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. In the few instances where the hero isn’t wearing an ability, the game still finds ways to reinvent itself. But once that awesome level was finished, I never saw the mechanic used again. Astro Bot feels like it’s showing off at times, but never in a way that pats itself on its back. It’s ceaselessly cute and clever, and feels more like a little kid delighted to show you their toy collection than a braggart displaying their trophies. The only ability that doesn’t work as cleanly as others is the one used in an underwater level.

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. 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.

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. As of writing, there is no information regarding the game receiving a PC version.

Astro Bot is a showcase for the DualSense’s bells and whistles unlike anything since, well… Triggers tighten in your fingers and rumbles are sent through your thumbs. I found my whole body involuntarily drifting from side to side as I guided Astro’s ship with the motion controls. I’d also recommend turning your controller speaker volume up if, like me, you have it muted by default – you’ll be missing out on some fantastic audio flourishes otherwise. And while there’s nothing to quite rival the GPU earworm of four years ago (despite the best efforts of a giant singing tree), the music is a consistent delight throughout.

About Astro Bot

Astro Bot took what players loved about those tech demos and expanded upon them immensely into a fantastic platforming experience. In this game, players once again have to save Astro’s crew across multiple galaxies. Along with that, they also have to repair their PS5 mothership and experience the history of PlayStation through collectibles, unique levels, fun little robots, and so much more. And now that it has gone on to become one of the best-selling PS5 games, there are likely plenty more adventures on the way.

This isn’t a bad thing, since players don’t need to have that much story or depth for Astro Bot, or platformers in general. Instead of having a full narrative, Astro Bot lets the gameplay shine and do the talking for it. Team Asobi could go back to the tech demo days of the franchise’s past and showcase some new hardware, like the PSVR 2. But now that players have been treated to a fully-fledged platformer, it could feel reductive to go back to those smaller adventures.

It’s a sustained tech demo, one that never runs out of new wonders to show you, new marvels to fling at you and swiftly discard. Previous Astro Bot games have been employed to showcase new bits of kit. It feels like Sony is trying to channel its whole spirit into this game. Astro Bot is a glimpse of what Sony wants you to understand that it believes that it is. It has the boundless cheer of a group of people coming together and trying to be their best selves. This is more of a nitpick, mainly because the game is actually catered to everyone.

Now it’s up to Astro Bot to literally put the pieces together. Astro Bot’s various worlds have a lot of colorful characters you’ll meet along the way. To challenge Bully Space Nebulax, the final boss of the game, you must first complete every main planet across all galaxies. TG88 saw the release of Astro Bot, our biggest game to date.

Unlike all of the other Astro Bot DLC stages, Winter Wonder is accessed via the Galaxy Select screen. To do so, players will need to find and crash into the floating planet with the Christmas hat. Four of the bots at the Crash Site will only appear once players have rescued them in Astro’s Playroom. The Great Master Challenge can only be accessed once players have found every Puzzle Piece in the game and rescued 300 Bots.

The best that could be said about these collectibles is they never feel like a chore to track down and get. Finding everything and everyone that the game hid across its levels has its rewards. Such rewards inlcude leading players to even more great Easter Eggs, and unlocking bonus features like the Photo Mode. 3D action platformers have many ways to keep their players engaged long after defeating the final boss.

Lost Cross Void Overview

Every stage is crafted with intent, as nothing feels out of place. Even with the levels’ linear design, gamers will want to explore every square inch to discover fun secrets hiding in just about every corner. Team Asobi brought their signature flair to the mix by making Astro Bot’s levels and platforming stand out.

There are shocking deep cuts here from every corner of PlayStation’s history, including its indie partners. If you have a seminal PS1 game in your mind or a semi-obscure PS2 horror game, there’s a good chance it’s represented here. 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.

What fans do know is that Sony has been thrilled with Astro Bot’s reception and performance. In fact, Sony announced more games like Astro Bot are being planned, expanding its family-friendly offerings. Most of the Astro Bot cameo characters are pretty easy to identify, but there are a few VIP Bots who are obscure and thus can be difficult to place. The fact that Team Asobi’s games have the potential to become someone’s first game is something that Doucet takes seriously.