Yesterday, Astro Bot’s final level of this current round of free DLC was released, finally giving us a character we’ve been waiting for since the very beginning – Ezio Auditore. The Assassin’s Creed star was a key figure of ’00s gaming, and though he was cross-platform, so were many others in Astro Bot’s cast. It seemed odd that he was missing.
This only grew stranger when fans noticed Ubisoft and Assassin’s Creed were mentioned in the credits, despite not appearing in the game itself. Stellar Blade was also notably included in the credits while missing the main game, but Eve arrived as the very first DLC character when the first round of speedruns were introduced. Since then, other anticipated characters like Rayman have appeared in the later speedruns, the Christmas level (as was the case with Rayman), or the latest round of new levels. Now that Ezio is here, it might be time to close the book on Astro Bot for good.
Astro Bot’s Cast Feels Complete
There are still some characters missing, of course. There’s That Guy from Your Favourite Game – who could forget him, besides everyone? The Final Fantasy 7 crew are also conspicuously absent from a game all about celebrating the history of PlayStation, but that seems to be a licensing issue with Square Enix that is unlikely to be resolved soon. Of the major characters teased in the credits, Ezio (or anyone from Assassin’s Creed, but who else?) was the one late to the party. Now he’s here, and it’s time for last orders before we settle up.
I’ve loved playing through the drip-fed levels. More Astro Bot any way, any how was good news as far as I was concerned. I still wish the base levels had a time trial function added to them in the style of many classic platformers, but playing through new levels under time pressure was a great way to inject a little bit more challenge. The Christmas level arrived at the perfect time for the season, full of the joys of winter. And now these latest levels, ostensibly still time trials but a little more tricky to make up for the lack of time based bots, have been perfect.
But enough is enough. Would I gladly play five new Astro Bot levels spread out over five weeks, released every few months for the rest of my life? Probably. If only to see them delve deep into the archives and let us rescue the ball from Kula World or whatever. But would I want that at the cost of Team Asobi moving on to something new? Absolutely not, and I don’t know many who would.
The Future Is Unlimited For Astro Bot
While Astro Bot is technically the fifth Astro Bot… thing (after The Playroom, The Playroom VR, Rescue Mission, and Astro’s Playroom), it’s also the first real blockbuster game. Because of their length, platform, or function as a tech demo – often multiple at once – other Astro Bot projects don’t feel fully realised.
Astro Bot should be the start of a new major series for PlayStation, and whether that means going bigger than the 2024 smash hit or moving on from its closeness to PlayStation history and paraphernalia, I’m not sure. But if we want more Astro, and most of us do, it should be a bold new venture, not a handful of levels periodically added to the existing game.
These levels are fun, and have come out at a very quick pace following the game’s launch, so there can be no complaints over Team Asobi lingering on its victory for a while longer – especially as the credits show these levels had at least been planned at launch, and work on them was likely underway. It is a game thoroughly deserving of a victory lap, after all. But now it has taken one, with Ezio as the fitting finale, it is time to move on.
I hope Team Asobi sticks with Astro Bot – it would be foolish to bank Astro’s popularity to make a new IP when Astro has the freedom to go anywhere and do anything. I’d support a loosening of the connection between it and PlayStation’s hardware to stand on its own two stubby little legs, but now it should be given time to cook.
Astro Bot will go down in history as one of the greatest platformers – one of the greatest video games – ever. But in order to go down in history it needs to be left for the history books. Team Asobi can walk away proud, and walk away it should. Whatever the future holds for Astro Bot, I know it’s bright – I just hope it’s a new game and not a handful of speedruns to unlock Judy from Cyberpunk 2077.
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OpenCritic
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Top Critic Rating:
95/100
- Released
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September 6, 2024
- Developer(s)
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Team Asobi
- Publisher(s)
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Sony Interactive Entertainment