Did you like Astro’s Playroom? Of course I did. The meanest thing I can say about it is that there wasn’t enough of it. I completed all five levels and the final boss fight in one evening. But as if in response to my hunger for more of the latest PlayStation mascot, developer Team Asobi has opened the floodgates on Astro Bot, a game that seems to be everything I loved about the Playroom, but more of it in the galaxies.
I played a 45 minute demo of Astro Bot during the Summer Game Fest Play Days this weekend, and boy was it! What Astro’s Playroom has done well, and what Astro Bot absolutely continues to fascinate, is make it a lot of fun to just run around and be Astro. Everything is fine-tuned to feel just right: his movement speed, his jumping height and distance, the exact way he smashes small crates and zaps enemies with foot lasers, the density of obstacles in my path, and the exact way each stage creates a linear path follows but branches and returns to itself to leave room for secrets. Moving through a single level in Astro Bot causes my brain cells to click into a flow state where I’m constantly moving and always have a goal in mind, but don’t feel overwhelmed by my options. I like breaking things; I like to jump over things; I like to bounce things.
Where Astro’s Playroom had five main levels loosely themed around PlayStation 5 components, Astro Bot sends our little hero through space on a giant DualSense controller, jumping from planet to planet in search of his lost bot friends. I’m told Astro Bot has around 80 levels to visit, all packed with hidden bots, puzzle pieces, boss battles, crazy power-ups, coins and little challenges that lead to delightful secrets.
I saw five levels in my playthrough. One, a lush area with clear pools, pink flamingos and rolling green hills in the distance, was full of water-based mechanics. I swam through small reefs full of colorful fish, slid down a giant water slide and unzipped giant water bubbles to release the tide inside. There, Astro could inflate itself like a small robotic bubble to quickly float to higher areas, an ability that is especially useful underwater. In another construction zone-themed level, Astro threw paint around to reveal hidden platforms, sucked up metal objects with giant magnets, and equipped a sort of canine jetpack to zoom over long distances that wouldn’t normally exceed its usual hover. .
Another level revolved around a boss fight with a giant octopus wearing boxing gloves. To compensate, I got my hands on a pair of my own frog-themed gloves that allow Astro to punch enemies at a distance and swing like a monkey from certain overhangs. Another (very minor) criticism I had of Astro’s Playroom was that some of the power-up/vehicle sections frustrated me due to the cumbersome movement mechanics while trying to show off the PS5’s unique features. Freed from that obligation, Astro Bot can better focus on giving new toys that are purely fun to use. Quick, firm, alternating punches with R1 and R2 made me feel like I was Goku fighting the octopus, and I sent him packing.
The last two stages I attempted were special challenge levels designed to test my platforming skills. One tested my ability to dodge quickly spinning enemies on crumbling platforms, while another forced me to complete sections of tricky jumps in a limited time. I managed to complete both within the allotted demo time, although not without some difficulty on the first. It’s difficult to estimate from these two phases how high the difficulty of Astro Bot’s platforming will ultimately be. But what I liked most was how the fast respawn time and overall brevity of the stages made trying again and again so easy and enjoyable. I found myself thinking, “Just one more time,” more than once, and then trying two, three, ten more times. There was a moment toward the end of the demo where I stopped, looked around, and realized everyone else had already left the room. One more try… and I succeeded.
And yes, Astro Bot seems to be a nostalgia fest. Certainly, compared to Playroom, I think Astro Bot seems a bit more focused on being an excellent platformer than on enjoying PlayStation history. But that’s to its advantage: levels like the watery/flamingo don’t need to have references to Bloodborne every foot or two to keep me happy. Rather, Astro Bot’s PlayStation party takes place largely among the bots I rescue in each level, some of which are dressed as favorites like Ratchet, Rivet, PaRappa, and more. And I have reason to suspect that fans of the biggest PlayStation franchises will be well rewarded for completing certain levels. For example, when I defeated the octopus, I rescued a bot pair dressed as Kratos and Atreus, who then flew away to an icy-looking planet that I couldn’t access in the demo. If I’m right, we could be looking at a full God of War theme in the full game, and maybe even more.
When Team Asobi first started making the Astro games, I could easily make a quick comparison of their work to Nintendo’s long history of platform games. Both have similar arcs, especially with the way the two create games that feel like tangible, experimental toys and how both emphasize playfulness, joy, and surprise. But I’m pretty confident that Team Asobi will go beyond chasing Nintendo’s pedigree. Built on the foundation of Astro’s Playroom, Astro Bot seemed poised to take the Astro games into a league of their own, if they weren’t already there. You mean to tell me they have 80 levels from what I just played? Sign me up to fly with Astro and crew.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Do you have a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.