For the past couple of days, I’ve been hopelessly addicted to Team Asobi’s Astro Bot – the meatiest adventure the titular pile of lovable circuitry has seen to date. Equal parts nostalgia trip and addictive platformer, it’s been a damn long time since I’ve played a game that elicits such consistent levels of enjoyment on my end. It’s the kind of title that holds your attention even when you’re not actively sitting in front of your TV screen with a controller in your hands - and when you are, hours pass in the blink of an eye.



The story set-up is short and sweet. After being attacked by the same endearingly obnoxious alien lifeform seen in 2018’s Astro Bot Rescue Mission, Astro’s Mothership (a PS5 console, of course) crashes onto a nearby planet. It’s up to our robotic friend to retrieve all the ship parts stolen by the alien menace, like its SSD and GPU, while also rescuing the many members of the vessel’s crew – now scattered across large chunks of space.



Tracking down 300 bots spread throughout the universe is no small undertaking, however. With a selection of multiple interstellar systems - or galaxies - to explore, each with their own lineup of thematically and visually diverse main worlds or planets, boss encounters (combining action and quick-thinking puzzle-solving), and smaller, usually more challenging and semi-hidden levels, our little hero has a massive amount of adventuring to do – not to mention an even greater quantity of collectibles to relentlessly and adorably pursue.

It’s the kind of title that holds your attention even when you’re not actively sitting in front of your TV screen with a controller in your hands - and when you are, hours pass in the blink of an eye.

Aside from the bots themselves, Astro can amass a sizeable number of coins liberally placed around each world, as well as seek out warp points leading to bonus levels or hunt for elusive puzzle pieces. Obtained puzzle pieces contribute towards various construction projects located on the central Crash Site hub world – home to the colossal PlayStation 5 Mothership and every single bot you’ve rescued so far. Once complete, each building serves a specific purpose - allowing you to alter the paintjob of your smaller DualSense-shaped spacecraft (known as the Dual Speeder, apparently), or change Astro’s appearance, for example. There are more puzzle constructs available, but I’m not going to mention them here for the sake of spoilers.



Any collected VIP bots, modelled after various iconic and beloved characters from both PlayStation’s past and present game releases (with some surprising inclusions, like Humanity’s glowing Shiba Inu and the Sony-produced robotic AIBO dog), benefit greatly from the first of these building endeavours – the Gatcha Lab. By spending coins here, you’re able to obtain a random capsule potentially containing a sort of “mini-diorama” that applies a looping animation to the VIP bot in question – usually accompanied by some related items or small scenery pieces. Witnessing the empty areas surrounding the Mothership slowly fill up with groups of bots is immensely satisfying and is a great incentive for grabbing as many coins as you can get your little mitts on mid-level, instead of simply ignoring them and moving on.

Putting the sweet, sweet business of obsessive collecting aside, the actual platforming and moment-to-moment gameplay here feels fantastic. Jumps, double jumps, laser-assisted gliding, and attacking are all super responsive and easy to pull off. Augmenting the default moveset, almost all worlds provide Astro with a unique gameplay-affecting piece of equipment, reflecting the map layout and overall tone of the level. The item found within a Japanese bathhouse-themed planet, for example, bestows upon Astro the properties of a sponge – appropriately containing plenty of environmental puzzles requiring the absorption of large quantities of water, increasing Astro’s size, and making short work of flaming enemies.



A level dotted with speedy obstacles to overcome, meanwhile, will likewise contain an item that momentarily slows down time – freezing platforms in place or making certain hazardous surfaces easier to see. The usefulness of these items extends to the numerous boss battles encountered in your travels as well. If you’ve ever wanted to slow down time while fighting a gigantic robotic chameleon, running up its extended tongue and beating the hell out of its uvula with the world’s tiniest fists of fury, Astro Bot has you covered.

Witnessing the empty areas surrounding the Mothership slowly fill up with groups of bots is immensely satisfying and is a great incentive for grabbing as many coins as you can get...

The final world within each galaxy takes things one step further by significantly changing the way the game is played, overtly imitating another game’s style and transforming Astro into a replica of the title’s protagonist – even down to their combat style. An Ape Escape-themed world has you running around capturing monkeys (complete with Monkey Radar), the LocoRoco-themed level transforms Astro into a large blob and relies exclusively on the DualSense’s motion controls for mobility, and the God of War-themed planet turns our captain into Kratos himself – using his axe to solve puzzles by holding mechanisms in place and freezing enemies.



As alluded to above, the core gameplay is further enhanced by the impressive implementation of the DualSense’s adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, and motion controls that permeate nearly every single facet of gameplay. From feeling the pitter-patter of every step Astro takes, to raising and lowering the controller as you hammer an oversized PS5 component into place, the DualSense truly heightens that immersion factor.

For those who might be put off by the title’s reliance on these elements, know that motion controls can be disabled in favour of using the left stick. Due to how integral the vibration, controller speaker, and adaptive trigger functions are to the overall gameplay foundation, however, these elements cannot be disabled (as far as I can tell). Thankfully, all of these features are utilised extremely effectively, and even those who prefer to play their games with as little controller activity or interference as possible will likely eventually approve of its inclusion – or learn to tolerate it, at least.



On that note, trying to come up with any true negatives when talking about Astro Bot is a challenge. Aside from some incredibly rare and negligible frame rate dips in areas with large amounts of smaller objects littering the landscape, performance is rock-solid. The risk of repetition that could have arisen as a result of replaying levels for missed collectables is also dealt with via a pay-to-unlock bird (in-game coins, not actual money) that follows Astro on subsequent level runs - a beacon on its head pulsing in the direction of any nearby bots, warps, or puzzle pieces. And once you’ve located that pesky final bot hidden behind a wall you overlooked the first time around, you can hop right back out to the galaxy map without needing to play out the rest of the level. Such convenience, I say.

The core gameplay is further enhanced by the impressive implementation of the DualSense’s adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, and motion controls that permeate nearly every single facet of gameplay.

An absolute masterclass in the fields of platforming and collectathons, Astro Bot’s first feature-length outing is one of the most genuinely enjoyable gaming experiences I’ve had in a long time. Oozing charm, boasting excellent utilisation of the DualSense’s adaptive triggers, and positively packed to the intergalactic rafters with collectables, gorgeous visuals, and creative level design – Astro Bot is an undeniably essential pick-up for fans of Team Asobi’s prior Astro-centric titles or for those in desperate need of a top-tier platforming fix.

*PS5 Review code provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment