Astro Bot
A 3D platformer celebrating PlayStation's 30th anniversary.
Astro Bot, a 2024 platformer for the PlayStation 5, was created by Team Asobi and released by Sony Interactive Entertainment to mark PlayStation's 30th anniversary. This fifth entry in the series is Team Asobi's first project after leaving Japan Studio. It earned the highest Metacritic score of 2024 and claimed several Game of the Year honors.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Team Asobi
- Publisher
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Director
- Nicolas Doucet
- Designer
- Gento Morita
- Programmer
- Masayuki Yamada
- Artist
- Sebastian Brueckner
- Composer
- Kenneth C. M. Young
- Platforms
- PlayStation 5
Facts from the source article.
Development
Development of Astro Bot began shortly after Astro's Playroom was completed and took roughly three years with a team of about 60 people. It is reportedly Team Asobi's largest game. Unlike its predecessors, the game was named without a subtitle; creative director and producer Nicolas Doucet said this signified a new beginning for the series. In an interview with Edge magazine, Doucet stated that Team Asobi considered an open world structure but chose a level-based structure because it gave the most control over variety. Main levels were designed to be relatively easy for accessibility, while optional levels were made much more difficult for experienced players. In an article with Variety, Doucet explained that Team Asobi implemented ideas unused in Playroom, such as a chainsaw demo deemed unfit for that game's theming. For Astro Bot, they added a sci-fi touch to such DIY interactions to avoid feeling too real. The overhauled game engine improved visuals and physics, and introduced over 70 unique species of wildlife, including polar bears, elephants, and small insects.
Marketing and release
Sony first announced Astro Bot during its State of Play livestream on May 30, 2024. A release trailer and a behind-the-scenes video landed on the PlayStation YouTube channel on August 30, 2024. The game launched exclusively for the PlayStation 5 on September 6, 2024. The 400th issue of Edge magazine came with ten different front covers, each spotlighting a distinct V.I.P. Bot. Buyers could choose from three editions: a digital standard, a physical standard, and a digital deluxe. Pre-ordering any version unlocked rewards. The digital standard edition gave players an Astro outfit inspired by PaRappa the Rapper, a Dual Speeder graffiti skin, and two PlayStation Network avatars. The digital deluxe edition added a golden outfit and one referencing the Yharnam hunter from Bloodborne, two controller skins called Neon Dream and Champion's Gold, ten PSN avatars, and a download code for the official soundtrack and digital art gallery. Playable demos popped up at Summer Game Fest, EVO, ChinaJoy, and PAX West. At Tokyo Game Show, a giant replica Gatcha machine handed out four different Astro Bot t-shirts to anyone who used it. A DualSense controller styled after the Dual Speeder was announced on July 29, 2024, with pre-orders starting August 9, and it launched alongside the game. A bundle pairing a PlayStation 5 console (standard or digital-only) with a digital copy of Astro Bot hit stores in the United States and Europe on March 13, 2025.
Reception
Astro Bot received universal acclaim on Metacritic, with 99% of critics recommending it on OpenCritic. It was ranked the highest-rated game of 2024 on both aggregators. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a total score of 36 out of 40. Simon Cardy of IGN compared the game to a theme park and Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, praising its use of DualSense haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. GameSpot's Mark Delaney praised the level design for rewarding players who stray from the main path, and noted that abilities elevated gameplay without alienating control, though he found underwater controls unintuitive. Critics positively compared the game to Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Mario Odyssey, as well as to Nintendo series such as Arms, Pikmin, and Splatoon. Masahiro Sakurai praised the game on Twitter. Some criticism focused on a perceived lack of innovation; a Kotaku article by Cole Kronman described the game as enjoyable but not distinct from its inspirations. James Lucas of TheGamer compared the game to a graveyard, arguing that referencing certain series highlighted how long it had been since their last entries.
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