Astro Bot – Review

Astro has finally received the game he truly deserves.

After finishing this incredible adventure starring what is now undoubtedly PlayStation’s new mascot, I spent a long time thinking about how to describe not the game itself, but the feeling of playing this amazing title. The biggest challenge is that I can never truly convey the smile that stayed on my face the entire time while jumping through the cheerful levels of this fantastic PS5 game.

The adorable little white-and-blue robot (small enough to fit inside a PS5 console) clearly resembles the PS5 itself. When the PlayStation 5 launched, we were introduced to Astro’s Playroom, pre-installed on every PS5 SSD. Of course, Astro Bot is not our first encounter with these tiny PlayStation robots. But with Astro Bot, we finally received a fully-fledged Astro game, and Team ASOBI did an unbelievable job utilizing every possible advantage of the PS5 console and the DualSense controller. PlayStation proved to everyone that they can create a platformer capable of competing with the very best Nintendo has to offer.

Astro Bot directly continues the story of Astro’s Playroom, except this time the PS5 console itself serves as a spaceship. Our tiny robots are peacefully traveling through space when they are suddenly attacked by a gigantic evil alien. As usually happens in space adventures, the alien nearly destroys the PS5 spaceship, steals its CPU for evil purposes, while the remaining vital components such as the SSD, GPU, RAM, and others scatter across various universes. With missing parts, the PS5 ship crashes onto a planet, and that is where the new Astro Bot adventure begins. Your mission is to recover all the PS5 components while rescuing 300 — yes, 300 — tiny robots along the way.

Like in the previous game, there is a hub zone called Crash Site. However, unlike Astro’s Playroom, this hub is not used for entering levels. Instead, it serves more as a gallery where you can admire all the rescued bots in their full glory.

The level map feels very similar to Mario Galaxy 2. Each galaxy acts as a mini hub filled with individual stages. There are five galaxies plus one hidden galaxy, each containing 4–6 standard levels and several optional challenge stages for players seeking extra difficulty.

The core gameplay remains largely the same as Astro’s Playroom, including the controls — which is fantastic because there was no need to reinvent the wheel. Of course, there are new tricks and mechanics through unique powers designed specifically for certain levels. The stages are now much larger, wider, and packed with secrets and creative ideas that are simple in concept but constantly manage to amaze you.

Astro Bot’s greatest strength is undoubtedly its use of the DualSense controller. From the incredible vibrations — or rather haptic feedback — to the way every surface feels unique while walking on it, as well as the sounds coming directly from the controller itself, everything contributes to an experience that feels far beyond just pixels on a screen. That feeling is impossible to fully explain, and I highly recommend experiencing it for yourself.

Many levels are filled with unnecessary but delightful objects like diamonds, nuts, or piles of leaves that practically beg you to run through them, spin Astro around, and scatter everything thanks to the game’s fantastic physics. Naturally, all of this is transferred through the DualSense controller and feels amazing in your hands. If you own a PS5, this is an absolute must-play. And if you don’t own one… better luck next time.

From a technical standpoint, the game is gorgeous and runs flawlessly at 60 FPS. The sound design, loading speeds, and overall presentation are exceptional, so there is honestly not much else to say about the technical side.

As for the levels themselves — every stage feels like its own little story. They constantly surprise you and effortlessly put a smile on your face. Levels often transform completely, rotating around their own axis as you switch between day and night with the press of a button. A peaceful environment can suddenly be consumed by a hurricane, or a relaxing beach stage can turn into a climb across a gigantic robot. There are countless examples like this, but once again, these moments are best experienced firsthand.

The game constantly introduces new ideas, and almost all of them are excellent. I genuinely have very few complaints. I must admit, though, when I first saw the monkey power-up, I immediately remembered the climbing sections from the previous game. However, I think Team ASOBI fully understood the issue because the level ended up surprising me in the best possible way.

Astro Bot did not become PlayStation’s mascot by accident. The game is packed with tributes to PlayStation exclusives as well as legendary games that shaped the past 30 years of gaming history. I genuinely do not want to spoil this aspect because discovering these references is part of the magic. Some of them are obvious, while others may require a bit of Googling and head scratching.

The rescued bots gather at the Crash Site hub area, and they serve an actual gameplay purpose. Certain areas require a specific number of bots to unlock. Watching 100 or even all 300 bots work together to open a path for you is incredibly fun and never gets old. It feels a little bit like Pikmin mixed with Mario stars since progression depends heavily on collecting them.

As you progress through each galaxy, you eventually face a boss fight. Every boss is challenging enough — even for us Souls veterans. Astro Bot dies from a single hit during regular gameplay, but boss battles allow for three mistakes before defeat. The bosses are extremely creative, although they sometimes take an excessive amount of punishment directly to the eyes — perhaps someone at the studio has a strange obsession.

The game explains everything brilliantly without throwing walls of text at the player or interrupting gameplay. It is tutorial design done right, and honestly, I wish more studios understood how to teach mechanics this naturally.

The true highlights of the game are the special stages unlocked after boss fights. These themed levels are inspired by some of the most famous, lesser-known, and even nearly forgotten PlayStation franchises. These stages are incredible because you temporarily become iconic Sony characters from games such as God of War, Uncharted, and many others — without spoiling too much. In one level, you wield the Leviathan Axe to freeze enemies and throw it at them. In another, you simply carry a pistol and engage in cover shooting mechanics.

As for negatives — I can only really mention one thing, and even that is minor. The game lacks the speedrun levels that were present in Astro’s Playroom, although this will apparently be fixed through free DLC.

Other than that, I genuinely struggle to find flaws in Astro Bot. Everything the game wanted to accomplish, it achieved beautifully. Overall, Astro Bot is a fantastic game that deserves a place in every PS5 owner’s collection. Age truly does not matter here — it is the perfect choice if you want something joyful, charming, creative, and most importantly, something that will put a smile on your face.

For experienced and older players, Astro Bot awakens enormous amounts of nostalgia thanks to its design philosophy, which strongly resembles the golden age of gaming from the Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, and original PlayStation era. For younger gamers, the game serves as a wonderful journey through gaming history and a refreshing break from the sea of overly “serious” games.

Astro Bot reminded me why I love gaming and gaming culture so much. It successfully stands out as one of the strongest Game of the Year contenders despite competing against absolute giants such as Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (even though it is technically DLC), Alan Wake 2, and many others.

But if any game can surprise the industry, I firmly believe it is this tiny, lovable robot living inside our PlayStation 5 consoles — and our hearts.