For example, the Monkey Climber is an evolution of Playroom’s climbing ability, but the assistance of a small robotic ape with huge hands this time means rocks can be hurled and ground pounded to great delight. Laurels are never rested on either, with new ideas and gadgets introduced right up to the final encore. Although some mechanics are reused a little more than I’d like, when such powers are recycled in later levels they’re thankfully recontextualised and given slightly new uses. The aforementioned Twin Frog gloves, for instance, are reintroduced in a cave-like level, where their grapple-swinging ability comes into its own even further, encouraging you to pull worm-like enemies out of the ground from afar. Critics praised the gameplay, level design, and content, with some comparing the game to Nintendo franchises, particularly the Super Mario series.
Luckily, none of the collectibles or Hidden Trophies in Astro Bot are missable, so even if you miss one of these things during your first playthrough, you can always go back to grab what you’re missing for that Platinum Trophy. Now Team Asobi has been given the chance to unleash all that expertise in playfulness on Astro Bot, a full-scale game that exists for its own ends rather than to serve a Sony marketing plan. When we award the Polygon Recommends badge, it’s because we believe the recipient is uniquely thought-provoking, entertaining, inventive, or fun — and worth fitting into your schedule. If you want curated lists of our favorite media, check out What to Play and What to Watch. 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.
Each galaxy contains four or five main stages, a boss, and a special last level themed around specific PlayStation franchises. On top of that are numerous shorter challenges — tougher platforming or combat trials to test your skills — and a selection of secret stages to discover. It’s a generous package, and what’s most impressive is the sheer variety it offers. This is a grand re-opening for Astro Bot, and it surely marks the start of what is destined to be a beloved series shooting for the moon.
The lack of story in Astro Bot reflects the character’s origin in PlayStation 4 tech demos The Playroom and The Playroom VR. As such, he’s never been given any backstory and he only communicates in baby talk. Except for wearing a cape, he looks identical to all the other robots and, quite frankly, he’s beginning to seem under-designed – especially when one of this game’s main gimmicks is dressing him up as other PlayStation characters. I am annoyed I can come up with animal abilities for better navigation/quest access in BIomutant, oh no we have gliders (other features, a merchant like BOTW I’ll never find again) and vehicles but why can’t I dig, fly, swim?
Sorry, You May Not Access This Content
Aside from a lack of Final Fantasy representation, Astro Bot pays its respects to several generations of formative games. A handful of excellent stages even go one step further by paying tribute to some key games themselves — expect gaming history nerds to go positively feral over them. What elevates that beyond a bit of throwback nostalgia is that developer Team Asobi may be the most skilled studio working today when it comes down to game feel.
There are one or two surprising absentees, but on the whole it’s a remarkable selection that had us grinning with every character we recognised. It’s all delivered with so much affection that it’s hard not to love it. Speaking of power-ups, our robo-hero makes use of numerous new toys throughout the game.
Airtight platforming and level design give Astro Bot a strong foundation, but its real secret sauce is its toy-like appeal. If you talk to a parent who has played a game with their child, you’ll likely hear them outline how differently kids and adults interact with games. While adults tend to barrel forward with a focus on the end goal, kids are more likely to interact with as much as they can, picking up on more subtle animation details. Astro Bot embraces that by turning each of its levels into playgrounds that give players plenty of space to poke around in the name of fun.
If this, alongside new titles like Lego Horizon Adventures, signals a new and less stuffy direction for Sony, then I’m excited to see what the future holds. For now though, you’ll find me trying to 100-percent Astro Bot, cursing and laughing the whole way through. Vicious Void is a galaxy that unlocks after clearing the main game. It contains special challenge levels, and each of them contains a Special Bot to unlock.
In Helium Heights, with the help of the inflator power-up soar high above the clouds through a floating balloon fiesta. Get ready for some helium-filled hijinks as you take off, ride upward gusts of wind, and race to the goal to rescue your captured crewmates. Astro Bot[a] is a 2024 platform game developed by Team Asobi and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 5 in celebration of PlayStation’s 30th anniversary. https://g28.uk/ -up to Astro’s Playroom (2020), it is the fifth game in the Astro Bot series and Team Asobi’s first game since its separation from Japan Studio.
Find an up-to-date list of every game available in the Xbox Game Pass (and PC Game Pass) library at all membership levels, and find out which games are coming soon and leaving soon. One of the best 3D platformers of all time is on sale for $40 through December 18. Team ASOBI is a collective of passionate game creators from various nationalities, ages, genders and backgrounds. They are brought together by our love of “Play” in all its forms. Members of Team ASOBI discuss what it takes to make a platformer feel good. Watch Episode 1, and continue the Astro journey with the 5-episode behind the scenes series.
What Are All Special Bots In Astro Bot? Miles Morales – Youthful Protector
It’s that every inch of Astro Bot is designed to offer a fresh experience. It all fits together perfectly, with levels unfurling with surprising secrets that encourage exploration and always have an answer for a curious mind. Astro Bot might also be the most ASMR game ever with pitch perfect sound design that reacts to every single surface like no other game before. If you thought Playroom was a showcase for the DualSense, you haven’t seen anything yet. It comes with a plethora of powers, but they never feel overused.
Product Videos
One of the best mechanics–which I very much hope becomes standard in the genre moving forward–is a robot bird companion who can join you in any level you decide to replay. The bird pings for collectibles and leads you right to the remaining bots, secret Void levels, and puzzle pieces you’ve not yet found. This makes playing the game to 100% completion a joy and never a grind.
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. I won’t spoil them, but they all achieve a surprisingly deep synthesis of their inspiration (often a more mature-styled game) with Astro Bot’s tactile world, adorable characters, and toothsome gameplay. It’s a mark of how confident the game is that its personality shines so clearly through the costumes it dons. This tribute is never more touching and joyful than in the case of Ape Escape.