Astro Bot

Astro Bot
Developer(s)	Team Asobi
Publisher(s)	Sony Interactive Entertainment
Director(s)	Nicolas Doucet
Composer(s)	Kenneth C. M. Young
Series	Astro Bot
Platform(s)	PlayStation 5
Release	September 6, 2024
Genre(s)	Platform
Mode(s)	Single-player

Astro Bot^[a] is a 2024 platform game developed by Team Asobi and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 5. It is a sequel to Astro's Playroom (2020) and the first game featuring the character not to be developed by Japan Studio due to its dissolution. The game was released in celebration of PlayStation's 30th anniversary and received universal acclaim from critics. It had sold 1.5 million units by November 2024.

Astro Bot is a 3D platformer where the player controls the title character, a small robot named Astro Bot, through the use of the DualSense controller. Astro's core moveset is identical to previous entries, maintaining his ability to jump, hover, punch and spin-attack.^[1] The ability to swim underwater also returns from Astro Bot Rescue Mission, having been absent in Astro's Playroom.^[2]

Astro Bot is cited to be over four times the length of Astro's Playroom, and does not contain any microtransactions.^[3]

The game boasts 90 levels, which are split across six galaxies and 60 planets. Each of the levels fall 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 by the end of 2024.^[4][5] 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.^[1] It can also move around freely on the level selection screen.^{[6][better source needed]}

Similar to Astro Bot Rescue Mission, every level contains a set number of Bots which 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^{[citation needed]}. There are 315 Bots that can be rescued and recruited in total, 301 in the base game and 4 from Astro's Playroom.^[7] Unlike in Rescue Mission, "V.I.P. Bots" (collectible Bots which reference various PlayStation characters in their visual appearance) can also be rescued and recruited. There are 150 unique V.I.P. Bots, and more are to be included alongside the free DLC levels.^[8][9] Many of the "deep cut" Bot characters from PlayStation's history are rescuable in the game's complex levels.^[10] All of the Bots that have been collected can be viewed in a centralized hub world, where they can be viewed and interacted with.^[11] A select few levels allow the player to utilize the abilities from certain PlayStation heroes, such as Kratos' Leviathan Axe being the forefront of a God of War-themed level.^[12]

Collectable coins are scattered across the planets, which can be used to purchase a variety of different things. The main way to spend coins is in the Gatcha^[b] machine, which gifts the player costumes they can equip and skins for the Dual Speeder, along with items for the V.I.P. Bots. These items reference specific objects used by the characters in their home games, and gifting it to them causes them to perform specific actions referencing said games.^{[8][better source needed]}. Coins may also be used to purchase a bluebird helper that assists the player in uncovering 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, and can only be purchased from the second attempt of a level onwards.^[13]

Astro has access to 15 new abilities, which attach onto 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 of certain surfaces), and Handy-D (a monkey which allows Astro to climb on certain surfaces, swing, and slam the ground). The boss battles present at the end of each galaxy are fought using these abilities.^[14][12]

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.^[13]

One day, in space, a mothership resembling the PlayStation 5 console is seen flying around the cosmos, featuring Astro and numerous bots resembling him, representing his entire crew. They suddenly encounter a green alien named Space Bully Nebulax, who chases after the mothership, attacks the crew and steals its CPU. This causes the mothership to explode, with its parts scattered throughout space, and the Bots stranded in other planets.

Shortly after the attack, what is left of the mothership crash-lands on a desert-based planet, and Astro, knocked unconscious, is revived by the Dual Speeder, a much smaller ship resembling the DualSense controller. A satellite crashes down the planet below, and as Astro activates it, he begins the search for his fellow Bots, and in pursuit of the missing parts of the mothership. Shortly after Astro explores his first planet, the mothership reactivates itself, and the crash site is turned into an oasis and settlement for Astro and the rescued Bots.

Astro continues to explore the galaxies, rescuing most of the Bots until he tracks down the home planets of each boss representing it: Gorilla Nebula (Mighty Chewy), Tentacle System (Wako Tako), Serpent Starway (Lady Venomara), Camo Cosmos (Mecha Leon) and Feather Cluster (Falcon McFly), fighting them all along the way and retrieving lost parts of the mothership in the process. As soon as Astro has recovered a majority of his crew, and that the mothership had been fully repaired after exploring all galaxies, he encounters Space Bully Nebulax once again and gives chase, initiating an intergalactic war in the process, with most of the crew using older PlayStation hardware as part of their squadron, thus forming the PlaySquadron.

After a lengthy fight across the universe, Astro and his fellow Bots reach Space Bully Nebulax for one last battle in order to retrieve the missing CPU. Moments later, Astro is able to retrieve the CPU, which inserts itself to the mothership, but not without a severely injured Nebulax picking one more fight. With the help of the Bots, Astro is able to blow up the UFO within Nebulax’s body, but this causes a black hole in the process. Nebulax grabs Astro, aiming to take him along his incoming demise, while the Bots do whatever they can to rescue him, although Astro sacrifices himself in the process, leading to a supernova. With the Bots fearing Astro's fate from the battle, he emerges from the horizon and lands on top of the mothership, but collapses and dies as his robotic limbs fall out one by one. Some of the Bots find and toss replacement parts for Astro as the mothership’s repair systems use them to repair and revive him. Having been resurrected, Astro celebrates with his crew and explores through space once more as the credits roll, before departing one last time on his Dual Speeder.

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.^[15][16] 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, says the reasoning behind this was to signify a new beginning for the Astro Bot series.^[17]

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."^[18] In order 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.^[16]

Alongside the platforming, a number of 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 (of which includes polar bears, elephants and small insects).^[19][20]

Astro Bot is not playable on the PlayStation VR2, in spite of the fact that previous Team Asobi games featuring Astro (such as Astro Bot Rescue Mission and The Playroom VR) required the use of PlayStation VR in order to be played.^[21] 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."^[22] 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.^[23] He also noted in the same interview that a PC port was a possibility, should it be in enough demand following the game's release.^[24]

Astro Bot implements many of the DualSense controller's features in gameplay, particularly the haptic feedback and the adaptive triggers. In order to make the most out of the DualSense's features, Team Asobi formed a small group solely dedicated to getting as much out of the controller as possible.^[16] 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.^[11] Many features are first developed in isolation before the best ones become integrated into the main game (with the afformentioned sponge ability being an example).^[10]

Each of Astro's abilities also utilize the DualSense'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 segmented 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 causing the game to become more uncomfortable to play.^[11]

Doucet has mentioned the significance of the V.I.P. Bots referencing prominent PlayStation IPs on multiple occasions. He and Team Asobi made the decision to "double down" by having even more cameos than Astro's Playroom. The reason he gives for this was because it could potentially work 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.^[15]

One challenge that implementing the V.I.P. Bots presented was how the team had gone about representing these longstanding characters. Carried over from Astro's Playroom, punching these Bots causes them to have a funny reaction and reference something specific from their respective games. Doucet noted there was a balance to be had with maintaining this aspect of humor present in the previous the 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.^[10][11][15]

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.^[11]

The design of the Bots were 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, they were given full head masks.^[19]

There are in total 173 VIP Bots. Aside characters from Sony-owned franchises like Ratchet and Sackboy, characters from third-party franchises with notable appearances on PlayStation consoles also appear as VIP Bots.^[25]

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 confirmed through his Twitter account.^[26]

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^[c] were showcased on the PlayStation YouTube channel on August 30, 2024.^[12] The game was released exclusively for the PlayStation 5 on September 6, 2024.^[27][28]

The 400th issue of Edge magazine features 10 front cover variants, each highlighting a different V.I.P. Bot (such as Ratchet and Clank from their self-titled series and Aloy from the Horizon series).^[29]

Three versions of the game are currently available, being the digital standard, physical standard and digital deluxe editions. Each of these versions also comes with rewards for pre-ordering 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).^[d] The digital deluxe version, alongside featuring all of the rewards in the digital standard release, also adds two outfits (one of which being a golden outfit and the other referencing 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.^[1]

Kiosks featuring a playable demo of Astro Bot were present at Summer Game Fest, EVO, ChinaJoy,^[e] and PAX West.^{[2][30][31][32][33]} They highlighted five different levels; two of which being the playful platforming stages (named Sky Garden and Construction Derby, the latter referencing the PlayStation video game Destruction Derby), one being a boss fight against an octopus utilizing the Twin-Frog Gloves ability, and two being the comparatively shorter, complex stages (named Swinging Senteries and Slowdown Showdown, both of which being themed after different PlayStation symbols).^[5][6][34] 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.^[35]

A DualSense controller modeled after the Dual Speeder was announced on July 29, 2024. Pre-orders started on August 9 and the controller was released on the same date as the game.^[36]

Certain Best Buy locations across Canada had demos available to play in the store.^[37]

In order 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 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's release and directed players to the game's official store page.^[38]

Additionally, four new Bots could be rescued; one for each of the worlds present. These Bots reference the PlayStation characters Lady Maria from Bloodborne,^[38] Selene from Returnal,^[39] a racer from the Gran Turismo series,^[40] and a Pipo Monkey from the Ape Escape series.^[41] Each of the Bots collected in Playroom can be transferred to the starting crew of Astro Bot.^[42]

In the hours preceding the release of Astro Bot, a special celebration countdown was held inside of Astro's Playroom.^[12]

Five additional speedrun levels were announced as free downloadable content during the September 2024 State of Play event. The online levels were released on a weekly basis from October 17, 2024 to November 14, 2024 and featured additional VIP bots such as the Shock Troopers from Helldivers 2 and Eve from Stellar Blade.^[43]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2024)

Astro Bot received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic,^[44] and 99% of critics recommended the game, according to OpenCritic.^[45] As of the day of its release, the game is the highest-rated new game of 2024 on both Metacritic and OpenCritic.^[55][56]

The game was positively compared to games in the Super Mario series, particularly Super Mario Sunshine,^[48][57][58] Super Mario Galaxy,^{[59][60][61][62]} and Super Mario Odyssey.^[60][63] Critics also compared the game to other Nintendo series, including Arms, Pikmin, and Splatoon.^[64][65][66] Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. series, praised the game on Twitter.^[67][68] Several outlets also consider Astro Bot as a contender for game of the year.^[69]

Upon release, the lack of representation from the Final Fantasy franchise was noted by several publications including IGN. Doucet noted that while Team Asobi had hoped to include characters like Cloud Strife, the studio had been unsuccessful but respected "the choice of each publisher".^[70]

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.^[71] 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.^[72]

On November 8, 2024, Sony announced that Astro Bot had sold 1.5 million units as of November 3.^[73]

• Official website