Astro Bot swarms the player with bright ideas, sparking almost endless joy. The new game, simply called Astro Bot and developed (like the others) by Team Asobi, kicks off when a group of robots’ PS5 mothership is attacked, scattering the robots throughout the galaxy. Your job as Astro is to go around to all the planets and collect your friends. The games have lots of fun platforming to execute, with grappling hooks and hover-jumps and all kinds of fun things.
As of now, the direction Team Asobi has in mind for this franchise is not entirely clear. This game served as a celebration of the brand and was built around repairing a PlayStation 5. [newline]While the studio could just do that again, it would risk coming off as repetitive. But if the studio creates something too different from what came before, then it may not be met with the same acclaim. “No chance,” Doucet said when asked if Astro Bot could come to PSVR2. “It’s designed for a different medium. It would be a different game.” Though the explanation makes sense, this likely won’t be welcome news to purchasers of Sony’s headset who are already frustrated over a lack of big games.
With tons to see and do, almost endless fresh ideas, innovative use of the DualSense’s features, and truly charming presentation, it’s a confident and cohesive experience that players of all ages will love. To top it all off, it’s a perfect game to celebrate PlayStation’s 30th anniversary, reflecting on the myriad series that made the platform what it is today. After completing a level, restart and you’ll spot a small birdhouse near the start of the level. Smash the glass casing on the birdhouse and pull the cord to get a bird companion who will point you towards any missed collectibles, including bots, puzzle pieces, and portals. It will cost a one-time fee of 200 coins per level, but it’s well worth it.
Saving bots brings them to your base, but having more bots also lets you solve puzzles around the crash site. But what’s really interesting is that roughly 160 of the game’s 300 bots are themed on past PlayStation games, wearing adorable little costumes. At your base, you can also use coins in a vending machine to unlock items for these themed bots, giving them little motifs that you can interact with. Each world also has a series of bonus levels, challenges, and more, filling out a fairly brief adventure that can easily be pushed through over the course of a weekend.
I feel pronounced haptic feedback when I hop into a stormy level and feel each raindrop in my palms. When I turn into a metal ball to stop a ceiling from crushing me, I can feel the resistance of the adaptive triggers pushing back on me. I even use the microphone to blow into a giant horn, a kind of delightful gameplay interaction that even Nintendo has moved away from in recent years. This is one of the only PS5 games that really feels like it was built around the DualSense, and it shows. At one time, this was a fundamental video game experience; a 3D platformer was just about the coolest game you could have. These were tightly designed adventures that understood the ways that digital play could activate creativity, even through a silly little cartoon with nothing to say.
And in case you’re wondering if it’s any good, you can put those questions aside. Team Asobi studio head Nicolas Doucet thanked his development team and PlayStation for believing in Astro, and also paid tribute to Nintendo, recalling how he played Super Mario Bros as a child. He also offered a nod toward 30 years of PlayStation history, which formed the foundation of Astro Bot’s gameplay. A new batch of five levels were added in July 2025, adding five new cameo bots including a couple of Final Fantasy characters.
Astro Bot Review – Playstation Gaming At Its Best
But they go even further to the point of referencing those narrow passages you often see in big AAA cinematic titles where the camera pulls in and your character slowly makes their way through it. The game is constantly toying with expectations, introducing ideas and concepts you might never have expected – it’s overflowing with fun. On top of all this, Astro Bot is basically a tribute to PlayStation’s history and, in fact, in some ways, the medium as a whole. Sometimes there’s just basic, fun references to classic characters, in-world jokes using PlayStation hardware including zip lines made from PS1 controller cords and the like. However, at other points, you take on the powers of key guest characters from PlayStation’s past.
There are 5 main Nebulas, each with 6-7 main levels, and a few side levels which are unlocked by flying into objects with the spaceship inside the Nebulas. When you hover over a level it shows how many collectibles it has and how many you still need. You can also hover over the Nebulas to see how many total collectibles there are in the sub-levels.
The game doesn’t seem to use any specific name for them, but players have taken to calling them cameo bots, secret bots, or hidden bots, depending on who you ask. Whatever you call them, they’re made much more reachable thanks to our Astro Bot collectibles guide, which reveals an in-game mechanic that allows you to track down hidden cameo bots with ease. It’s not the only hidden in-game mechanic either, as you can unlock a secret photo mode in Astro Bot, too. Astro Bot Rescue Mission is a 3D platformer where players control Astro Bot, a small robot navigating various levels using a DualShock 4 controller. The game is designed for VR, so players experience the game world from a first-person perspective, essentially becoming a giant robot that interacts with the environment.
Astro Bot – Gameplay Deep Dive From Ign
It’s inspired by the playful design of ASTRO’s trusty Dual Speeder. Go behind the scenes in this five-part series with Team ASOBI to discover how their philosophy of “All About PLAY” created a super-sized space adventure game for everyone. 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. mb66 is no surprise that a game like Astro Bot could be the big winner of the Game Awards.
There are also plenty of alien and robotic enemies and bosses to take on. Airtight platforming and level design give Astro Bot a strong foundation, but its real secret sauce is its toy-like appeal. If you talk to a parent who has played a game with their child, you’ll likely hear them outline how differently kids and adults interact with games.
Like some of these developers I swear have little imagination, enough but not broad enough for the gameplay, just the bare minimum. For audiences to be ‘simple’ or devs really are just those types of people with no good ideas to think deep up to prototype them. Their skills, their time, their visions, their publisher demands, whatever the case. Not to mention the challenges and speed runs they will be adding in the next few months.
Suddenly, he’s attacked by an unsubtle-as-hell Xbox-green alien monster who trashes his ship and scatters its parts and his 300 friends to far corners of the universe. Astro Bot’s world is filled with detailed animations and responsive environments that react to the player’s movements. The game features smooth controls and a variety of gameplay mechanics that keep the experience engaging. Whether rescuing lost bots, defeating enemies, or interacting with the surroundings, every action contributes to the sense of discovery. With polished gameplay and a visually appealing world, Astro Bot delivers a fun and rewarding platforming experience.
At first, that huge trove of gold may seem useless, but once you’ve beaten the first boss in the Gorilla Nebula, you’ll unlock the Gacha Lab at the Crash Site. Here, you can spend coins to win up to 169 PlayStation-themed collectibles, including skins for the Dual Speeder. Later on, you’ll also unlock the Dual Speeder Garage, where you can personnalise Astro’s controller plane, and the Changing Room to switch up Astro’s look to outfits collected in the Gacha Lab.
You can unearth these by flying into the comets and meteors scattered around, especially once you’ve completed most of the bigger main levels in a zone. Astro Bot follows the tiny but brave Astro as his PS5 mothership is attacked by his galactic nemesis, scattering the crew throughout space. Only Astro can set things right, and he needs your help to rescue the stranded crew and rebuild the mothership on his biggest mission yet.