Astrobot 2024, PS5 Review

Long standing guest writer, Nina, returns to give us the low-down on Playstation’s Astrobot first “full-game” release on PS5.

We’ve come a long way, Astrobot fans.

Since his VR debut in 2018, it’s safe to say that our boy is now to Playstation what Mario is to Nintendo. And now, finally, he’s got his own game. Not a 3-hour romp that comes pre-installed on every console, but a real game. More specifically, a real 10+ hour game with 80 unique levels spread across 50 planets and 6 galaxies.  

It’s as glorious as it sounds. 

So, technical stuff first. Like every instalment before it, Astrobot 2024 looks absolutely stunning. Light bounces and reflects off every metal surface. Water splashes and ripples like the real thing. I’ve been playing for about 8 hours now, and hand on heart, I have not experienced a single graphical glitch in all of that time. In terms of art style, it’s not much different from the previous games. That isn’t a criticism, mind you: Asobi nailed it the first time. And as the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That being said, there are a couple “secret levels” scattered throughout the game that do drastically change up the art style to amazing effect. I won’t say much more on it than that, though; half the fun of secret levels is uncovering them for yourself. 

The base gameplay formula of this game also draws straight from the previous two games. However, now that they have 10+ hours to work with, the developers have expanded upon that formula exponentially. Every single level (and again, that’s 80) is built around a unique, game-changing powerup/ability. These range from a backpack that sucks up honey to spawn bouncy platforms at your feet, to a mouse suit that shrinks Astro down to a tenth of his size, to a stopwatch that lets you momentarily freeze time. Couple that with tight level design and an abundance of collectibles, easter eggs and secret stages for you to uncover, and you have yourself an experience that almost perfectly balances fun, challenge and novelty. 

Another big part of that balance comes from the environments.

So much so, I want to dedicate an entire paragraph to them. Simply put, they’re arguably the best part of the game. No two are the same, not even remotely. You’ve got a casino planet, an Aztec planet, a planet based entirely on a Japanese bathhouse. There’s a gothic-inspired haunted mansion-type planet, a construction-site planet and a planet with a mountain made out of ice-cream. It’s just so much fun! Even better, each level’s environment fits its respective powerup/ability very neatly, giving you the maximum opportunity to enjoy both to their absolute fullest. 

Now, you can’t talk about Astrobot without mentioning the easter eggs. It’s as much part of the series’ DNA as its titular character. And let me be the first to tell you, this is the best they’ve done yet. In Astro’s Playroom- the game where this easter egg trend really picked up – the nods to other playstation titles were just that – nods. While on a cave mission, for example, you might find a Nathan Drake bot rappelling down the wall. Or, during a water level, you might see a Kratos bot hanging out on a boat with his little Atreus-bot boy. But that was about as in-depth as the easter eggs got. In Astrobot 2024, though, you can not only find these characters, you can collect them. You can have them on your ship. You can dress Astro to look like them. And, during a few special levels, you can even play as them.

Astrobot deserves it’s accolades

I’d love to go on and on about what that actually means and how much fun it is, but I will refrain. Because just like the secret levels, half the fun of these PS-protagonist-roleplay levels is discovering which games they’ll be based on and which characters Astro will be playing as next. 

Astrobot 2024 is the first game this year- maybe even the first game since I started writing for Koru-Cottage that I rate 10/10. It’s perfect. Technically. Creatively. Every other way a game can possibly be perfect, this one is.

So I implore you, dear reader, please, play this game. Even if platformers aren’t your usual jam, Astrobot 2024 will touch your soul in ways that very few games ever come close to.

…then don’t ignore the Speed Runs, and the journey to an enjoyable Platinum.