Fans Say Hilarious ‘Astro Bot’ Shows What PlayStation Is Missing

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Sony’s highly anticipated “Astro Bot” game, which was released Friday and is a testament to what fans and critics say is how reliant PlayStation has become on dark cinematic games.

The 3D platformer pays homage to 30 years of Japanese consoles in a “magical” universe “inspired by the games I grew up on,” creator Nicolas Doucet told AFP.

Players take a mini robot with a swinging antenna on extraordinary adventures across dozens of planets while battling unusual enemies, including an evil snorkel-wearing octopus.

But compared to PlayStation hits like “God of War Ragnarok” and “Spider-Man 2,” it underscores Sony’s recent focus on serious stories and hyper-realistic graphics, an approach that many gamers and critics feel has gone a bit too far.

“Astro Bot on PS5 looks fantastic, a much-needed taste of Nintendo’s quirks on a console often dominated by realistic, gritty, and lifelike elements,” wrote gaming podcaster Colin Moriarty on X.

“If you want more fun games, buy and support Astro Bot,” another user wrote, one of many comments lamenting the high cost and long development times of other versions.

Specialist publication The Gamer said the new game, developed by Doucet’s team in just three years, “finally adds some variety to a library that has long been oversaturated with cinematic narrative blockbusters.”

The game is the first full-length “Astro Bot” game following “Astro’s Playroom”, a virtual reality game featuring the main character and the shorter version that came pre-installed on the PlayStation 5.

The latest game, which will be released later this year for PlayStation’s 30th anniversary, features plenty of crossovers from other PlayStation games.

There have also been rumors about an upgraded “PS5 Pro” model, with industry media speculating that the new console could be announced this month.

Team Asobi, the studio behind the “Astro Bot” games, has nearly doubled in size in the last four years.

But Doucet said it was important for “everyone to work directly on the game” and that they tried to keep the teamwork tight by having everyone “get their hands dirty.”

He added that the studio is an international location with employees from 16 different nationalities, but that it “made sense” for Team Asobi to be based in Tokyo, Japan.

“This is a country where historically the quality and precision of games has always been number one, from arcade games to fighting games,” Doucet said.

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