive dedicated to celebrating the 30 year history of PlayStation. Not only that but it’s a single-player action game with no microtransactions or season passes, or any of the other increasingly invasive hallmarks of modern console gaming. Astro Bot is filled to the brim with Easter Eggs, but there are also some secrets to find and special unlockables to earn for finding bots and puzzle pieces. Here’s slot what you can earn by collecting Astro Bot’s many collectibles, and the many, many easter eggs to look out for. 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.
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. The sequel to a simple pack-in game is a flawless love letter to both PlayStation’s history and video games in general.
Astro Bot has six worlds and dozens of levels to complete with Bots, Puzzle Pieces, and Costumes to collect, secret portals to find, and trophies to earn. IGN’s 100% Astro Bot walkthrough will guide you to every collectible and secret. None of that affects Astro Bot’s quality as a game but it does limit its successfulness as a nostalgia piece.
But regardless of the difficulty scale, you feel so cool when you figure out the latest mechanics or platforming puzzle. It’s structured in a way too where if you want to dig into the difficult stuff you can, but if you want to keep things simple with the main campaign, you can also do that. The power-ups flesh out Astro’s move set which, on its own, is fairly simplistic. However, while his range of moves isn’t particularly deep, they’re executed excellently. Jumping, hovering, punching, and spinning all feels spot on thanks to tight, responsive controls.
It’s pure joy and a reminder of what the first three generations of PlayStation embodied. It’s a game that perfectly combines technology, design and creativity into a singular, ultra-polished whole without any filter whatsoever. This is about as perfectly executed as you can realistically expect these days and I urge you to play it. Astro Bot is a platformer featuring 6 galaxies and over 80 levels in search of Astro’s scattered crew, featuring cameo appearances from characters that span the entirety of PlayStation’s history. This gameplay covers the first level of the game played on a PlayStation 5. When Astro Bot was first announced, no one could have anticipated just how big the platformer would be.
Super Mario Galaxy
Besides many of Astro Bot’s creative and exciting boss battles, nostalgia fuels much of Astro Bot’s most thrilling moments, especially with the few stages specifically themed after PlayStation’s most beloved properties. However, those experiences risk feeling hollow for those who haven’t played the games that Astro Bot seems desperate to reference. Environmental puzzles and exciting set pieces await players in Astro Bot’s dozens of stages that can take anywhere from a couple minutes to a quarter of an hour to complete. Fans of PlayStation history will be very tempted to spend more time on each stage thanks to the many nods to past franchises and moments.
If you want to collect these yourself in your own game, check out our guide to all bot locations, or the 100% walkthrough. If you’re curious about some of the most obscure characters, we have a guide to 21 of the more tricky ones, with details on where you’ve seen them before. This year has been a very special journey for us at Team Asobi, and we thank you for joining us.
The camera caused a few rare instances of what felt like selling me out, but the game’s checkpoints are so numerous and the load times are virtually non-existent, such that this never became a pain point for me. While more of an extension of its previous titles than something all-new, it sounds like Team Asobi has cooked another stellar game. With over 80 stages and more than 15 power ups, players that wanted more of Astro’s Playroom will unlikely be dissatisfied.
When Microsoft entered the industry with the Xbox in 2001, Halo’s Master Chief instantly shaped the console’s image. Microsoft’s purchase of Rare, a studio that had created platformers with mascot-like characters for Nintendo, almost seemed like an afterthought. When the PS5 launched, it included a free game called Astro’s Playroom.
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Sony is releasing another stream of Astro Bot expansions, the first of which is available today, February 13, adding a total of five new levels and as many special bots. This is joined by a PlayStation 5 Pro patch, which allows the best resolution while running at 60 frames per second. 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. Journey 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.
Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Unfortunately, the future is a bit uncertain for Astro Bot, as Team Asobi hasn’t revealed what’s next after this DLC pack.
PS5 desperately needed this, now they need to reveal the big games 1st party is working on alongside the Pro and 2024 can be saved. Since releasing Astro Bot earlier this year on PlayStation 5, we have been submerged by lovely comments from you and the PlayStation community, and we are delighted with the critical response to the game all over the world. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for showing your appreciation. Click the link to find detailed information on where to find the Bots hidden in all the stages.
Finally though I want to highlight the fantastic score, because like its levels, it bounces around genres, delivering consistently catchy head bobbers, on top of slightly remixed versions of iconic Sony soundtracks. I know this OST is going to be in my regular rotation once it finally drops on Spotify, because it’s simply too good to leave locked within this game. When the PlayStation 5 mothership is attacked by ASTRO’s long-standing galactic nemesis, scrambling its wires and scattering the crew throughout space, only ASTRO can make things right! Astro is the main character of the Astro Bot series and serves as the captain of his ship’s bot crew.
The studio’s roster of delightful robots and the inventive gameplay with which they and players interact have been compared with the Nintendo way. But maybe the PlayStation didn’t need an answer to Nintendo and Sega’s beloved mascots. Games were entering an era in which more realistic human characters like Cloud Strife, Solid Snake and Lara Croft were becoming the new industry icons. As this more mature stream of gaming culture evolved, cutesy mascot characters and the 3D platformers they called home became less and less common.
Everything looks aesthetically pleasing and fits right in the game’s world, not to mention the amazing Astro bot designs that reference numerous older IPs. Each of these designs is distinct and instantly recognizable from the characters they represent, which is amazing knowing that they’re only limited to a robotic mascot. In addition to this, the animations of the game are also works of art. Not only are all of the aspects amazing, from its catchy music and great sound effects, the game actually uses the controller’s speakers perfectly as well.