Featured here are licensing credits for Rayman, Worms, Assassin’s Creed, Beyond Good & Evil, Croc, and Tomba, potentially revealing which five special bots will be released alongside these levels. That being said, Armored Hardcore is almost certainly a reference to Armored Core, while Cock-A-Doodle-Doom is likely Doom, so bots from these franchises are also likely. It only really has a few universal mechanics to learn, and most of the game will have you interact with the stage gimmicks for the most part. Where it shines is the game’s level designs, unique gimmicks, and usage of everything the PS5 has to offer. They look smooth and flow well, and it’s worthy to note that the bots’ special animations representing their respective characters also add so much to the character representation in the game.

It presents a picture of the past where PlayStation spoke to a more vibrant audience across different ages and tastes. Astro Bot confidently shows us that we don’t need to abandon that thinking just because tech has changed and the industry has grown. There’s still room for an expertly designed collect-a-thon platformer that’s filled with love and wonder.

After releasing a full-sized holiday level and teasing an unreleased level at the PlayStation XP Tournament Final in London, Team Asobi officially confirmed a second wave of DLC levels for Astro Bot. Unlike the first DLC, these levels would focus more on platforming and offer a time attack version with online leaderboards once completed for the first time. Team Asobi releases a new update for Astro Bot, adding the final level and cameo from the previously announced Vicious Void Galaxy DLC. The game’s popularity has continued well into this year, after becoming one of the surprise hits of 2024. Not only has Astro Bot claimed a bunch of industry awards and game of the year titles, but it continues to keep players coming back with new DLC levels as well.

Exciting New Content For Astro Bot Fans

Bursting to the seams with charm, Astro Bot is an inventive, nostalgia-fuelled platformer of the highest order. ASTRO BOT is the award-winning, critically acclaimed platforming adventure, exclusive to PlayStation®5. Blast across more than 50 vibrant planets, discover new powers, and team up with iconic PlayStation heroes in a galaxy-spanning journey full of fun and surprises.

I remembered why games were so important to me growing up and how they shaped my creativity. Naysayers will say that no childhood memory comes from sitting in front of a TV, but that was never true for me. Unlike ASTRO’s Playroom, ASTRO BOT is a standalone, full-sized adventure that offers over four times more worlds, 300 bots to rescue and dozens of new powers and features to discover. In  HM88 -LoadedRun, you will strap on your twin frog boxing gloves and traverse a sunken city ruins. Punch rolling barrels, swing over daring gaps, and pummel your way to the top of the tower to rescue the special bots.

I could knock over a stack of buckets, sending hundreds of bolts into the sand. I jumped on a clothesline and watched as I skidded over towels, which fell from their wooden pins with a satisfying cartoonish twang. I saved a hidden bot after spotting a group of enemies off to the side, suspiciously gathered around a defenseless monkey.

You say one game might appeal to one person but not the other and then start making blanket statements about what reviewers should be scoring games. Platform games obviously don’t appeal to you…that doesn’t mean that they can’t appeal to other people. When someone scores a game they have to score it for its own merits and take it for what it is, not compare it to every game that has ever existed. BG3 is exceptional and I couldn’t agree more it’s a 10 but it’s not comparable to Astro Bot in the same way it would be dumb to compare Gran Turismo 7 and Alan Wake 2.

There are 43 Rescued Bots to collect in Tentacle System, and you must rescue all of them in order to unlock the Tentacular Spectacular trophy. This includes all Rescued Bots on secret worlds in Tentacle System. The PS5 features a slew of fantastic story-based games, including titles like Final Fantasy XVI, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and Ghost of Tsushima. Astro is the main character of the Astro Bot series and serves as the captain of his ship’s bot crew. A brave and adventurous robot, Astro will stop at nothing to rescue his crew and bring them safely back.

There are a lot of games nowadays that require you to be frugal with your purchases like Persona 3 Reload and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. In fact, it’s encouraged to spend a lot of your money on animations for Bots, outfits, and Dual Speeder colors at the Gacha Machine. There isn’t anywhere else to spend Coin and you’ll always pay 100, no matter what. As long as you have more than that, you can buy from the machine.

Lost Galaxy Levels

The scale of some of these battles is truly mind-boggling, with each one sporting a different exciting mechanic that keeps the player guessing right up until the credits roll. The formula is very much the same as those other games, as players control Astro in dozens of levels, hopping and bopping across various colorful locales. As you can see, Square Enix finally caved and allowed Final Fantasy 7 characters to be part of the game!

What Are All Special Bots In Astro Bot? Helldiver 1 – Super Earth Ambassador

Jumping, hovering, punching, and spinning all feels spot on thanks to tight, responsive controls. The true test of any 3D platformer is whether it feels fun to simply move around, and Astro passes handily. It feels great to hop around each stage, and Astro is often augmented with new abilities, so we never felt like he needs more moves. The same should be said for the soundtrack, which, luckily, is more expansive than Astro’s previous games. Even better, Astro Bot’s soundtrack comes with many highlights.

But on top of all those references, there’s a phenomenal game that forges its own identity and boldly does its own thing. That might be disappointing to some, but it’s an intentional design choice that works in the game’s favor, as Astro Bot is much more focused on the “experience” and wants players to have pure, unfiltered fun. There are optional challenge levels that open up later on, however, for anyone who might be craving that. The worst sin that a game like this can commit is repetition, and Team Asobi firmly understands that. Platformers like Kirby and the Forgotten Land are at their best when they’re introducing new ideas that consistently surprise players.

Meant to mimic a dolphin-like dive ability, the controls used for this one never feel as intuitive as those for other abilities. In this level, I found it unusually tricky, albeit not exactly difficult, to collect all the secrets. It was manageable, but if any secret levels–which tend to be some of the game’s hardest–also use this mechanic, I expect them to become some of the game’s few frustrations. Like its predecessor, Astro Bot is a love letter to PlayStation–not just its current make-up, either, but its illustrious history.

Crash Site serves as a kind of hub world, in which players can find 35 Bots and 11 Puzzle Pieces. Sony just never seemed to have an answer to Nintendo’s Mario or Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog. Crash Bandicoot was an iconic character that was exclusive to the PlayStation at the time, but he belonged to a third-party studio. And while Toro from the Doko Demo Issho series reached mascot-like status in Japan, the cute feline character was hardly known outside of PlayStation’s home country. Astro Bot contains 430 Collectible Locations (300 Bots, 120 Puzzle Pieces, 10 Lost Galaxy Secret Levels).

But maybe the PlayStation didn’t need an answer to Nintendo and Sega’s beloved mascots. Games were entering an era in which more realistic human characters like Cloud Strife, Solid Snake and Lara Croft were becoming the new industry icons. As this more mature stream of gaming culture evolved, cutesy mascot characters and the 3D platformers they called home became less and less common. When Microsoft entered the industry with the Xbox in 2001, Halo’s Master Chief instantly shaped the console’s image.