He also offered a nod toward 30 years of PlayStation history, which formed the foundation of Astro Bot’s gameplay. A new batch of five levels were added in July 2025, adding five new cameo bots including a couple of Final Fantasy characters. This is more of a nitpick, mainly because the game is actually catered to everyone.

Astro Bot is a certified Game of the Year contender as our own review painted it as one of Sony’s best first-party exclusives in years. This review of Astro Bot was facilitated with a code provided by the game’s publisher. As of now, G28 game does not have a PlayStation 6 on the horizon, nor does it seem to have any other major new hardware coming soon.

Astro Bot is easily the best game on the PS5 to date and a platformer that can proudly stand shoulder-to-shoulder with anything Mario has done. Astro Bot is a delightful 3D platformer that has captured the attention of critics with its creative level design, smooth controls, and nostalgic PlayStation references woven throughout. It delivers a fun, accessible experience that should appeal to new players and long-time fans.

Kratos Bot will hit Thor with his axe, freezing him into a cube! Repeat this at all four slot machines in this area (including the one to the far right where you can find a Rescued Bot!) to unlock the Time to Cash In! Unlock a total of 150 prizes from the Gatcha Lab in your Crash Site to unlock the Money Well Spent trophy.

I won’t spoil what characters appear here, but know that it isn’t just your average Kratos and Aloy cameos. There are shocking deep cuts here from every corner of PlayStation’s history, including its indie partners. If you have a seminal PS1 game in your mind or a semi-obscure PS2 horror game, there’s a good chance it’s represented here.

At the start of nearly every level, Astro jumps into a suit or straps on a backpack of some kind that gives them a new ability. In one level, it’s spring-powered boxing gloves resembling cartoon frogs. In another, it’s a robo-dog that gives the bipedal bot a wall-smashing rocket boost, or in another, a time-freezing tool that allows Astro to scale otherwise impossibly fast-moving sections.

I went into it with high expectations thanks to Astro Bot Rescue Mission and Astro’s Playroom, and it not only met my expectations, but completely exceeded them. It’s the best 3D platformer since Super Mario Odyssey hit the scene in 2017 and will be remembered as an all-time classic of the genre. Everyone with a PS5 should get their hands on this game ASAP, and hopefully, Team Asobi gets to continue making masterpieces. 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.

He’s also our go-to guy for Sonic-related matters, much to his delight/chagrin. A collection of endlessly inventive levels and fantastically fun abilities, it delivers joy in spades, never once becoming even remotely dull or repetitive. And while you don’t need a long history with Sony systems to enjoy it, it is especially a delight for those with a piece of PlayStation in their heart as a treasure trove full of playable nostalgia awaits.

This includes all undiscovered bots, puzzle pieces, and Void levels, which are the secret levels found within other levels (as opposed to those found in the space map). The bird pings collectibles from quite far away, and the pinging intensifies as you get closer. As the PS5 ship crashes down below, you’ll visit six themed galaxies that each hold a crucial component of the console-ship, and then bring the fight back to Nebulax, who personally holds onto one final part. Each of the over 80 levels plays host to several PlayStation-focused cameos that need to be rescued. The worlds often delight in their color, creativity, and charm, and each of the main worlds ends in a final level that is designed around one particular PlayStation franchise, such as God of War and Uncharted, to name a few.

What Are All Special Bots In Astro Bot? Grazer – Grass Guzzler

They’re digital collectible figures, Funko Pop alternatives for 30 years of PlayStation gaming, celebrating almost every Sony property you can think of. Naturally, you’ll find Ratchet and Clank, Kratos, and Nathan Drake here; third-party heroes with a PlayStation connection, like Metal Gear Solid’s Snake and Ryu and Ken from Street Fighter, are also represented. Whether for licensing reasons or just to make a fun guessing game, the bots are given coy names like Dad of Boy (Kratos), Spinning Marsupial (Crash Bandicoot), and Immune Survivor (The Last of Us’ Ellie). There are some deep cuts that will have all but the most encyclopedic of PlayStation fans scratching their heads. They gradually fill up the desert crash site, turning this hub world into a bustling Sony museum. In a way, Team Asobi — Sony’s go-to tech demo developer and maker of Astro’s Playroom and the upcoming Astro Bot — has been doing this kind of preparatory work for the last 12 years.

That focus on variety also applies to the game’s visuals and aesthetics, with the game painting a huge swath of memorable locations — from ghoulishly haunted mansions to arid desert settlements and vast space stations. The simplest way to describe Astro Bot is honestly to compare it to Mario, as it employs a similar kind of “world” structure. There are six themed galaxies you’ll explore, each of which is filled with a handful of main story worlds, hidden extra levels and challenges, a boss battle, and a final world themed after a prominent PlayStation franchise. The series began with 2018’s Astro Bot Rescue Mission, a title for Sony’s PlayStation VR headset. It was followed by 2020’s Astro’s Playroom, a free pre-installed launch title for the PlayStation 5. The series’ first retail, traditional title, simply titled Astro Bot, released on September 6th, 2024.

Studio Spotlight – Team Asobi

I’ve never cared about PlayStation Trophies before, but I expect to unlock them all in Astro Bot, if only incidentally because I want to see and do everything this game offers. I don’t know if I’ve ever played a platformer before where I enjoyed literally every single boss fight and level, but I can confidently say that about Astro Bot. The stages constantly surprise and delight as they take full advantage of the PS5’s hardware. Astro Bot levels are beautiful, brought to life by genius art direction and some of the best graphics on the PS5. It all feels so alive thanks to how the DualSense controller reacts to what players see on the screen, with Astro Bot making great use of the DualSense’s haptic feedback and speaker.

What Makes Astro Bot Special?

On the flipside, speedrunners should enjoy Astro Bot as well, since it offers planets of platforming challenges with incredibly responsive controls. Astro Bot is such a wonderful experience, it makes me question if I’ve ever felt this much pure joy playing other games I’m fond of. From its tight design to its incredible visuals to mechanics that feel carefully tested to generate as much pleasure as possible, Sony has its new standard bearer for platformers. Astro Bot is a franchise of platform video games created and developed by Team Asobi, and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation brand of consoles beginning with the PlayStation 4.