With the basics on lock, Team Asobi lets players focus on Astro Bot’s wildly inventive level design. In one level, I get a power-up that lets me shrink Astro down to the size of an ant on command. That leads me through a fantastic puzzle-platformer gauntlet where I need to shrink down to climb into a lock or hop up a tree’s leaves. Another level drops me in a casino and puts a time-slowing PSVR on Astro’s head. I use that ability to freeze a giant slot machine as it rains down chips, turning them into platforms. Ingenious one-off mechanics like this feel like they could serve as the basis for an entire game; that’s how well-crafted they are.

Astro Bot Physical Edition

Bursting to the seams with charm, Astro Bot is an inventive, nostalgia-fuelled platformer of the highest order. Customers appreciate the game’s creative levels, with one mentioning that the world is filled with secrets and another noting how it encourages players to think creatively. Customers find the game suitable for all ages, with kids particularly enjoying it, and one customer noting that the main levels are great for young players. Astro, the robot captain of a mothership resembling the PlayStation 5 console, and his crew of Bots are exploring space when a green alien named Space Bully Nebulax attacks them and rips out the mothership’s CPU.

Routine Review – Space-horror At Its Finest

But where the real brilliance of Astro Bot becomes apparent is in the worlds themselves, which constantly add unique features, gimmicks, and mechanics, but integrally those all build off those core foundations of gameplay. In one, you hit switches that change the level between night and day, changing the entire layout at the same time. In another, you shrink into a tiny mouse, seeing things from a whole new perspective and opening up wild new solutions to puzzles.

Past that, another level has you growing flowers to make your way up an ascending staircase of giant pots. There are musicals to play through, obstacle courses, giant robots to resurrect, and more. https://g28e.com/ could go on and on about every unique level, but the wonder of Astro Bot lies in discovery itself. It needs to be said that there’s a real emphasis on Astro Bot in not being punishing; there’s absolutely no penalty for losing a life, and the moment you grab a collectible, it’s yours — even if you respawn, you already have it. That might be disappointing to some, but it’s an intentional design choice that works in the game’s favor, as Astro Bot is much more focused on the “experience” and wants players to have pure, unfiltered fun.

Vibrant colors make me feel like I’m in a cartoon, but Team Asobi doesn’t flatten its environments or skimp on detail. In one level, I start by walking across swaths of bright green foliage. I feel the crunch of the grass between my metal feet and hear the sound from my DualSense’s speakers. Then I move on to a metallic checkerboard floor, where I hear my legs lightly click-clacking on the tiles.

These items can be unlocked in the game without preordering, but buying one of the physical or digital editions early lets you access the outfits and avatars from the jump. Astro Bot is set to launch on September 6 and will be available in standard, digital, and deluxe versions. Preorders for Astro Bot’s physical standard edition are live now, and digital preorders will be available on June 7. The physical edition comes with a cool poster, and all editions include early unlocks for in-game content. There’s also the fact that the vast proportion of the Sony-owned characters haven’t been in a game for a decade or more, so it seems a bit disingenuous pretending to celebrate them now.

Reviews

Astro Bot proves that creativity, fun and well applied technology is what the industry needs right now (and well, we can’t deny the touch of nostalgia or the amazing use of licenses). PlayStation can clean up the sour taste of last year, and perhaps show them that there are other paths to greatness. For now, that’s everything we know about DLC plans for Astro Bot. If the game sells beyond expectations, however, there’s always a chance fans get a little more love down the line.

Still, Team Asobi may argue its smaller complement of baddies that grow in complexity are what keep it consistent. It’s a play straight out of Mario’s book, and in the platforming world, the plumber is still the king even as a new pretender climbs higher to the summit. Aside from elevating Astro Bot with strikingly tactile feedback to what is happening on screen, the DualSense is also the source of clues. In particular, the rumbling, or specifically the type and intensity of the rumble. For certain puzzles, including the Az-Tech Trail doors, the DualSense is crucial to figuring out how to proceed, so pay close attention on what your controller is telling you at all times. 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.

Players have long expected more DLC, however, as a number of unreleased bots appeared in the Astro Bots credits. Featured here are licensing credits for Rayman, Worms, Assassin’s Creed, Beyond Good & Evil, Croc, and Tomba, potentially revealing which five special bots will be released alongside these levels. That being said, Armored Hardcore is almost certainly a reference to Armored Core, while Cock-A-Doodle-Doom is likely Doom, so bots from these franchises are also likely. Astro Bot is also meant to be a DualSense showcase, and it certainly does a lot there, though I continue to feel like the controller’s most passionate fans are within the company itself. While some abilities are more fun than others, they nearly all work seamlessly. As Astro, you’ll strap on the ability and intuitively understand it.