A new Astro Bot game has been announced and will see Captain Astro searching for his crew across six galaxies.
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The new Astro Bot game
During the State of Play showcase for PlayStation games, it was confirmed that a new Astro Bot game, simply titled ‘Astro Bot’ was in development and slated for a September 6 release on the PS5. This new game will feature Astro looking for his crew as he traverses through various levels spread across six galaxies. A PlayStation blog post provides more details on Astro’s upcoming adventure.
The footage from the gameplay trailer looks similar to what players experienced in Astro’s Playroom, the free PS5 game bundled with every console. The trailer opens with Astro awakening in a desert before summoning the Dual Speeder, a PS5 controller that also acts. as a plane.
After a bit of flying, Astro can be seen platforming his way through various locales, from a tropical area and some caves to a volcanic field and even a casino area (why does this remind me of Sonic the Hedgehog?). For a brief second, Astro can also be seen swimming in an underwater section, as well as flying the controller plane through other areas. There will be more than 80 levels spread across the six galaxies.
Friends, enemies and equipment
Astro isn’t alone, however, as multiple evil robots populate each level. Some are the same size as the hero, while others are much larger and take on various forms such as a genie, a gorilla, a cobra, an octopus, and what appears to be a stork. These larger robots will be bosses to be defeated and each will uncover a “wonderful secret,” and for now, Team Asobi is keeping mum about them. Bosses included, there are over” 70 enemy types in the game.
Astro will have some new tools to aid him in both combat and traversal, like a pair of frog boxing gloves letting him punch from further away and grab onto interactable objects and use them to move forward. Other abilities seen include Astro stopping time and turning into a large sponge to absorb water. In total, there will be 15 new abilities for players to take advantage of.
As for Astro’s amigos, other Astro Bots can be seen cosplaying as Nathan Drake (Uncharted), Kratos (God of War), The Traveler (Journey), and PaRappa the Rapper, as well as a few other characters originating from PlayStation games. Team Asobi hints that they will have a role to play in the story and will help in saving the day.
There’s also the part where a sentient PS5 flies into outer space and prepares to fight what may be an alien boss. Near the trailer’s end, multiple Astro Bots can be seen riding various PlayStation consoles and accessories in outer space before flying off into the distance as Astro follows them. This seems to be another hint regarding other characters helping Astro win over whatever threat he’s facing.
Pre-orders for the game will go live on June 7 and more details will be shared by Team Asobi in the future.
Previous Astro Bot games
Astro first appeared back in 2016 in the “Robot Rescue” mini-game from The Playroom VR. Two years later, he reappeared in Astro Bot Rescue Mission, a PS VR game where the player had to help Captain Astro look for the members of his crew.
His third appearance was in 2020 and with the launch of the PS5, Astro’s Playroom was bundled with every PS5 console and showcased what the new DualSense controller was capable of. It involved Astro venturing into different areas of a PS5 (e.g.: GPU Jungle, SSD Speedway, etc.) to defeat the evil robots and bosses lurking within. It was a tech demo, but a fun one, especially for gamers loyal to PlayStation.
