The Astro Bot IP has garnered a sizeable fanbase in recent times with some legitimately wonderful (and equally beloved) outings, but it surely’s honest to say that up up to now, the sequence hasn’t actually been allowed to totally unfurl its wings. Astro Bot Rescue Mission was a superb sport, but it surely was a PlayStation VR unique, and equally, Astro’s Playroom was an absolute blast, although in the end, it was little greater than a free pack-in tech demo. Quickly, nonetheless, the sequence shall be getting its first full-fledged console sport.
Sony and developer Group Asobi just lately unveiled Astro Bot, showcasing a stunning, vibrant, and packed reveal trailer at a State of Play presentation, and the sport, which is due out in September, has immediately develop into one of many 12 months’s most extremely anticipated video games for an awesome many PS5 house owners. We, too, are greater than slightly excited to get our palms on the sport, so right here, we’re going to go over just a few key particulars that you need to learn about it.
SETUP
Astro video games, very like any platformer, are by no means too centered on the narrative facet of issues, however what can we count on from the upcoming PS5 instalment’s core setup? Astro Bot will job the titular protagonist with going up towards his nemesis on a journey that may take him to over 50 planets throughout an enormous galaxy, together with his mission being to rescue and reassemble his crew, and to rebuild the PS5 mothership- which, you guessed it, is a literal PS5-shaped spaceship.
ASTRO’S BIGGEST ADVENTURE
The couple of occasions Astro has been the star of his personal sport, the video games in query have been fairly quick, with Astro’s Playroom being about 3-4 hours lengthy at finest, and Astro Bot Rescue Mission being barely longer at 7-8 hours in size. The upcoming Astro Bot, nonetheless, is being billed as a a lot bigger expertise. The sport’s been described as Astro’s greatest journey but, a sentiment that Group Asobi studio head Nicolas Doucet additionally echoed in an interview with Leisure Weekly, the place he known as Astro Bot “a extremely, actually huge sport” and the most important sport made by the studio thus far.
LEVELS
So what precisely can we count on from Astro Bot when it comes to what number of ranges it’s going to have on provide, particularly given all of the speak of how huge the sport goes to be? As per Group Asobi, Astro Bot will see gamers exploring six completely different galaxies, throughout which you’ll go to over 80 distinctive ranges. And as you’d count on from a 3D platformer of this nature, these ranges can even sport loads of environmental variety, together with seashores, forests, deserts, volcanoes, and extra. Different, extra high-flying ranges can even present up infrequently, from a degree set within an enormous hourglass to 1 on the cover of a singing tree to 1 on a casino-themed planet.
ABILITIES
As Astro is making his manner by means of his planet-hopping journey, he can even be making use of quite a lot of completely different talents. The truth is, it appears variety is one thing that Group Asobi appears to be emphasizing fairly a bit, relating to Astro’s moveset. Loads of the strikes and abilities at Astro’s disposal will clearly be acquainted to followers of Astro Bot Rescue Mission and Astro’s Playroom, from his punches to his skill to hover. On high of that, loads of new talents can even be launched. The truth is, Astro Bot will function over 15 new talents.
NEW ABILITIES
We’ll have to attend till September to know what everything of Astro’s arsenal of latest talents goes to appear to be, however quite a lot of them have already been revealed by Group Asobi. One which we noticed within the reveal trailer is Big Sponge, which, as its identify suggests, turns Astro right into a sponge that may develop more and more massive by absorbing bigger and bigger portions of water, in flip letting you wreak havoc in your environment. There are additionally the Twin-Frog Gloves, which not solely let Astro swing off of poles, but in addition unleash lengthy vary punches in fight, whereas the Bulldog Booster permits you to use air dashes that may smash by means of metallic, glass, and even enemies. Oh, and talking of enemies…
ENEMIES
One other space the place it appears to be like like selection goes to be the secret for Astro Bot is its roster of enemies. In line with Group Asobi, in whole, the sport will function over 70 new forms of enemies. We’ve already seen a good few of those within the sport’s reveal trailer, with completely different foes sporting wildly completely different designs and movesets even in what little we’ve seen of the sport thus far. And, in fact, this additionally consists of quite a lot of bosses- which brings us to the subsequent factor we wish to discuss.
BOSSES AND CHALLENGES
You may’t have a full 3D platforming expertise with out additionally taking up a roster of bosses, and certain sufficient, Astro Bot can have loads of these on provide as effectively. Group Asobi has confirmed that every galaxy within the sport will finish with a significant boss battle, which suggests we are able to count on at the least six bosses within the sport. We noticed quite a lot of these within the sport’s reveal trailer, similar to an enormous fowl that you just battle whereas on its again because it soars by means of the air, or the returning gorilla boss that followers of Astro Bot Rescue Mission will bear in mind very effectively, or an enormous octopus sporting boxing gloves. Group Asobi has additionally revealed that the enormous cobra queen boss we noticed within the sport’s reveal trailer is called Woman Venomara, and awaits gamers “in her golden lair”. The developer additionally says defeating every boss will “uncover an exquisite secret”, however the studio hasn’t elaborated on precisely what meaning.
FLYING
One thing else that we noticed a number of glimpses of in Astro Bot’s reveal trailer have been sections that showcased Astro hovering by means of the air on a aircraft formed just like the PS5’s DualSense controller (which we’ll be talking extra of in a bit). Referred to as the Twin Speeder, it serves as Astro’s ship and first technique of transportation as he travels from planet to planet, although it appears to be like like there can even be gameplay sections that may job you with navigating it by means of impediment programs at excessive speeds. Whether or not gyro gameplay can even be supported throughout these sections is unknown, however one would assume that that might be the case.
DUALSENSE
Practically 4 years into the PS5’s life, we’re but to play too many video games which were a greater showcase of the DualSense’s haptic suggestions and adaptive triggers than Astro’s Playroom was, and certain sufficient, Group Asobi says that the upcoming Astro Bot can even be implementing the controller’s options. Additional particulars on what that implementation will appear to be are presently scarce, however given how convincingly Astro’s Playroom knocked the ball out of the park on this space, expectations shall be excessive from Astro Bot as effectively.
PLAYSTATION ICONS
In the event you’re enjoying an Astro sport, you’re virtually anticipating to seek out an abundance of easter eggs and cameos associated to not solely the PlayStation model as an entire, but in addition quite a lot of characters and cameos from all through PlayStation’s historical past. The upcoming Astro Bot received’t be breaking custom there. As confirmed by Group Asobi and as seen within the sport’s reveal trailer, quite a lot of beloved PlayStation properties shall be represented in Astro Bot, together with the likes of God of Battle, Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, PaRappa the Rapper, and extra. The truth is, Group Asobi appears to be teasing that the PlayStation characters that we noticed within the reveal trailer (and others like them which have but to be revealed) can have a much bigger half to play within the sport and its story than simply as cameos and easter eggs. What precisely that may entail stays to be seen.
