Astro Bot is also meant to be a DualSense showcase, and it certainly does a lot there, though I continue to feel like the controller’s most passionate fans are within the company itself. In the few instances where the hero isn’t wearing an ability, the game still finds ways to reinvent itself. But once that awesome level was finished, I never saw the mechanic used again. Astro Bot feels like it’s showing off at times, but never in a way that pats itself on its back. It’s ceaselessly cute and clever, and feels more like a little kid delighted to show you their toy collection than a braggart displaying their trophies. The only ability that doesn’t work as cleanly as others is the one used in an underwater level.

This game takes the level of quality seen in Sony’s other first-party titles like The Last of Us or God of War and grafts it onto the platforming genre. It goes toe-to-toe with some of the greats of gaming and proves it deserves to be in the same conversation. The player can then take the bots collected back to a hub world of sorts known as the Crash Site. There they are given the chance to spend their hard-earned in-game currency on collectible set pieces for each of these gaming icons. The level players will encounter the Mouse power-up in should send them into glee.

While the game doesn’t have separate graphics options, on PS5 Pro players will automatically get a “constant best resolution” at 60 fps. The following guide includes the identities of every Astro Bot cameo character, as well as information about the stage or area in which they’ll need to be unlocked. Players can also watch the video at the top of the page to see their animations and Gatcha Lab items. Astro Bot[a] is a 2024 Platform game developed by Team Asobi and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 5. It released around the time of PlayStation’s 30th Anniversary.

To open the Gatcha Lab on your Crash Site, you will need to collect your first 16 Puzzle Pieces to unlock it. Once you have a total of 16 Puzzle Pieces, they will automatically fill in the Gatcha Lab puzzle and the Gatcha Lab will appear at your Crash Site. Find your first Puzzle Piece to unlock the A Puzzling Start trophy. You will come across your first Puzzle Pieces in the Sky Garden. Check out our Sky Garden walkthrough to learn where to find the three Puzzle Pieces hidden there.

Lost Galaxy

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’s not all that different from other platformers out in the market right now, yet it’s able to stand out from the rest with its fun and unique gimmicks, amazing level design, and amount of content. When comparing the game to something like Super Mario Odyssey, you could even say that Astro Bot may have taken a lot of inspiration from the Nintendo exclusive.

Astro Bot is a showcase for the DualSense’s bells and whistles unlike anything since, well… Triggers tighten in your fingers and rumbles are sent through your thumbs. https://hm88.cafe/ found my whole body involuntarily drifting from side to side as I guided Astro’s ship with the motion controls. I’d also recommend turning your controller speaker volume up if, like me, you have it muted by default – you’ll be missing out on some fantastic audio flourishes otherwise. And while there’s nothing to quite rival the GPU earworm of four years ago (despite the best efforts of a giant singing tree), the music is a consistent delight throughout.

It’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 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. When Astro boops his head on an impassable ceiling, he makes the sweetest little flinching motion.

Puzzle Piece 2 Location

That means that I rarely need to stop moving to take care of a few pesky bots. An extra level of difficulty can be found in the semi-hidden trial-like stages found by exploring among the overworld’s stars, though. These short sprints are littered with fast-moving objects, numerous enemies, and precise gaps to hop across that are designed to trip you up. Throw a complete lack of checkpoints into the mix as well, and these are easily some of the toughest tasks in Astro Bot, with a final level that’s a real tough nut to crack. It’s a non-stop gauntlet of quickfire threats that made me piece together everything I had learned up until that point in a frantic, but still fun test.

With the success of Astro Bot Rescue Mission, Team Asobi and Astro Bot jumped to the PlayStation 5. The post regarding the new Astro Bot update also teased new Special Bots for each stage, and gave the first look at the Atsu bot based on the protagonist from Ghost of Yotei. The rest of the new bots are based on fan-favorite Square Enix characters that PS5 players will certainly enjoy. Each of the 11 levels can be found by finding a secret exit in various other levels throughout the universe. There are 91 stages in Astro Bot, making this one of Team Asobi’s biggest and most ambitious games to date. Between them, they boast well over 460 collectibles, including 120 Puzzle Pieces, 10 Lost Galaxy Warps, and 332 stranded Bots that are just waiting to be rescued.

For more on Astro Bot, don’t miss our guide on how to unlock the secret photo mode and read our review for this strong Game of the Year contender. Why can’t it be I have animal abilities and if someone doesn’t have that ability they can still use the Jet Ski. Does it make the Jet Ski redundant not completely it may be faster and still relevant. You play as an animal that can walk on their legs, pees on checkpoints and 4 legs sprints in an apocalypse because animals that anthropomorphize but THAT’s TOO FAR when it has gas immunity for 5 gas types.

This collection served as a way to showcase the PlayStation Camera and DualShock 4 capabilities. Three years later, the idea would be expanded with The Playroom VR, which did the exact same thing for the PSVR. Players seemed to love it so much that it warranted a fully-fledged game, so Team Asobi did just that in 2018. Players will be able to find a Puzzle Piece floating around in space in the Tentacle System, Serpent Starway, Camo Cosmos, and Feather Cluster galaxies.

As the player progresses, they’ll unlock new pathways and cosmetics not just for Astro but for the PS-themed Bots. The ever-growing install base of the PS5 has allowed many players around the world to enjoy Astro’s Playroom. Filled with references to hardware throughout PlayStation’s history and boasting an abundance of cameo appearances from popular characters, Astro’s Playroom celebrated PlayStation’s history in a unique way. This made Astro not just the new kid on the block, but established the bot as a character integral to the PlayStation brand. Today, PlayStation’s cinematic blockbuster titles still mostly cater to a mature audience, but Team Asobi is taking a different approach. The studio’s roster of delightful robots and the inventive gameplay with which they and players interact have been compared with the Nintendo way.

There are even more surprises to be found, but players will have to discover those for themselves. Scattered across its intergalactic world are literally hundreds of hidden bots for Astro to find. A good chunk of these are PlayStation/gaming-themed, making them more than just a simple collectible to discover. While 3D platformers are not necessarily considered the most technically demanding genre, Astro Bot takes those sorts of preconceived notions and jettisons them into the vastness of space. Getting bigger is great, but shrinking down leads to some better creativity in the level’s design. From hopping around tiny mushrooms to grinding on clotheslines, Downsize Surprise overall is a delightful level thanks to the Mouse power-up and unfortunately, Astro Bot doesn’t feature it as much as it should.

But this bonus level has a different structure; it’s much more open, and utilises every power-up rather than leaning into just one or two. Once you’ve rolled credits on Sony’s superb platformer, you’ll unlock a new stage named Winter Wonder, and it’s probably the most feel-good, most Christmassy thing you can play on PS5. Reaching the finish line before the blue and red birds will reward players with the two Rising Heat VIP Bots. Beating the blue bird’s time (90 seconds) will unlock the Exalted Exo Cameo Bot, which is based on Cayde-6 from Destiny.

My favorite aspect of the game is how it seems to read my mind. Every time I’d divert off the main path in search of a secret or reward, I would find one. Yes, I can, and for scaling it to the very top I’d find coins to spend on cosmetics. “What if I peek over this ledge?” There’s a hidden cave below, hiding another puzzle piece used to open shops in the game’s hub world. Whenever I’d wonder if my intuition was leading me to something valuable, I’d find I was right. 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.