‘astro Bot’ Review: This Ps5 Exclusive Is One Of The Best Platformers Ever Made

The game doesn’t seem to use any specific name for them, but players have taken to calling them cameo bots, secret bots, or hidden bots, depending on who you ask. Whatever you call them, they’re made much more reachable thanks to our Astro Bot collectibles guide, which reveals an in-game mechanic that allows you to track down hidden cameo bots with ease. It’s not the only hidden in-game mechanic either, as you can unlock a secret photo mode in Astro Bot, too. VR Bots make their return in the next title of the series, The Playroom VR. They appear in a much larger capacity in this game compared to the previous entry.

What Are All Special Bots In Astro Bot? Toro Inoue – Aspirational Cat

These special cameo bots are rescued from the galaxies’ main boss fights, which are a real highlight of the experience. Like the rest of the game, Astro Bot bosses are inventive, defying player expectations while still rooted in 3D platformer tradition. The boss fights deliver on visual spectacle, have a nice challenge to them, and above all, are fun to conquer. Besides the main bosses, mini-bosses pop up in other levels unexpectedly, and they are also a lot of fun to fight. Like Team Asobi’s previous games, Astro Bot revolves around a community of tiny white robots. Following the events of Astro’s Playroom, they are attacked by the evil green alien that served as the final boss of Rescue Mission, destroying their PS5 spaceship and scattering them across the cosmos.

The dioramas are especially fun, as they turn all your collected bots into animated statues, like one that shows Nathan Drake playing a game called Dude Raider on his couch. Even the most serious of characters are turned into caricatures, like a scene you can create in which The Last of Us’ Joel goes to throw a brick, but it slips out of his hand and bonks him on the head. All of the 169 cameo bots fill in the would-be barren desert sands like a virtual shelf of Funko Pops.

What Are All Special Bots In Astro Bot? Kratos – Dad Of Boy

They fit in perfectly with the game’s vibe and atmosphere, which is really hard to find a fault as it even uses the DualSense speakers impeccably. It’s been quite a rough few weeks for Sony and PlayStation fans out there, and it’s great to know that it’s not all doom and gloom as Astro Bot is here to save the day. As a casual fan of platformers, Astro Bot blew me away and reminded me of the nostalgia and fun that is to be had with the genre. The last time to do this was Nintendo’s Super Mario Odyssey, which is a very high standard to beat or match in recent years.

Astro Bot pulls out all the stops when it comes to referencing older titles in the game. Not only are the character designs perfect for distinguishing the bots, but these are also apparent in some gameplay segments. One example is the game’s callback to Ape Escape where you’ll be chasing the apes around the map the way you would in the original game. Other than these gameplay examples, the special bots in the game also have unique and special animations that you can unlock in the game’s Gacha Lab, which adds even more personality to the already amazing-looking models. Astro Bot is nothing short of a masterpiece, an ingenious platformer filled with vibrant worlds and ingenious design. It’s a game that oozes creativity, consistently delighting and surprising the player with new mechanics, gameplay twists, smart boss battles, and jaw-dropping set-piece moments.

In this Astro Bot guide, we have a full walkthrough of the game, pointing out where to find all the collectibles in every level. This includes the locations of all Bots, all Puzzle Pieces, and all Lost Galaxy Warp Portals. On top of that we have pages on cosmetic items like Outfits and Dual Speeder Skins, how to secure all the PS5 Trophies, and lots more. Originally announced during Sony’s June 2025 State of Play, the update adds a new galaxy, the Vicious Void, for players to explore. Four of the levels are titled Twin-Frog Trouble, Suck It Up, Handhold Havoc, High Inflation, with Team Asobi keeping the name of the fifth as a surprise. The addition of the new levels brings Astro Bot’s total level count to over 90.

DUALSHOCK®4 wireless controller required to play this game.ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission is a brand new platformer, developed exclusively for use with PS VR. Take control of ASTRO the captain BOT and go on an epic VR rescue mission to save your fellow Bots who are dispersed all over space. Other than say Ride 4 having a Forza Motorsport 1&2 region mechanic expanded upon I can’t say I’ve come across similar in the racing genre or many others as many devs just copy and paste to compete…. Now the racing genre is just race, time trial, drift/elimination if your lucky.

It’s a slower-moving power-up but the Octo-Balloon is part of some engaging levels like the first one called Sky Garden in Astro Bot. There are more levels like the Ape Escape one, in which Astro fully absorbs the personality and toolkit of another PlayStation hero and romps through a level based on that character’s own games. I won’t spoil them, but they all achieve a surprisingly deep synthesis of their inspiration (often a more mature-styled game) with Astro Bot’s tactile world, adorable characters, and toothsome gameplay. It’s a mark of how confident the game is that its personality shines so clearly through the costumes it dons. This tribute is never more touching and joyful than in the case of Ape Escape. This Japan Studio series, about a boy who catches naughty monkeys in his net, is one of many faltering attempts by Sony to create a family game franchise to rival Nintendo’s, and like most of them, it didn’t really stick.

With precise and responsive controls, adorable characters, and an exciting variety of mechanics and environments, Astro Bot is easily one of the best games that Sony has ever produced. It seems odd to say I don’t want to spoil a game that effectively has no story, but some of the game’s best secrets really must be discovered with your own eyes. [newline]These special levels arrive toward the end of each galaxy’s main mission path and bestow to you a bundle of themed bots as well as yet another cool new mechanic not to be seen ever again in the game. Its soundtrack–already an array of bubbly earworms–reimagines familiar overtures from other games. In doing all of this for these most-special one-offs, the promise of its world comes into full view.

Would not be surprised of this gets the highest overall rating for a game this year. Five challenge levels presumably means at least five new VIP bots, potentially even more as the last set of DLC levels includes two new Bots per level. With only one of the new Bot’s identities confirmed so far, that leaves the door open for more cameos fans have been waiting for. During today’s State of Play, Team Asobi’s lead announced that Astro Bot is getting five more challenge levels later this month as part of another free update. That update isn’t far off either, as it was confirmed that the new levels will start dropping before the end of June. Climb up the snowball, pull the wire, and activate the vacuum device.

If you have any lingering questions about the game, this section of our Astro Bot guide should have you covered. GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links. All I hope now is that Team Asobo is given quite literally anything it wants to make its next game because I’m already there for it. Finding every bot and motif is an absolute joy in Astro Bot, really digging into PlayStation’s rich history. Microsoft’s Xbox console sales are getting squeezed, and the company is signaling it may not care in the way fans expect. CNBC points to Microsoft’s fiscal 2026 first-quarter earnings, where overall gaming revenue fell 2% year over year and Xbox hardware revenue dropped 29%.

Players take on the role of the lovable Astro Bot, embarking on a space-faring adventure through diverse environments, including waves of sandy beaches, lush jungles, and fiery volcanoes. Along the way, Astro gains new powers and transformations to aid in the journey. Released in celebration of PlayStation’s 30th anniversary, the game pays homage to the brand’s legacy by allowing players to find and reunite with over 150 iconic PlayStation characters.

At the top, you’ll see a train of enemies and another hourglass. Kill the enemy train and pop the hourglass open to get the second puzzle piece. The first puzzle piece in “Trapped In Time” appears before you even land in the hourglass. As you’re flying in on your DualSense ship, you’ll pass some coin containers and then a large sand dune on your left. [newline]On this sand dune, you’ll see a golden snake with a familiar glow emerge as you get close. Hit the snake with your ship and it’ll release the puzzle piece ahead of you. The final bot is near the exit, so proceed forward until you boost into the upper part of the level.

In Astro’s Playroom, the Puzzle Pieces found throughout will piece together murals in the PlayStation Labo. In Astro Bot, however, they’ll still put together a picture, but once it’s complete, it’ll spawn a new place to explore and others to customize both yourself, your Dual Speeder and the saved Bots around you. For example, you can get a Changing Room that keeps all the Outfits you get from the Gacha Machine for you to choose from. https://www.gg88com.com/ ’s pretty worthwhile and honestly a lot of fun to reap sweet rewards from your treasure hunting. While it may seem simple enough, there are a lot of things to do in the over fifty levels Astro Bot has to offer. Check every corner, hit every object or look below every platform and you may find a secret cord or passageway to a Puzzle Piece, Bot or even a Vortex to a secret world!

The Great Master Challenge can only be accessed once players have found every Puzzle Piece in the game and rescued 300 Bots. The biggest evolution of the cameo characters, however, is that four of them will actually lend you their weapons, which Astro needs to use in stages specifically designed for each one. Sony just never seemed to have an answer to Nintendo’s Mario or Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog. Crash Bandicoot was an iconic character that was exclusive to the PlayStation at the time, but he belonged to a third-party studio. And while Toro from the Doko Demo Issho series reached mascot-like status in Japan, the cute feline character was hardly known outside of PlayStation’s home country.