By Kevin Dunsmore
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Key Takeaways
- Astro Bot is a colorful, whimsical platformer filled with wonder and playfulness, showcasing a love for PlayStation's past and present.
- With 80 levels across six galaxies, players will enjoy creative worlds, playful gameplay mechanics, and the ability to unlock collectible allies.
- The game features 15 abilities in the form of animals that enhance Astro's interactions with the world, creating a sense of joy and wonder in gameplay.
There’s something magical about Astro Bot. Not only is it a vastly different project from PlayStation’s recent output, it’s a game that seeks to elicit joy and showcase reverence for the past. It’s a colorful platformer as much as it’s a love letter to the PlayStation brand. Across 80 levels, players will join Astro on an exciting adventure that’s colorful, vibrant and joyful as he meets and rescues icons from PlayStation’s past. In a catalog that boasts serious titles like The Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon Forbidden West and Returnal, Astro Bot stands out as a whimsical, joy-filled delight.
Worlds of color and wonder
Astro Bot features a total of eighty levels that are split across six galaxies and further split into fifty planets. While we haven’t seen every single level in the game yet, what has been shown reveals lands of whimsical creativity. The Sky Garden level features beautiful water features and cherry blossoms, Construction Derby sees Astro precariously-platform across the clouds and skyscrapers, a casino-inspired world features platforming across multi-colored coins and a snow level features some playful snowballs. It’s a level of creativity one would expect from a Nintendo game, but in a PlayStation game this go around.
There’s also a strong sense of playfulness built into Astro Bot’s design and gameplay. You’ll get to slide down a waterslide with some inflatable balls, throw paint and destroy glass, take a deep sea dive and play with fish and run across a pond and watch petals disperse realistically. Physics and how Astro interacts with the world play a strong role in how playful and fun the worlds are.
From a gameplay perspective, Astro has access to fifteen abilities that take the form of animals that attach to his back and enable different mechanics. We’ve already seen Barkster the Bulldog Booster who enables Astro to air dash, the Twin-Frog Gloves that allow punching from a distance and swing off different objects and an octopus that inflates Astro to let him reach higher places. There’s a sense of wonder and joy built into how you play and interact with the game.
Related
Astro Bot Makes His Triumphant Return With a New Self-Titled PS5 Game
After making their return via a PS5 pack-in game, Astro Bot returns to the PS5 for what looks to be their biggest platformer yet.
A reverence for PlayStation’s present and past
The Astro Bot franchise has always shown a lot of love for the PlayStation brand. Both Rescue Mission and Playroom featured a lot of collectibles and callbacks to previous PlayStation franchises, consoles and other memorabilia. Astro Bot is no different. Astro’s landing ship is the DualSense inspired Dual Speeder. Meanwhile, the actual ship he uses to get from galaxy to galaxy and planet to planet is an actual PS5.
That sense of love for PlayStation extends to the game’s V.I.P. Bots, collectible allies Astro saves during his adventure that are based on characters from PlayStation’s history. These include those from newer games (Dad Kratos, Atreus, Aloy and Nathan Drake) and older IP (Ico, Spike, PaRappa and Ratchet). With 150 V.I.P. Bots to rescue, there’s no telling who will show up. Though unlikely, it would be nice to see third-party characters important to PlayStation’s success show up in Bot form. In addition to Sony’s efforts, it was also third-party franchises like Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Tekken, Devil May Cry and Kingdom Hearts among others that helped PlayStation achieve such astronomical success. Getting to see Cloud, Leon S. Kennedy or Sora in Bot form alongside other PlayStation icons would be priceless.
What other references Astro Bot has in store for PlayStation fans we’ll have to wait and see. There’ll be a whole host of collectibles and customization items for players to unlock. Will we get to switch out our PS5 ship for a PS3 ship? Can the Dual Speeder’s look be altered to become a DualShock 4? Will the original Greek Kratos and modern Norse Kratos get a chance to hang out? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Astro Bot is a game that’s filled with joy, color, and love for the PlayStation brand. Whether that translates into an amazing platformer we’ll have to wait till launch to see. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait that much longer. Astro Bot launches September 6 on PS5.
