Even with out its many (wonderful) online game cameos and PlayStation references, Astro Bot would nonetheless be our favorite recreation of the yr.
The standard of Workforce Asobi‘s endlessly charming platformer signifies that even have been it not for the many years of affection for Sony‘s console poured into each crack, the sport would nonetheless be an endlessly artistic marvel. Platforming is so pleasurable and well-executed that it may maintain its personal towards a number of the most unimpeachable plumber-lead video games in gaming’s canon.
The boldness that exudes from Workforce Asobi is one thing that few different builders might presumably replicate. So many nice mechanics in Astro Bot might have been the premise of total video games, however this PlayStation growth group wasn’t focused on settling for that.
Some mechanics, like the power to shrink all the way down to the scale of a mouse, have been solely used twice throughout the entire recreation. There isn’t a single mechanic that we have been sick of by the point it was taken away from us, we merely weren’t given the time to get fatigued.
As thrilling as seeing who the subsequent cameo character was, the actual pleasure of Astro Bot was dropping into a brand new stage and seeing what new energy awaited you. Certain, a few of them return from earlier video games, however each single interplay feels evolutionary somewhat than copying and pasting from earlier video games.
This extends to the enemies and areas. Some designs and themes reappear from Astro Bot: Rescue Mission and Astro’s Playroom, however the context wherein they’re used makes them really feel contemporary. This speaks to Workforce Asobi’s priorities. Why waste time on issues nearly no person will discover when extra time must be spent on mechanics? The less than 70 members of Workforce Asobi’s skills are higher spent elsewhere.
Hand-in-hand with the engrossing, everchanging gameplay is the sport’s stellar soundtrack. Kenny CM Younger has labored on charming PlayStation platformers for greater than a decade, however he got here to the eye of many youthful gamers with the discharge of Astro’s Playroom. The GPU track, which was primarily a love track devoted to the PS5‘s graphics {hardware}, was an unshakeable earworm.
Astro Bot’s soundtrack is stuffed with equally joyous and irreverent tracks, in addition to some traditional tranquil platforming music. It’s not possible to come back away from a session with Astro Bot with out buzzing one in all Younger’s themes or repeating “I’m As – Tro – Bot” in a robotic voice.
Workforce Asobi understands PlayStation and it understands PlayStation followers. It could have been really easy for Astro Bot to be a graveyard of licenses that Sony hasn’t touched in many years. And whereas there are many characters featured which can be lengthy overdue for a run within the first group, the sport by no means seems like they’re haphazardly thrown in; it feels prefer it comes from a spot of celebration.
The hyper-obscure references to Cool Boarders, Um Jammer Lamy, Siren, and extra really feel like a group of builders sitting round a desk and speaking in regards to the video games that have been necessary to them exterior of the PlayStation staples and ensuring they received their day within the solar.
Honourable Mentions
Whereas it simply fell wanting our Sport of the 12 months, Balatro is definitely the sport we’ve performed most in 2024. An ingenious poker-based roguelike, the enjoyment of Balatro is in its infectious mechanics, which can flip a 10-hour flight into what seems like minutes.
Uncommonly do video games come round that you understand you’ll set up on each platform you personal for the remainder of your life, however Balatro is one in all them. In case you’ve but to select it up, deal with your self over the festive interval, however we warned: you may out of the blue end up again at work in January with no reminiscence of the final two weeks.
Indiana Jones and The Nice Circle
If licensed video games stay or die on the power of capturing the “really feel” of the license, then Indiana Jones and The Nice Circle is among the best possible ever. Past that, MachineGames has taken the point-and-click sensibilities of Indy’s traditional PC adventures and constructed them with the highly-detailed ranges of an immersive sim.
Pair that with a generationally good efficiency from Troy Baker, and Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle shines as one of many yr’s greatest. As a lot as we’d love MachineGames to return to its different Nazi-killing opus, there are many adventures of Indy left unaccounted for, and we’d be first in line to play them.
Past these cameos, Workforce Asobi flexes its muscle tissue with 5 tribute ranges that vary from pleasingly trustworthy recreations of the unique recreation to reminders of the left-field initiatives that outlined Sony’s earlier days. It’s one factor making a trustworthy model of Ape Escape, however to create a model of God of Conflict: Ragnarok, full with a practical Leviathan Axe, is one thing else solely. It’s so blindingly apparent how a lot Workforce Asobi cared in regards to the franchises it was referencing.
Astro Bot is so good as a platformer that we’d love Workforce Asobi to construct on prime of it for years, including an increasing number of ranges. The lately added speedrun ranges have been an excellent catalyst to show your friendships into rivalries, however we’d additionally love extra of the sport’s harder challenges. Whereas the sport references over 150 PlayStation heroes, there are lots that would nonetheless be added, which means the scope for additional cameos feels nearly limitless. That’s not even mentioning the conspicuous absence of Sq. Enix (exterior of Gex).
As PlayStation turns 30, Astro Bot is a nostalgic, generally emotional look again on the video games, the builders, and the characters that made it. Whereas Nintendo will at all times have the 10-year headstart on its gaming historical past, PlayStation has put in a hell of plenty of work to construct a legacy that may sit alongside it. The gamers who had to decide on between the PlayStation or the N64 for his or her tenth birthday at the moment are 40 and watching their children make the identical determination.
And whereas the PlayStation at this time isn’t the identical one which took the world by storm within the 90s with its off-the-wall advertising and limitless iconic mascots, Astro Bot serves as that bridge from PlayStation’s previous into its future.
Whereas it’s inarguable that Sony has faltered in preserving a number of the franchises it has misplaced curiosity in alongside the way in which, Workforce Asobi has picked up the slack. The spirit of the PlayStation that had hundreds of thousands of younger followers staring up at their TVs within the 90s is alive in Astro Bot. Could he lead the cost for the subsequent 30 years of play.
