Not only does Astro’s height change, but the force perspective of the world changes with him. Allowing the tiny hero instantoto to parkour up leafy vines, ride floating bubbles, and zip across clotheslines that he would be too large to do at normal size. I found myself having ‘ah-ha’ moments repeatedly when it came to these power-ups. After spending time with one and getting used to it, players will find themselves in a different level using the same ability in a completely different way. For example, in one level Astro needs to turn into a metal ball in order to roll across beds of spikes, while another uses the ball ability to prevent Astro from being crushed by the jaws of a crocodile. This proverb rings loud and true for Team ASOBI as they are flung into AAA spotlight.

Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. There is one Puzzle Piece that floats in space in the Gorilla Nebula once you’ve beaten all levels through Apes On The Loose. The iconic marsupial is none other than PlayStation’s Crash Bandicoot! Once you have unlocked Crash Bandicoot Special Bot and its unique cosmetic from the Gatcha Lab (Protective Spirit), find Crash at your Crash site. To unlock the Royally Stuck trophy you need to first collect The Prince Special Bot (aka Katamari Damacy) on Downsize Surprise world in the Tentacle System.

Astro Bot Finally Gets 2 Long-awaited, Fan-requested Bots

To start the year on a good note, we are delighted to announce new Astro Bot content is coming starting today. You might have noticed that a, yet unreleased, level of Astro Bot was featured at the PlayStation XP Tournament Final in London, England on January 18. That very level, along with 4 additional ones will be coming your way inside the brand-new Vicious Void Galaxy, starting today. Winter Wonder is a DLC level that unlocks after clearing the main game. It’s a special, festive-themed level full of Special Bots and other goodies to find.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 Is Still Nowhere To Be Found, But Now There’s An Astro Bot Cameo

All these power-ups combined with the varied level design make for a game that never runs short of ideas, and it’s brilliant. Many themes are unique to a single stage; Sky Garden’s flamingo paradise is never revisited, nor is Construction Derby’s building site. You’ll also explore a giant singing tree, a vibrant casino, and the inside of a giant hourglass — all one-and-done ideas. It isn’t just the level’s themes that are varied; many have their own gameplay ideas as well. One later stage involves swapping from day to night, changing the geometry of the level, while an underwater planet adopts a more open design — and equips Astro with a power-up unique to that stage.

“Team Asobi cements itself as an essential PlayStation studio with an imaginative platformer for the ages,” Mark Delaney wrote in GameSpot’s Astro Bot review. Armored Hardcore is the last Astro Bot DLC stage in the Vicious Void galaxy and rewards players with an Assassin’s Creed Cameo Bot. Astro Bot contains 430 Collectible Locations (300 Bots, 120 Puzzle Pieces, 10 Lost Galaxy Secret Levels). This walkthrough shows all collectibles in each level for 100% game completion and all trophies. Astro Bot has proved incredibly popular for PlayStation, having sold 1.5 million units in its first two months on sale and earned a 9/10 in IGN’s review.

Obviously, there’s no way you can feature everything from across four decades of gaming, but I consistently found myself amazed by the rich variety of references and games featured. Finding these little bots was like taking a walk down memory lane, fondly remembering the hours I sunk into these beloved titles, while providing value for this current experience. As you’d expect from a 3D platformer, Astro Bot contains hundreds of collectibles for you to find. In this part of our Astro Bot guide, we have checklists for where to find every collectible in the game, including all Bots, Puzzle Pieces, Lost Galaxy Warp Portals, and more in your quest for 100%.

The prizes you get here, earned by spending the coins you’ve collected, more often than not, are attributed to one of the bots you’ve found, like a specific weapon or object that gives them a fun interaction in the hub. Other prizes include cosmetics for Astro himself and his Dual Speeder, letting you customise his look with some iconic outfits. You can also unlock the Safari Park, a special zone to hang out in, but it also gives you access to a simple Photo Mode, then usable throughout the game. Many of the bots — 173 of them, to be precise — are dressed as characters from PlayStation games past and present. 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.

There are jokes about tech demo ducks in here, then, but there’s also the sense the whole thing is, on some level, a huge tech demo. It’s a sustained tech demo, one that never runs out of new wonders to show you, new marvels to fling at you and swiftly discard. Previous Astro Bot games have been employed to showcase new bits of kit.

Each stage brings new abilities and challenges, making every moment a delight. Astro Bot represents the pinnacle of PlayStation’s platforming excellence, evolving from its origins in The Playroom VR to become one of gaming’s most beloved mascots. Originally introduced as a tech demo character, Astro Bot has grown into PlayStation’s definitive platforming hero. My only regret is that it’s a PS5 exclusive, and will probably always remain so. Astro Bot deserves a wider audience, but I’m not sure if that’s in the cards.

The game is visually stunning, has great sound design, has simple yet fun gameplay, makes use of the exclusive PlayStation controls, and, most importantly, has a ton of content. Sony and Team ASOBI have knocked it out of the park with this game, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this game is regarded as one of Sony’s best releases to date. In its never-ending chase for maturity and realism, the video game industry is leaving kids behind. It makes me sad to think that today’s young players have so few options if they want to play something like Spyro the Dragon. Outside of Nintendo, it feels like the landscape is dominated by a few free games that are built to exploit parents with microtransactions. Too few games embrace the joys of play, and I fear that we’re building a more cynical generation of players because of it.

There are 300 to find overall, with many of them depicting classic videogame characters. In that regard, Astro Bot can be seen as a celebration of not only Sony’s hardware and impressive catalogue of software over the years, but also video games in general. It’s fun putting them to work when revisiting the crash site, too, calling upon them to help lift heavy objects and create structures like human bridges to help you continue your adventure and rescue yet more robots. Astro Bot Rescue Mission was a VR game that had players explore multiple worlds in search of Astro’s lost crew. It became one of the highest-rated VR games, so naturally, the franchise did not stop there.