Nostalgia is a curious thing. It, and its usage, can either define or derail an experience completely. Rely on it too heavily, and you threaten to drown your project in nods and winks, which detract from what you’re trying to do. A light sprinkle of the stuff may end up feeling out of place. There’s a balance that needs to be struck. The problem is, there’s no consistent amount of nostalgia that you can draw on to make sure you’ve not done too much or too little. It’s a balancing act.

Astro Bot is absolutely dripping with the stuff. Every level has multiple nods to PlayStation (or PlayStation adjacent) series’ of yore. Every corner is stuffed with the face buttons as texture detailing. The titular Bot can dress up as characters from various games. The hub world, Crash Site, is gradually filled with characters from PlayStation (or adjacent) games. Astro Bot doesn’t so much as dip its toes into the nostalgia pool as it does a running bomb into the deep end.

And yet.

It all just feels…right. It all feels in place. Astro Bot leans into its nostalgic trappings and then some. While Astro Bot themselves is adorable and brilliant and lovely mascot in their own right, they’re faceless and malleable enough to be whatever Team Asobi wants them to be at any given time. The interesting thing is that the game, in concept, is a celebration of PlayStation’s 30-year history. In practice, it stands on its own really well. What we have is, for me, the platforming equivalent of Super Smash Bros.

Astro’s Fables

Astro Bot isn’t going to win any awards for its narrative. While flying through space, Astro’s ship (a big PS5) gets captured by a green alien who rips it apart, sending parts across the galaxy, and making off with the PS5s sentient processing chip. Astro, with the help of a flying DualSense controller, has to go from planet to planet saving wayward Bots, locating missing PS5 parts, and defeating any boss that stands in their way. Standard platforming stuff.

Anyone who’s played the phenomenal Astro’s Playroom knows what happens next. You go out across these tightly designed levels, collecting puzzle pieces and ducking enemies. Every so often you’ll happen across a power-up that the level is built around. Some land better than others (a PSVR headset that slows down time steals the show) but everything works in tandem. This is where the magic of this thing lives. Because, while wanting to see just who from PlayStation history is represented is your driver, the means to get from bot to bot is just wonderful. The nostalgia of the thing isn’t what’s propping it up, it’s supplementary to, what is, an excellent platforming experience.

Each of the game’s worlds ends with a special level, by which you effectively play through a miniature version of a PlayStation franchise. Sony has shown the God of War level quite heavily, so I’ll use that as the example, but there are 4 others. I’ll say that it’s best to keep as free from “spoilers” as possible. While there were a few very obvious choices, God of War included, one particular level took me by completely by surprise. Just delightful.

Pleasantly Presented

It’s a gorgeous thing, is Astro Bot. Through the 18 (that’s right, I platinum’d it) hours I spent I noticed no drops in frame rate. It’s not a labour-intensive title, obviously. Astro Bot doesn’t exist to offer a bleeding-edge graphical experience. But it’s crisp, it’s clean, and a real treat to look at. Each level pops. Be it haunted houses, or a winter wonderland, or the inside of a singing tree, every detail is a delight.

It sounds the part, too. Each track is, again, a delight. The sooner Sony whacks the whole thing up to stream, the sooner I can go about letting it ruin my Wrapped for this year.

Astro But

It’s not without a few niggles, mind. While each level is genuinely really fun (a casino level being the highlight), there isn’t really a sense of cohesion. There are multiple levels within a desert which are strewn across different worlds. It doesn’t take anything away from each design, but it does make the game feel somewhat disconnected. A Nintendo platformer would have grouped each setting together to create a cohesive world. It’s a small presentation thing that would create a more rounded experience, for me.

Conversely, while we’ve established the special “VIP Bots” aren’t what make Astro Bot great, it’s a shame to see who wasn’t able to make the cut. Team Asobi will have certainly tried their hardest to ensure every major character and series is represented. But there is no Square Enix representation. Both Cloud and Sephiroth are in Super Smash Bros., so it feels a bit weird they couldn’t make the cut here. A bit more difficult given the amount of extra parties involved, but Spider-Man is one of the key pillars in PlayStation’s modern portfolio. Not even a hint of a nod!

How refreshing is it to play a game where the problems it has aren’t even anything to do with the game itself, by the way? Just presentation and dressing. Nothing more.

Can you tell I was delighted?

That’s, ultimately, by the by. Astro Bot is a charmer. A real treat of a game. One that’s worthy in being the sole celebration of everything PlayStation is after 30 years and one that, I hope, has a long fruitful future ahead of it. Bring on more challenge levels. Bring on speed-run DLC. Bring on more VIP Bots. Just bring on more.

Like I said, 18 hours I spent 100%ing Astro Bot. If there were another 18 hours, I’d hoover that up with the same glee as I did the game itself. I was never tired by the game. I never really wanted to stop playing it. The moment the final level came to a close I looked for reasons to not turn it off. I suspect, in a week or so, I’ll have started another save. It’s a delight.

Conclusion

Astro Bot is a throwback in every sense. It’s a sort of game that doesn’t really exist in 2024. It’s a playable PlayStation museum, that honours the history of the platform wholeheartedly. It’s a very good mascot platformer in an era where only one company can do mascot platformers well. And it’s a smaller-scale game in a time where every game seemingly wants to balloon in scope. While I find it hard to put it on the same pillar as the best of the 3D Super Mario titles, the fact it gets so close in a lot of areas is the highest praise. And I truly hope Team Asobi gets the chance to have another go. Because with this as the foundation, the next adventure could be an all-timer.

Regardless, Astro Bot gets my full recommendation. And I fully expect to agonize over which of the top 2 spots on my end of year list it’ll occupy. A delight. Oh, I’ve said that already.