Astro Bot Review: 2024's Most Adorable Game Is Also One of Its Best
Astro Bot should not be missed.
I cannot remember the last time a game made me smile as much as Astro Bot has. From beginning to end, Team Asobi's latest adventure with PlayStation's new mascot is an absolute joy. Not only does it stand out within its own platforming genre, Astro Bot serves as a shining example of the types of games that PlayStation should look to focus more on releasing.
In simplest form, Astro Bot is a natural extension of everything that was seen in Astro's Playroom which is the pack-in game that launched in tandem with the PlayStation 5. The level structure of Astro Bot is similar to Playroom as is its focus on PlayStation's hardware and history. Scattered throughout its many colorful worlds are numerous callbacks to famous PlayStation icons (Kratos from God of War, Nathan Drake from Uncharted, etc.) alongside many others that only the most hardcore fans might recognize.
It's this focus on PlayStation and the history of the brand that is arguably my favorite element of Astro Bot. As someone who has been playing in the PlayStation ecosystem since the early days of the PS1, Astro Bot feels like both a love letter to fans and the brand as a whole. Many of these callbacks and references to PlayStation titles from yesteryear are pretty straightforward, but they still find a way to elicit nostalgia without feeling tacky.
What also helps on this front is that gameplay never stops being the focal point of Astro Bot. Throughout the game's more than 50 stages, Astro Bot gives players a litany of different abilities and unique environments to hop, dash, and punch their way through. Across these diverse levels, a standard "collectathon" approach is taken that will task players with saving various bots and discovering puzzle pieces. Doing so will allow you to return to your hub world and open up new areas that can enhance the experience in different ways. It's perhaps a bit of a straightforward setup but one that works great nonetheless.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of this hub area in Astro Bot is that it also allows you to interact more directly with the PlayStation-specific bots that you'll rescue. These bots can have their appearance and interactivity further altered if you unlock a corresponding item that is tied to their character. For example, getting the Leviathan Axe for Kratos and then finding him in this hub can result in the Kratos Bot using the weapon and freezing other bots around him. This is just one unique example of well over 100 and the manner in which Team Asobi implements these elements is dripping with creativity and cuteness.
Where Astro Bot is at its best, though, is when it meshes its excellent gameplay more directly with these PlayStation callbacks. There are a handful of levels within Astro Bot that lean very heavily into select PlayStation franchises and introduce mechanics that would be found in those properties. I won't spoil which games Team Asobi chooses to lean into in these moments, but there are some that left me both surprised and thrilled to see spotlighted.
Like Astro's Playroom, Astro Bot also looks to place a major focus on the DualSense controller and what it's capable of. This doesn't just include unique uses of the haptic feedback or adaptive triggers, either, as Team Asobi uses the DualSense in ways that I haven't seen other studios ever attempt with their own games. Whether this be blowing on the DualSense's microphone to generate wind within the game world, or using the motion controls to hammer together the broken remnants of Astro's PS5-style ship, the DualSense controller is one of the stars of Astro Bot.
Those looking to test their platforming prowess in Astro Bot are likely to find that the game isn't as challenging as they would like. While there are some difficult levels later on in Astro Bot, they pale in comparison to stages that I've encountered in other platforming titles. Still, this isn't a bad thing whatsoever as it keeps Astro Bot an accessible title for players of all ages. And in a time where PlayStation has perhaps focused a bit too much on Mature titles rounding out its offerings from its first-party studios, a game aimed more at younger audiences feels particularly fresh.
If there is one concern I have with Astro Bot, it's less about the game itself. Instead, I'm simply left wondering what Team Asobi can do next with this franchise. Between Astro's Playroom and Astro Bot, I don't think this series can continue to tap into PlayStation nostalgia and history without it beginning to feel worn thin. Obviously, the Astro character can thrive well enough without this reliance on the PlayStation brand as seen in Astro Bot: Rescue Mission. Still, if Astro is going to be another major pillar of PlayStation in the years to come, I believe it has to evolve in some manner from what's been seen in Astro Bot.
Despite having high expectations for Astro Bot, Team Asobi still found a way to surpass all of my hopes. This isn't just one of the best games of 2024, it's one of the best platformers that I have played in the last decade. Those who have a long attachment to PlayStation or just a simple love for games of this genre cannot let Astro Bot pass them by.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Astro Bot is set to release later this week on September 6, 2024, exclusively for PlayStation 5. A review code was provided by PlayStation for the purpose of this review.
