Out of the 300 bots you can collect in the game, 173 are such Special Bots. Team Asobi extends heartfelt wishes for a prosperous and joyful year. Reflecting on the past year, we are thrilled to share some exciting updates about Astro Bot, our flagship game, which garnered numerous accolades and was met with overwhelming appreciation from players worldwide. Your positive feedback and support have made our efforts deeply rewarding, and we sincerely thank you from the core of our robotic hearts. A few months ago, Sony issued a free DLC (downloadable content) for “Astro’s Playroom” that connects the previous game with the new one.

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You’ll dash, swing, and rocket-punch through diverse planets, unlocking 15 new abilities, including using Barkster, the Bulldog Booster, to air-dash and smash enemies. HM88 [a] is a series[1] of augmented reality and platform games developed by Team Asobi, originally a group within Japan Studio, and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series is a spin-off of The Playroom series, and began with the 2013 launch title for the PlayStation 4, and its later entries have won numerous awards. Now’s your chance to pick up the best phone you’ve been yearning for, find a new budget GPU to make gaming in 2026 a treat, or buy the best TV that you’ve been holding out for. It even feels like some popping candy has smuggled its way into your controller as it fizzes and pings away, sweetly reacting to whatever is happening on screen.

A video speaks a thousand words so please check out our first trailer to see the game in action. Doucet made clear that, while Astro Bot may expand beyond PS5, it won’t return to the robot’s roots on PSVR. This isn’t for any malicious reason, of course, but simply because building a “flat screen” game is very different to building one for virtual reality. There is prototyping for games, and there is what Astro does is pull inspiration from the games… Anyway, I bought it, to support the team, and I’m eager to play it. As a matter of fact, I sold Elden Ring (which was a horrible experience for me – but I’m glad some people are enjoying it) to buy this little gem.

That soundtrack scores levels that seem simple at first, but soon unfurl themselves to reveal tantalising depths and secrets. Most are fairly linear, but some go the extra mile and are enjoyably knotty, providing sandbox-like areas to hunt for collectibles in. There’s never the openness found in the large-by-comparison Mario Odyssey levels, but enough nooks and crannies to get stuck into nonetheless.

Not only that, the game also has unique gimmicks in each level, which make them fresh and interesting to play. That overall format is deceptively simple for one of the most creative games I’ve ever played in my entire life — and Astro Bot makes that abundantly clear in just a handful of hours. There are more than 80 levels in Astro Bot, and what’s remarkable to me is that I can’t think of a single one that felt too similar to another or was a disappointment in any way.

Astro Bot All Playstation “hero” Homage Levels [spoilers]

One track that stands out is the music at the Luna Sola level. Its gimmick focuses on a day/night cycle, and the way Young composed it is genius. The day portion has music that’s a lot more jazzy, while the switch to nighttime sounds more like a lullaby. There are many touches like this throughout the game, but the best and most stellar music is reserved for the boss battles. As fun as the gameplay and nostalgic references are, what really makes Astro Bot’s gameplay so great is the accompanying music.

Team Asobi further drills down on the toy-like charm of gaming by fully committing to the DualSense’s unique features. I feel pronounced haptic feedback when I hop into a stormy level and feel each raindrop in my palms. When I turn into a metal ball to stop a ceiling from crushing me, I can feel the resistance of the adaptive triggers pushing back on me. I even use the microphone to blow into a giant horn, a kind of delightful gameplay interaction that even Nintendo has moved away from in recent years. This is one of the only PS5 games that really feels like it was built around the DualSense, and it shows.

In the game’s defense, this is more of a missed opportunity than a flaw. If Astro’s Playroom is the appetizer, then Astro Bot is the main meal that gamers deserve. Astro Bot feels like Team Asobi’s most significant moment in the spotlight. The video game studio entered the scene with the PlayStation VR tech demo, The PlayRoom, and quickly made an unforgettable impression. Their mascot character, Astro Bot, turned out to be such a big hit that they developed an entire game just for him on the PSVR.

The games have lots of fun platforming to execute, with grappling hooks and hover-jumps and all kinds of fun things. There are also plenty of alien and robotic enemies and bosses to take on. But that’s not the only way Astro Bot celebrates history, as that idea is also directly tied to the game’s collectibles. In every level, there are a number of bots to rescue and puzzle pieces to find. Puzzle pieces help reveal new features in your base at the crash site, like costumes. Saving bots brings them to your base, but having more bots also lets you solve puzzles around the crash site.

Punching a Bot Wall or Bot Tower knocks Bots out of the structure, causing it to collapse after a few seconds in the case of the wall and causing the stage element to fall slightly in the case of the tower. Additionally, Bots can be called over without Asobi’s aid to follow Astro and imitate dances that he does. The lowest amount of Bots for a group action is three, and the highest amount is 300.

Astro Bot Turtles In Trash Bots & Puzzle Pieces Locations

The creativity is there no doubt and people wanting a break or something to mix in from the cinematic games or just something to play in depseration. But I think this all the time with videos I watch/games I play/research and end up with large comments like this. This year alone there has been some first class games released all over the shop.

The newly released Astro Bot update was announced in a recent PS Blog post, which gave the names of four of the five new levels that will be part of the Vicious Void Galaxy. As seen in the new trophies, the new levels are named Twin-Frog Trouble, Suck It Up, Handhold Havoc, High Inflation, and Megamix Mastery. Anyone who doesn’t want to be spoiled by who the new bots are should check back after playing the new content. You must complete the Great Master Challenge in order to find and collect Chop Chop Master Onion Special Bot. As the name implies, this is one of the most difficult levels in Astro Bot, so be sure to check out our full walkthrough for tips on how to complete the Great Master Challenge. The Astro Bot franchise first began back in 2013 with a collection of mini-games known as The Playroom on PlayStation 4.

The stunning visuals, great sound design, interesting story, and amazing gameplay round out a near perfect release of a game. All in all, Astro Bot is definitely one of 2024’s best games, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it were considered to be the year’s best. If there were anything to criticize about the game, it may just be the game’s difficulty and its exclusivity. 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.

As I journeyed through Astro Bot’s gorgeous worlds, I was constantly blown away by the clever new hook each level introduced. [newline]While a traditional 3D platformer collect-a-thon at its core, Astro Bot is always throwing in a new gimmick to make each level feel fresh and distinct from all the others. Oftentimes, these gimmicks add a new exploration tool, in turn giving the developers the freedom to build levels in completely different ways. The sheer variety Astro Bot delivers is breathtaking, and like I said, there’s not a bad level in the bunch. Ever since it was first formed within Sony’s now-defunct Japan Studio, Team Asobi has put out one high quality game after another.