Astro Bot is an undeniable hit, reaching the same heights as seminal platforming IP like Super Mario—something that's no small feat, to be sure. But as Sony and developer Team Asobi look to the future, it will be interesting to see if Astro Bot can maintain its strong momentum, growing into a genuinely healthy and worthwhile franchise.
There hasn't yet been an announcement for Astro Bot 2, but considering the wild success of the first game and the inherent potential of its premise, a sequel seems quite likely.
On paper, Astro Bot shouldn't work as well as it does. It's basically a 12-hour commercial for PlayStation and PlayStation products—a concept that could so easily come off as cynical and overly indulgent. But against all odds, Astro Bot never feels cynical or corporate: it celebrates PlayStation history, which is inextricable from general gaming history, rather than shoving it down anyone's throat or treating it as more important than it really is. With this abundance of spirit and passion, a new Astro Bot game should continue to find success, especially if it doubles down on the themed levels of its predecessor. To this end, Sly Cooper could be an ideal franchise to shine the spotlight on.
Astro Bot’s Next Adventure May Be Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place
While Astro Bot may have been a massive success for the studio, the robot's next mainline adventure might struggle to replicate the same magic.
Sly Cooper and Astro Bot Could Be a Match Made in Heaven
Astro Bot Could Hone In On Sly Cooper's Greatest Strengths
Astro Bot's game-specific levels, also called PlayStation Hero levels, are its high points. Channeling the heart and soul of series like Uncharted and God of War, complete with IP-specific abilities, music, and enemy types, allowed Team Asobi to introduce new gameplay concepts in a way that feels natural. Moreover, it's through these levels that the game pays homage to some of PlayStation's most important franchises, all while expertly retaining the identity of Astro Bot itself.
All of this is to say that future Astro Bot games will almost certainly repeat this idea, and while there are several great IP to pull from, Sly Cooper may be among the best. Sucker Punch's action-stealth-platformer series was famous for its creativity and willingness to embrace new ideas, but there are a few central, consistent design pillars that could translate smoothly to the Astro Bot formula. For one thing, Sly Cooper has always had strong movement and physics systems—systems Sucker Punch would later improve in Infamous and Ghost of Tsushima—which could mesh with Astro Bot's traditional platforming for obvious reasons.
But more importantly, these movement mechanics are couched within a broader stealth and puzzle framework: platforming in Sly Cooper is less about precision and reaction time and more about smart positioning and forethought. For instance, players may need to walk across a tightrope while avoiding an enemy spotlight, maneuvering toward collectible items or enemies that can be swiftly and quietly dispatched. Naturally, the series is more focused on this stealth-strategy element than deep combat or platforming challenges. Leveraging these design considerations could make an Astro Bot Sly Cooper level a nice change of pace from the more high-speed, intense elements of the rest of the game.
This theoretical Sly Cooper level could also adopt a sandbox structure, presenting players with a large, open area akin to Astro Bot's special Christmas zone. This would allow for freedom of movement and even replayability, as the experience of completing the level would be different depending on which enemies are defeated first, which stealth skills are used, what order objectives are completed in, et cetera. This would presumably be another point of difference between this level and others in future Astro Bot games, which could be more linear and less oriented around objectives and player freedom.
Astro Bot
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 95 /100 Critics Rec: 99%
- Released
- September 6, 2024
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Crude Humor, Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
- Team Asobi
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Engine
- Proprietary Engine
- Franchise
- Astro Bot
WHERE TO PLAY
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- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5
- Genre(s)
- Platformer
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
