Astro Bot (2024 Video Game)

is a 2024 platform game developed and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 5 to coincide with PlayStation's 30th anniversary. Following ''Astro's Playroom'' (2020), it is the fifth overall installment in the ''Astro Bot'' series and marks Team Asobi's first game developed since its separation from Japan Studio. As the titular protagonist Astro, the player embarks on a quest to save lost Bots, retrieve parts for the PlayStation 5 mothership, and defeat the alien Space Bully Nebulax, who had originally destroyed the mothership. Like its predecessor, the game heavily utilizes the DualSense controller's features, including adaptive triggers and haptic feedback.

''Astro Bot'' received critical acclaim, becoming the highest-rated game of 2024. Critics praised the gameplay, level design, and content, with some comparing the game to Nintendo franchises, particularly the ''Super Mario'' series. ''Astro Bot'' won numerous awards, including Game of the Year honors at The Game Awards 2024, the 21st British Academy Games Awards, and the 28th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. The game has sold 1.5 million units as of November 2024, making it one of the best-selling PlayStation 5 games.

Gameplay

''Astro Bot'' is a 3D platformer where the player controls the title character, a small robot named Astro, through the use of the DualSense controller. Astro's move set is identical to his previous incarnations from ''Astro Bot Rescue Mission'' and ''Astro's Playroom'', maintaining his ability to jump, hover, punch, and spin-attack (the ability to swim underwater also makes a return from ''Astro Bot Rescue Mission'', having previously been absent in ''Astro's Playroom'').

Levels

The base game has 90 levels, split across six galaxies and 60 planets. Each level falls under three different difficulty settings: Easy, Normal, and Hard. The main story levels (dubbed "playful stages") primarily fall under the easy & normal difficulties, whereas the optional challenge stages (dubbed "complex stages") fall mainly under the hard difficulty. Each level also contains a difficulty indicator, which is highlighted before entering the level. Both playful and complex stages are said to arrive following the game's release in the form of post-launch downloadable content (DLC). Traversal between the galaxies and levels is achieved through the "Dual Speeder"; a spaceship shaped like a PlayStation 5 DualSense controller. The Dual Speeder is controlled by holding down the analog triggers and physically tilting the DualSense. It can also move around freely on the level selection screen, where it can collide with incoming asteroids and unlock some of the game's optional stages and collect some of the game's puzzle pieces.

Similar to ''Astro Bot Rescue Mission'', every level contains a set number of Bots that Astro has to rescue, ranging from seven Bots in the main platformer levels to only one or two Bots in the boss fights and challenge levels. Each world also requires the player to collect a certain number of Bots before progressing onward. 327 Bots can be rescued and recruited in total: 301 in the base game, 22 via free DLC, and 4 obtainable through missions in the free-to-play predecessor ''Astro's Playroom''. Unlike in ''Rescue Mission'', "V.I.P. Bots" (collectible Bots which reference various PlayStation characters in their visual appearance and behavior) can also be rescued and recruited. There are over 150 unique V.I.P. Bots, with more expected to be included alongside free DLC levels. Many of the "deep cut" Bot characters from PlayStation's history are rescuable in the game's challenge levels. The likeness of each of the V.I.P. Bots originate from both Sony Interactive Entertainment franchises and franchises owned by third-parties by the likes of Activision, Arc System Works, Argonaut Software, Atlus, Bandai Namco Entertainment, BlueTwelve Studio, Capcom, Crystal Dynamics, Ember Lab, Koei Tecmo, Konami, Mediatonic, Oddworld Inhabitants, Polyarc, SHIFT UP Corperation, Sega, THA LTD, Team17, Ubisoft, and Young Horses.

Five of the game's levels are based heavily on classic PlayStation franchises, which in turn, each represent previous PlayStation consoles – namely ''Ape Escape'' (PlayStation), ''God of War'' (PlayStation 2), ''Uncharted'' (PlayStation 3), ''LocoRoco'' (PlayStation Portable), and ''Horizon'' (PlayStation 4). These levels allow the player to utilize the abilities of the heroes of these PlayStation franchises, such as Spike's Monkey Net being the forefront of the ''Ape Escape''-themed level and or Kratos' Leviathan Axe in the ''God of War''-themed level.

Abilities and controls

Astro has access to 15 new abilities, which attach to him and enhance both his traversal and combative capabilities. Some of these new abilities include Barkster the Bulldog Booster (granting Astro the ability to air-dash through enemies and terrain), the Twin-Frog Gloves (allowing Astro to punch enemies from a distance and swing/slingshot off surfaces painted red), and Handy-D the Monkey (allowing Astro to climb on banana-shaped climbing holds, throw rocks at enemies and slam the ground). The boss battles present at the end of each galaxy are fought with the help of these abilities.

The game provides a selection of accessibility settings, which include granting the player the option to play the game with a single analog stick (with camera controls instead coming from a single button press), support for the PlayStation Access controller, and the option to disable the gyro controls, haptic feedback, and adaptive triggers. A bluebird helper may also be purchased, helping the player uncover any Bots or puzzle pieces which they might have missed on their first attempt at the level. The bluebird helper is available at the beginning of each level, only being available from the second attempt of a level onward.

Hub world

All of the Bots that have been collected can be viewed in a centralized hub world called the Crash Site, where they can be viewed and interacted with; many V.I.P. Bots will perform special actions when Astro punches them, such as the Bot based on Ratchet from ''Ratchet & Clank'' dropping all of his Bolts and scrambling to pick them back up. The Crash Site also contains hidden puzzle pieces, Bots, and secret companions, many of which require help from a certain amount of rescued Bots. Collecting puzzle pieces throughout the game unlocks the Gatcha Lab (where Astro can spend coins to unlock collectibles and special items for V.I.P. Bots to interact with), the Dual Speeder garage and Astro's outfit collection (where Astro can repaint his speeder or change outfits), and the Safari Park (where Astro can view and interact with various robotic animals, as well as unlock Photo Mode).

Collecting every puzzle piece and 300 Bots grants access to one final level called the "Great Master Challenge", which is overly difficult and only accessible from the Crash Site. Completing this level rewards the player with a V.I.P. Bot based on Chop Chop Master Onion from PaRappa the Rapper, followed by an 8-bit Astro costume called the "Throwback Outfit", and a Dual Speeder skin based on the original PlayStation console.

Plot

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. An unconscious Astro and the mothership crash-land onto a desert planet while his crew and the mothership's core systems are scattered across the universe.

Astro is revived by his Dual Speeder, a smaller spaceship resembling the DualSense controller, and together they begin reactivating satellites and exploring galaxies to rescue the crew and rebuild the mothership. The crew helps Astro gain access to Nebulax's minions, whom he defeats and recovers mothership parts from - the system memory from Mighty Chewy the gorilla, the solid state drive from Wako Tako the octopus, the graphics processing unit from Lady Venomara the snake, the cooling fan from Mecha Leon the chameleon, and the ship covers from Falcon McFly the bird. Along the way, he rescues V.I.P. Bots (guest characters from other games) and explores planets based on ''Ape Escape'', ''God of War'', ''Uncharted'', ''LocoRoco'', and ''Horizon''.

Once all parts save for the CPU have been recovered, Astro and his crew board ships based on older PlayStation hardware and form the "PlaySquadron" to take the fight to Nebulax, who has been harassing the helpless CPU throughout the game. Astro recovers the CPU, but when he and his crew defeat Nebulax by blowing up the spaceship he is attached to, it creates a black hole that begins to suck Nebulax in. Nebulax grabs Astro to try to take him down with him, but the crew take hold of Astro to try to pull him back. Refusing to let the crew sacrifice themselves for him, Astro lets go of them and falls into the black hole, which explodes into a supernova.

The crew mourns Astro and sad credits begin to roll, but are interrupted by a broken Astro falling back onto the mothership. Several Bots from the crew find replacement parts and help the mothership's repair systems rebuild their captain, who springs back to life. The crew celebrates with a revived Astro, who departs once more on his Dual Speeder before the credits start to roll again.

Once the actual credits finish rolling, a badly beaten Nebulax and his minions are seen floating through space; they threaten the player, but are sent flying by the sudden appearance of the words "THE END".

Development

Development of ''Astro Bot'' started almost immediately after ''Astro's Playroom'' was completed, and took roughly three years with a development team of around 60 people. It is reportedly the largest game that Team Asobi has developed. Unlike its predecessors ''Astro Bot Rescue Mission'' and ''Astro's Playroom'', ''Astro Bot'' was named without any subtitle proceeding it. Nicolas Doucet, the creative director and producer of ''Astro Bot'', stated the reasoning behind this was to signify a new beginning for the ''Astro Bot'' series.

In an interview with ''Edge'' magazine, Doucet stated that he and Team Asobi considered giving the game an open world structure, but ultimately decided on focusing more on a level-based structure instead. He notes that the reason behind this decision was "because that was the one that gave us the most control over the game's variety." To make the game accessible for gamers of all skill levels, the difficulty of each of ''Astro Bot''s levels were put into great consideration. The main levels were designed to be relatively easy, allowing anyone to beat the game regardless of their skill level. The optional levels, meanwhile, were designed to be much more difficult as a way of satisfying the more experienced gaming crowd.

Alongside the platforming, several additions were made to the background and environmental details present in each of the levels. The overhauled game engine allows for significant improvements in both the visuals and physics and over 70 unique species of wildlife (which include polar bears, elephants, and small insects).

''Astro Bot'' is not playable on the PlayStation VR2, even though previous Team Asobi games featuring ''Astro'' (such as ''Astro Bot Rescue Mission'' and ''The Playroom VR'') required the use of the PlayStation VR accessory to be played. Doucet stated that Team Asobi had never considered developing a PlayStation VR2 game after finishing ''Astro's Playroom'', instead opting to develop a larger scale version of the tech demo assuming that it was received well enough by the general public. He acknowledged that, while there are games that are playable in both VR and non-VR, this design philosophy could not work for an ''Astro Bot'' game, stating "for a game like ''Astro'', if you were to make a VR version, it has to be fully designed for that medium. And if it's not a VR version, it has to be fully designed for ''that'' medium." Doucet further corroborated this viewpoint in an interview with MinnMax, stating that developing a PSVR 2 version of ''Astro Bot'' would make it an entirely different game. He also noted in the same interview that a PC port was a possibility, should it be in high enough demand following the game's release.

DualSense features

''Astro Bot'' implements many of the DualSense controller's features in gameplay, particularly the haptic feedback and the adaptive triggers. To make the most out of DualSense's features, Team Asobi formed a small group solely dedicated to getting as much out of the controller as possible. Doucet notes a few examples of these features, which included using the adaptive triggers to simulate squeezing water out of a sponge by changing its resistance level and using the haptic feedback to feel certain irregularities on a surface to uncover a hidden secret. Many features are first developed in isolation before the best ones become integrated into the main game (with the aforementioned sponge ability being one such example).

Each of Astro's abilities also utilize the DualSense controller's features heavily. Doucet notes the difference in how ''Astro's Playroom'' and ''Astro Bot'' went about implementing the DualSense abilities in gameplay, with the former segmenting the platforming and abilities into different sections, and the latter instead opting to integrate the abilities into the platforming gameplay. He also mentions that, because of the stronger emphasis on platforming during development, touchpad-related gameplay mechanics were utilized much less frequently. The reason for this, as stated by Doucet, was because using the touchpad requires the player to move their fingers away from the jump button, thus creating friction during gameplay.

V.I.P. Bots

Doucet has mentioned the significance of the V.I.P. Bots referencing prominent PlayStation IPs on multiple occasions. He and Team Asobi decided to "double down" from the number of cameos present in ''Astro's Playroom''. One of the reasons behind this decision was how ''Astro Bot'' could be used as a generational bridge; a child wondering who a certain Bot is referencing could receive an explanation from their parent who had played the games previously.

One challenge that implementing the V.I.P. Bots presented was how the team had gone about representing these longstanding characters. Punching these Bots causes them to have a funny reaction and reference something specific from their respective games, a mechanic carried over from ''Astro's Playroom''. Doucet noted that there's a balance between maintaining this aspect of humor present in the previous ''Astro'' games while simultaneously being respectful to the legacy of the characters they were "taking the piss and being funny with". Various PlayStation Studios studios, such as Santa Monica Studio and Naughty Dog, have responded positively to the implementation of their characters being represented as Bots.

Another challenge that came about from the V.I.P. Bots was how the large number of PlayStation and third-party characters and references present could overshadow the identity of Astro himself. Doucet said he and Team Asobi had considered not implementing any PlayStation branding in the upcoming game, instead allowing Astro to "stand on his own feet". Ultimately, he and Team Asobi decided against this, reasoning that fans of ''Astro's Playroom'' who enjoyed the PlayStation references would likely be disappointed if the sequel had done away with them entirely.

The design of the Bots was not always completely accurate to the source material they were referencing, with Doucet specifically noting that characters who had hair often had it replaced with vinyl. Doucet also said that the blue LED eyes present on the Bots were a huge element of their designs. Some Bots could not be accurately represented with LED eyes alone, due to their original designs heavily relying on eyes. To solve this issue, these Bots were provided full head masks, providing them with a shaped head more akin to the character they were referencing without significantly changing their anatomy.

There are a total of 190 V.I.P. Bots in ''Astro Bot''. Aside from the Sony-owned franchises like Ratchet and Sackboy, many characters from third-party franchises with notable appearances on PlayStation consoles also appear as V.I.P. Bots.

Music

Kenneth C. M. Young, having previously composed the music for ''Astro Bot Rescue Mission'' and ''Astro's Playroom'', returned to compose the soundtrack for ''Astro Bot''. This was first confirmed through a post from his Twitter account. The soundtrack was made available to listen on the game's release through the digital deluxe edition of the game, and was later released on streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music on October 5, 2024.In addition to new music composed by Young, songs originating from ''The Playroom VR'' (2016), '' Astro Bot: Rescue Mission'' (2018) and ''Astro's Playroom'' (2020) are reused in several of the game's levels.

Young went into detail regarding the composition process in an interview with VGC. Unconventionally for a composer, Young was given a dev kit, allowing him to access an earlier build of the game to get inspiration for level songs. He described it as "really important, particularly for those levels where it’s not clear exactly what it needs".

''Astro Bot'' also includes remixed versions of Greg Edmonson's themes from the ''Uncharted'' series, Bear McCreary's themes from ''God of War'' (2018) and ''God of War Ragnarök'' (2022), Nobuyuki Shimizu and Kemmei Adachi's themes from ''LocoRoco'' (the two going uncredited), and Joris de Man and Niels van der Leest's themes from the ''Horizon'' series. These themes are used in levels based on their respective franchises. The track "Rising Blue Lightning" from '' Thunder Force V: Perfect System'' (1998), originally composed by Hyakutaro Tsukumo, is also used in the level "PlaySquadron Go!".

Marketing and release

''Astro Bot'' was announced on May 30, 2024, during Sony's State of Play livestream presentation. The game's release trailer and a behind-the-scenes video were showcased on the PlayStation YouTube channel on August 30, 2024. The game was released exclusively for the PlayStation 5 on September 6, 2024.

The 400th issue of ''Edge'' magazine features ten front cover variants, each highlighting a different V.I.P. Bot, such as Ratchet and Clank from their eponymous series and Aloy from the ''Horizon'' series.

Three versions of the game are available for purchase, those being the digital standard edition, physical standard edition, and digital deluxe editions. Each of these versions also come with rewards for preordering the game. The digital standard version comes with an in-game outfit for Astro resembling the character PaRappa the Rapper, a Dual Speeder graffiti skin featuring a variety of different V.I.P. Bots, and two different PlayStation Network avatars: one featuring Astro and the other being a V.I.P. Bot referencing PaRappa. The digital deluxe version, alongside featuring all of the rewards in the digital standard release, also adds two outfits (one is a golden outfit and the other references the Yharnam hunter from ''Bloodborne''), two controller skins (one called 'Neon Dream' and the other 'Champion's Gold'), 10 PlayStation Network avatars (showcasing more renders of Astro and various V.I.P. Bots), and a download code for the official soundtrack and digital art gallery.

Kiosks featuring a playable demo of ''Astro Bot'' were present at Summer Game Fest, EVO, ChinaJoy, and PAX West. ''Astro Bot'' was also present during Tokyo Game Show which, alongside the aforementioned playable demo, featured a giant replica Gatcha machine. Anyone who used the machine received one of four different ''Astro Bot'' themed t-shirts.

A DualSense controller modeled after the Dual Speeder was announced on July 29, 2024. Pre-orders started on August 9 and the controller release coincided with the game.

Astro has been prominently featured in various soft drink advertisements, such as in a commercial for Red Bull and on various Pepsi bottles in Asia.

A bundle which includes a PlayStation 5 console (standard and digital-only) and a digital copy of ''Astro Bot'' was released on March 13, 2025, exclusively in the United States and Europe.

Tie-in with ''Astro's Playroom''

To help connect ''Astro Bot'' to its predecessor, ''Astro's Playroom'' received a free content update on June 7, 2024. It added extra artifacts to the Gatcha machine which corresponded to the PS5 slim models and various PlayStation 5 accessories, such as the PlayStation VR2 headset and the PlayStation Portal. Each of these artifacts could be stored in a new room accessed through the PlayStation Labo room. It also contained a brand new "mission room", which displayed a countdown until ''Astro Bot'' release and directed players to the game's official store page.

Additionally, four new Bots could be rescued: one for each of the worlds present. These Bots reference the PlayStation characters Lady Maria from ''Bloodborne'', Selene from '' Returnal'', a racer from the '' Gran Turismo'' series, and a Pipo Monkey from the ''Ape Escape'' series. Each of the Bots collected in ''Playroom'' can be transferred to the ''Astro Bot'' ensemble.

Downloadable content

Five additional speedrun levels were announced as free DLC during the September 2024 State of Play event. These levels are accessible via the Stellar Speedway galaxy, only unlocked after completing the main campaign. The online levels were released every week from October 17, 2024, to November 14, 2024, and featured additional V.I.P. Bots referencing characters such as the Shock Troopers from ''Helldivers 2'', and Eve from ''Stellar Blade''.

An additional Christmas-themed level (titled Winter Wonder) was announced on December 11, 2024 and was released the following day. This level featured a variety of different collectibles, which included four dual speeder skins, four outfits and seven V.I.P. Bots referencing characters such as Spider-Man, Croc, Tomba and Rayman.

Five challenge levels were announced as free DLC on February 13, 2025. Similarly to the speedrun levels, they can be found in a dedicated galaxy (being called Vicious Void) and were released on a weekly basis from February 13, 2025, to March 13, 2025. Five more V.I.P Bots were also to the game, which included Heihachi Mishima from the ''Tekken'' series and Jade from '' Beyond Good & Evil''. Additionally, the game was updated with enhanced features for the PS5 Pro.

On June 4th, 2025, during a State of Play event, another free update was announced, adding five challenge levels to the Vicious Void galaxy and set to release on July 10th, 2025. Each of these levels will also contain V.I.P Bots, such as Atsu from Ghost of Yotei. In a post from PlayStation Blog, Doucet alluded to unlocking "something really cool" upon the completion of every Vicious Void level.

Reception

Critical reception

''Astro Bot'' received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic, and 99% of critics recommended the game, according to OpenCritic. It was ranked the highest-rated game of 2024 on Metacritic and OpenCritic. In Japan, four critics from ''Famitsu'' gave the game a total score of 36 out of 40, with each critic awarding the game a 9 out of 10.

Simon Cardy of ''IGN'' compared ''Astro Bot'' to the likes of a theme park and Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, "throwing a new thrill at you around every corner and after every double-jumped gap ..a delightful concoction of experimentation and joy." He also felt that it was the best utilization of the DualSense's haptic feedback and adaptive triggers since 2020's ''Astro's Playroom'', describing it as "like some popping candy has smuggled its way into your controller as it fizzes and pings away, sweetly reacting to whatever is happening on screen."

''GameSpot''s Mark Delaney praised the level design, feeling it could reliably predict when players would sidetrack from the main path and accordingly rewarded them with secrets, "like a surprise gift in the mail whose sender can't wait to learn it's arrived." Delaney also wrote the various abilities of Astro elevated the gameplay, but never at the cost of alienating the player from the fundamental sense of control; he did, however, call Astro's underwater controls as unintuitive.

''Astro Bot'' was also positively compared to games in the ''Super Mario'' series, particularly ''Super Mario Sunshine'', ''Super Mario Galaxy'', and ''Super Mario Odyssey''. Critics also drew comparison of the mechanics to other Nintendo series, which included ''Arms'', ''Pikmin'', and ''Splatoon''. Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of the ''Kirby'' and ''Super Smash Bros.'' series, praised the game on Twitter.

Sales

In the United States, ''Astro Bot'' was the second best-selling software in the week of release and 21% higher than '' Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart''s debut in the United Kingdom. In Japan, the game sold 12,672 physical units throughout its first week of release, making it the second best-selling retail game of the week in the country. It had sold 34,902 physical units in Japan by September 30, 2024, and 47,392 physical units by December 8.

On November 8, 2024, it was revealed by Sony that ''Astro Bot'' had sold 1.5 million units as of November 3.

There are reports that the game has reached 2.3 million units sold as of March 2025.

Awards

As of April 9, 2025, ''Astro Bot'' has become the most awarded platformer game of all time, beating out '' It Takes Two'' with a current total of 195 Game of the Year nominations and wins.

Notes

References

External links

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