Sony’s “Astro Bot” is a Joyous Gaming Experience | Video Games

The incredibly clever platformer “Astro Bot” is designed with one intention: To make you smile. In an era in which even the best games can seem addictively cruel (“Elden Ring”) or thematically brutal (“The Last of Us”), there’s something so satisfying about a game that goes back to the basic function of providing pure, joyous entertainment. Building off the clever “Astro’s Playroom” to give gamers a much richer, more complex gaming experience, “Astro Bot” is a wonderful launch to the Fall video game season. We’ll get back to the dark stuff soon in titles like “Silent Hill 2” and “Assassin’s Creed: Shadows”—let’s just have some fun for now.

“Astro’s Playroom” was essentially an extended showcase for the PS5’s graphical capabilities. The rare modern console that came with a video game, Sony used “Playroom” to show off the new controller for the system, including mechanics that highlighted its varied functionality. Whether you were tilting the controller on a space mission or even blowing into the mic to complete a mission, “Playroom” showed the console’s potential in a way that developers arguably haven’t lived up to since. Playing “Astro Bot,” it’s easy to remember that most games still use the controller in a basic, old-fashioned way.

Once again, you play as Astro, a robot sent on a series of missions to retrieve parts of the PS5 mothership that have been spread across the galaxy. On each level, you’ll search for ‘bots’, cute little guys and gals that often nod to other Sony characters like Kratos from “God of War” or Joel from “The Last of Us.” Like the first game, “Astro Bot” pays homage to beloved Sony exclusives like those two games, “Ratchet & Clank,” “Jak & Daxter,” “The Ghost of Tsushima,” “Horizon: Zero Dawn,” and much more. Playing platformer levels built around these beloved games is an absolute blast. I only wished for more Astro Versions of modern classics. (Maybe in what feels like an inevitable sequel.)

That said, the levels without direct connections work on their own terms. Astro is constantly learning new tricks to complete levels and find bots, whether they’re monkey arms that allow him to reach higher, or a mechanic that allows him to freeze time, and so on. The expansion of “Astro Bot” as you open new worlds and learn new techniques keeps it feeling fresh. I raced through the game in about seven hours, but I still have dozens of bots to find, and entirely hidden levels that can be opened in something called a “Lost Galaxy.” There is also reportedly DLC coming soon. It’s a lot more game than “Playroom” in every way.

It also looks and sounds fantastic. Platformers often struggle with physics and depth, essential elements when trying to land a jump or hit an enemy. But everything about “Astro Bot” feels smooth and organic. The levels are ambitiously designed from jungle settings to beaches to a snowy tundra. From its simple beginning through to its incredibly fun final level, “Astro Bot” feels like it’s constantly reinventing itself, staying fresh in ways that platformers rarely do.

“Astro Bot” reminded me how much I still love platformers. Growing up in the ‘80s, I’m a child of Mario—I can still remember the first time I played “Super Mario Bros.” at a friend’s house and went home dreaming about it. Every now and then, a platformer pops up on the landscape to remind me of the reason I fell in love with games in the first place: the perfection of “Super Mario Odyssey” or the creative splendor of “Rayman Origins.” “Astro Bot” deserves mention with those games. Now, if you’ll excuse me—I have more bots to rescue.

The Publisher provided a review copy of this title.