Astro Bot is one of the best games ever made by Sony

AstroBot is not just for kids. The Asobi team has clearly designed it for players of all skill levels, including kids and novices, but at its core AstroBot feels like it was made specifically for video game fans. It’s a skill-based celebration of everything that makes the format so memorable and exhilarating, while also being a great introduction to the language of gaming. With precise and responsive controls, charming characters, and an exciting variety of mechanics and environments, AstroBot is easily one of the best games Sony has ever produced.

AstroBot technically the fifth entry in the Astro universe, though it is the first fully fleshed out — and fully priced — installment in the series. It follows Playroom (collection of mini-games from 2013 on PS4), VR Playroom (2016 PlayStation VR event) Astro Bot Rescue Mission (a 2018 PS VR platformer featuring only bots) and Astro Playroom (2020 DualSense controller demo, pre-installed on every PS5 console). AstroBot takes ideas from those earlier titles and combines them into a focused 3D platformer with dozens of main worlds, tons of additional planets to unlock, and a wide range of satisfying mechanics. On top of that, the robot protagonists are super cute in every situation. The fact that some of the characters and settings in AstroBot they are recognizable from popular video games, which makes the whole thing even more interesting.

Players are on a mission to rescue all 300 of their robot friends after aliens capture their spaceship, a supercharged PS5, and scatter the crew across six dangerous galaxies. Perched atop a lone DualSense, Astro scours a total of 50 planets and collects other bots, punching them — you know, in a friendly way — and then storing them in the on-screen controller’s touchpad before dropping everyone off on a safe world. Meanwhile, Astro searches for the missing PS5 spaceship parts, which are guarded by bosses in each galaxy.

The hub world, where the ship and rescued bots live, has customization portals for the DualSense and Astro, a gatcha machine with items that bring your bots to life, and a safari zone where you can take pictures with animals you find. There are also small regions where you can put together additional puzzles for Astro and his friends. Beyond the hub planet, the core gameplay loop involves collecting coins, puzzle pieces, and bots by completing platforming challenges and surviving Koopa-like enemies, but new dangers and even more challenging environments appear at every turn.

Many of the planets Astro lands on introduce new mechanics, such as spring-loaded boxing gloves that look like frog faces, an octopus that inflates Astro like a balloon, a mouse backpack that shrinks him at will, a penguin-powered swimming booster, and a stopwatch that briefly freezes time. The stages are designed around these unique mechanics, and the variety on display is impressive, from a spooky castle filled with toxic green ghosts and invisible platforms, to a deconstructed space station in a delightful space setting, and an entire planet built from giant, neon-lit casino props.

Even before Astro picked up some cool new toys, he has a laser-powered hovering ability that lets him destroy enemies by leaping over them, as well as a standard punch and a chargeable spin move. Those three abilities, plus the tool he picks up, make up Astro’s entire arsenal. That mechanical focus allowed Team Asobi to hone in on every move, then apply them all in a thousand different ways, and the result is a satisfying and solid platformer. All that cuteness is just an added bonus.

AstroBot isn’t punishing, but it isn’t easy either. Many stages require patience, awareness, and a high level of platforming skill, though resets are generous and failure costs nothing but time. Those who complete the game will have a great time — it’s so many secret passages and hidden bots to find, most of them cleverly hidden and easy to miss unless you’re actively looking for them. Speedrunners, on the other hand, should enjoy AstroBot because it offers platforming challenges and incredibly responsive controls.

There are 300 bots to be found, and many of them come from the wider gaming world. Many of the branded bots come from outside Sony’s stable, and the big names from Capcom and Sega are well represented – a few of them definitely made my partner scream with excitement, which was lovely in itself. Some of the more memorable levels focus on popular Sony franchises, such as God of War, with Astro wielding Kratos’ axe on one planet. Team Asobi have really dug into Sony’s vaults, far beyond simple Crash Bandicoot callbacks and to weird and wonderful games like LocoRoco AND Vib Ribbon.

Now allow me to melt. AstroBot is beautiful, and not just in a cartoonish way. Its landscapes are sharp and vibrant with interactive detail, and every pixel feels polished to perfection. But it’s the game’s physics that drive it all—when Astro lands atop a giant inflatable daisy, the material bends beneath his tiny feet, squeezing with every step and swing, and making the entire scene feel completely squeezed together.

As Astro skates through the snowy levels, he picks up speed and spins in a flash, and the DualSense responds with sounds and vibrations like a sharp knife cutting through thick ice. (Note: I would happily play the entire game just skating… if that wasn’t called Astrogliding.) Piles of tactile objects like sprinkles, dice, skulls, and glass stars are scattered throughout the levels, and running through them is not only satisfying in an ASMR sense, but occasionally reveals a new secret. When rain hits Astro’s clear umbrella hat, the sound is perfectly mirrored on the DualSense, along with the feeling of raindrops on the handles. Each stage has a matching background music, either funky, big band, or synth, and always with a catchy chorus. AstroBotSound effects, haptics, graphics and physics harmonize flawlessly, turning every surface into a playground. It’s magical.

On the cute side of things, Astro reacts to his surroundings with adorable animations like shivering in the cold, trembling in fear, and tapping his little metal feet in excitement, and his bot friends are similarly expressive. When Astro hits his head on the impassable ceiling, he does the cutest little twitching motion. The bots turn around and shake their butts at Astro just before he hits them on the DualSense. On the pause screen, you can throw all the bots you’ve collected off the digital controller, and they wave their arms in the air before landing safely back on the touchpad. Almost everything the bots do is charming.

AstroBot emphasizes the importance of fun. This is Super Mario Bros. for a new generation of video game fanatics, while also providing an introduction to typical mechanics and a significant challenge for experienced players. In both cases, AstroBot radiates joy. If this, alongside new titles such as Lego Horizon Adventuressignals a new and less rigid direction for Sony, I’m excited to see what the future holds. For now, though, you’ll find me trying 100 percent AstroBotswearing and laughing all the time.