Regardless, Astro Bot has that Nintendo feel of Mario’s best, and a controller that has features that are additive and immersive toward the whole experience. Each star system also has a level that’s specially themed around a popular PlayStation franchise, allowing Astro to make use of unique skills for a short while. Needless to say, Astro Bot keeps you on your toes, and sometimes challenges you to think outside the box in order to solve a problem or find a well-hidden secret.
On the flipside, speedrunners should enjoy Astro Bot as well, since it offers planets of platforming challenges with incredibly responsive controls. 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. 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.
If you’re looking for even more savings this season, check out the entire PlayStation’s 2025 Black Friday sale for deals on games, consoles, and more. To unlock the levels in “Lost Galaxy” you must find the 10 Secret Level Exits (‘Lost Galaxies’) in the other Nebulas. The Puzzle Pieces are needed to unlock new areas in the Crash Site hub area. After finishing all 10 Secret Levels you unlock the 11th Secret Level.
If you don’t want to replay levels, the most efficient method is to collect everything on the first run. You need most bots anyway to unlock the boss levels in each Nebula. This is the third full wave of Astro Bot downloadable content, which began with a similarly structured five speedrun levels after launch and, until this release today, most recently saw a special Christmas themed level released. Like Astro’s Playroom, Astro Bot is not just a game that PS5 owners can play themselves, but also one that they can share with their less-experienced loved ones. Will this new adventure bring Astro even closer to mascot character status? If the father and son Doucet saw at Yodobashi Camera is an indication, Astro could very well be on his way to familiarize a younger audience with the PlayStation brand.
I arrived at the end credits after nine hours but had only collected 206 out of a possible 301 bots on my journey. There’s plenty to do after the main levels are done, including finding the remainder of the crew, building out the rest of the hub base, and unearthing new secrets among the stars. There’s so much, in fact, that it took me another nine hours (so, 18 in total) to 100% Astro Bot and acquire the platinum trophy that comes with it. While I’d never say any of its main worlds ever approach being truly “difficult” in the pursuit of that 100% completion goal, some enemies or obstacles did take a few tries. Thankfully, checkpoints are often generously and frequently located, meaning you’re only ever moments away from the spot of your previous demise.
That’s why many studios try to compensate by pouring money into those other areas. These games are a celebration of gaming – specifically PlayStation gaming. @Darude84 I would say, regardless of age, if you have any interest in 3D platformers at all, I can’t recommend this highly enough.
Part of the enjoyment of games like this is discovering stuff and figuring out puzzles. Using a complete walk through from day one just reduces the amount of enjoyment you can have. Astro Bot has a full set of PS5 Trophies for you to collect as you make your way through the game. As part of our Astro Bot guide, we’ve got a page dedicated to helping you earn every Trophy, including the coveted Platinum. People have entire online communities based around the enjoyment of a title, whether that’s Elden Ring or Astro Bot. So thoughtful and it pays such an awesome homage to PlayStation consoles and games over the years.
No Rayman heli mouse ears in that level I bet or wind for puzzles/attacks. @kcarnes9051 The main levels I would say are fairly straightforward to get through without much difficulty. However, as you play through the game, many smaller challenge levels will become available and these amp things up, testing your platforming and combat skills with short gauntlets. Generally speaking, it’s pretty easy breezy, but there are tougher challenges to find if that’s what you want. We need to give a shout-out to the DualSense support here, because as you might expect, it’s best in class.
The PS5® mothership has been wrecked, leaving ASTRO and the bot crew scattered all over the galaxies. Time to ride your trusty Dual Speeder across more than 50 planets full of fun, danger and surprises. On your journey, make the most of ASTRO’s new powers and reunite with many iconic heroes from the PlayStation universe! Charge into a brand-new, supersized adventure with ASTRO across more than 50 exciting and diverse worlds.
Collect the sponge power up and proceed until you find the area with the large pool (filled with rubber ducks) near a building with a burning chimney. You’ll know you’re in the right spot because there will be a large bamboo chute on your left and a dirty mural on your right. Defeat the enemies, fill yourself up with water, and take the right, destroying the wall with the sponges.
All Special Bots And Playstation References
Each is missing a beloved item that can, once regained, give them a clever new animation to perform in the hub world. However, some long-time players of platformers produced by Sony will be disappointed in Astro Bot’s current endgame offerings. Astro Bot begins with a PS5-shaped spaceship traveling the stars when its crew of 300 Bots suddenly encounters a mischievous alien who breaks the ship and scatters its pieces and crew across multiple galaxies. As players take control of Astro, they’ll work to repair the ship and rescue their crewmates. These special cameo bots are rescued from the galaxies’ main boss fights, which are a real highlight of the experience. Like the rest of the game, Astro Bot bosses are inventive, defying player expectations while still rooted in 3D platformer tradition.
While the former may be alleviated with its already announced free DLC challenge levels and speedrun mode, the latter may be something that might not be addressed. Everyone should be able to play this masterpiece, but maybe the PS5 should actually get more games to play. Speaking of the use of DualSense, the game uses all of the controller’s features to the max. It adds so much to the in-game experience that this game might actually be the perfect demo to showcase what a PS5 and DualSense can do.
Astro Bot Official Screenshots
It’s not just movement though, as the creak of Aloy’s bow and arrow, while aiming in the Horizon level, is insanely satisfying and much better than in the actual game it’s based on. Bafflingly though, none of the characters are ever named – not the first party Sony ones or the third party ones. Instead, Ratchet, for example, is referred to merely as Tooled-Up Mechanic and Jill Valentine simply as Alpha Female. There’s also a character called Pro Skater, which we assume is Tony Hawk, but perhaps it’s one of Sony’s forgotten extreme sports games – it’s impossible to tell. However, two of these levels are based on dormant Sony franchises and if you can avoid having it spoiled for you what they are beforehand, they’re amongst the highlights of the game. They both replicate the mechanics, and audio, of the original games exactly and are an absolute joy, that will instantly have you wishing that they’d get full-blown sequels on the PlayStation 5.
Past that, another level has you growing flowers to make your way up an ascending staircase of giant pots. There are musicals to play through, obstacle courses, giant robots to resurrect, and more. I could go on and on about every unique level, but the wonder of Astro Bot lies in discovery itself. LUCK8 needs to be said that there’s a real emphasis on Astro Bot in not being punishing; there’s absolutely no penalty for losing a life, and the moment you grab a collectible, it’s yours — even if you respawn, you already have it. That might be disappointing to some, but it’s an intentional design choice that works in the game’s favor, as Astro Bot is much more focused on the “experience” and wants players to have pure, unfiltered fun. There are optional challenge levels that open up later on, however, for anyone who might be craving that.
@MrMagic Yeah it’s going to be between this game, ReBirth and Balatro, two of which are exclusive to Playstation. A congratulations are in order for delivering something that can give people joy. Smyths just sent me the pre-order bonus code.The order for the game and controller just updated to Preparing for Dispatch.Feck me I’m excited!