A scene of bedlam sets the stage: The most adorable group of robots you’ve ever seen is having a rockin’ good time just cruising along on a PlayStation 5-turned-spaceship when chaos (and a shockingly juvenile, neon-green alien) ruins the mood. When the dust settles, Astro — the hero bot of 2020’s Astro’s Playroom — must rescue his friends, fix his ship and save the day. (Maybe there’s a dance party or two, but, hey, priorities.
) It’s simple enough; what follows in Astro Bot is anything but. The PlayStation 5 exclusive, developed by Team Asobi as part of PlayStation’s 30th anniversary, is a wildly inventive, nostalgia-infused platformer that sparks joy from the opening menu (those original PS1 memory card save icons are a brilliant touch) to when you put down your DualSense controller for the final time. (More on that later.
) Unlike certain other recent PlayStation franchises (looking at you, The Last of Us), Astro Bot is a delightfully cheerful experience. There’s no great trauma, no underlying message to be found. But don’t be deceived by that colorful aesthetic.
Yes, you control a plucky little robot just looking for his friends and missing ship parts, but Astro Bot teems with depth, from the dozens of beautifully realized planets you explore to the true heart of the game: PlayStation history. Don’t get me wrong: Astro Bot is fun to actually play . Its mechanics are intuitive, no matter if you’re punching little robot minions with robotic frog-shap.