Played as a tribute to PlayStation’s origins, astro bot is a delightfully inventive platformer.

Every galaxy has a few levels that differ in mechanics and obstacles. Those include power-ups such as a time-lock throwable, a hammer that cuts into walls, and a string of flaming balls that wind around a room very quickly.

Story

The naughty interloper chases Astro and his friend quant robots as they sail around the Universe aboard their mothership (which is actually a PS5 console). The space bully steals objects from the ship and spreads the bots across the cosmos, forcing Astro to save them. It’s a heartwarming and unexpected journey, interspersed with twists.

Astro Bot cleverly uses PlayStation history to flesh out its world, with older controllers acting as spaceships and the familiar button designs embedded into the levels. The game is a celebration of the company’s history, offering more than 170 characters to collect and dozens of levels based on other games from GoW: Ragnarok’s Kratos to Metal Gear’s Solid Snake.

Every level features bots and puzzle pieces to save, and collecting coins activates a gotcha machine that allows you to get new colors for your own spaceship/controller and outfits for Astro. Another highlight is the crazy boss battles, all of which draw inspiration from older console titles but stay original and hard.

In a time when games are always competing to be Mario, Astro Bot is a welcome exception that acknowledges that there’s more to life than bouncing and punching. It’s an extremely smooth and rock-solid experience that never slips.

Platforming

Astro Bot is a platformer and it plays very differently to the rest of the PlayStation games. It’s a throwback to the console’s 30th anniversary and though it does eat nostalgia bait with 170 PlayStation characters (Ratchet and Clank, Kratos and Nathan Drake, etc), Team Asobi has managed to create a smart platformer that’s not a Sony cash grab.

The level layout in Astro Bot is a riot of joy. All of the worlds have their own gimmicks and mechanics that keep things fresh. Each planet also has power-ups which allow the player to acquire new moves. These could be anything from a dog that lets the player run up front, to a clock that slows time, or even a penguin that can jump out of water. The powers pair well with the layout of the level, and the player can soon determine which planet they’re on based on the power-up colour.

There’s nothing perfect about this level design; there are a couple of somewhat reoccurring levels within the game, but the majority are ingenious and inventive. The game is a technical triumph, too; the texture of the textures, the runniness of the fluids, and the size of the levels are all amazing to watch, and it’s very easy to get swept away by the mechanics and graphics.

Puzzles

Astro Bot levels keep the game fresh with a mix of tricks and controls. Every planet introduces something new, so the gameplay never feels old or monotonous. This is particularly true for the 10 levels that constitute the galaxy map.

There’s a level where you press switches to make it day and night, a level where you shrink into a mouse, a level where you need to create flowers, and so on. These are fun levels where you have to use your brain to figure out how to overcome their difficulties.

In every level, you also get Bots and Puzzle Pieces. Closing them grants you access to additional base costume outfits for your robot, as well as other new locations in the Crash Site hub planet. There are also Special Bots here if you’ve got them from the Playroom Worlds.

Astro Bot is an addictive and extremely intelligent game. It’s packed with references that truly honour PlayStation’s legacy, without ever being nostalgia-fuelled. It’s a wonderful achievement for a free-to-play platformer, and an indication of how well Team Asobo knows its backstory. Hope it inspires more designers to do the same for future games.

Theme

Astro Bot is a great platform game and a decent entry point into the platformer genre. It’s a lot of fun to play and each level is unique. Only downside is that it’s frustratingly hard to learn due to its impenetrable layout and the way the camera reverses in order rather than crammed behind your character. This makes it difficult for a young player to remember what button does what.

Perhaps the best part of Astro Bot is that it revels in PlayStation’s legacy as a stand-alone game. It is loaded with references, but none of them are in bad taste and don’t sound like a cheap payday.

Each of Astro Bot’s six themed galaxies has a mix of levels and gameplay elements to keep things interesting. There are also a few secret bonus levels and puzzles to uncover. Only real downer is the final world, which feels a little disappointing after playing through the other five.

Astro Bot is, in short, an excellent game that has quickly become a hit for players of all ages. It has an energetic vibe and cheerful music that make it easy for everyone to enjoy. With 80 levels across six different worlds, or galaxies, players of all ages will find plenty to do while rescuing more bots and getting the pieces out of their PS5 spacecraft.