Astro Bot’s Ending Was Originally Going To Be A Lot More Upsetting

Astro Bot‘s director Nicolas Doucet told all about Team Asobi’s 2024 Game of the Year winner at GDC, including what the rest of the industry might be able to glean from making smaller, more focused games. Doucet also revealed that the game’s ending was originally going to be considerably more upsetting than the one Asobi went with.

Spoilers ahead for the ending of Astro Bot, but come on, you should have finished it by now. What are you playing at? It’s fantastic!If you have moved past the spoiler warning, you have either played through the emotional rollercoaster that is Astro Bot’s ending, or you don’t care about it being spoiled. Players are led to believe Astro has sacrificed himself for the rest of his bot buddies, all of them grieving, along with me, as the credits roll.

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Thankfully, Astro is not dead, and the bot falls back down to his friends who then proceed to rebuild him. Astro is worse for wear upon his return, but nothing the hundreds of bots he spent the last ten to 15 hours rescuing can’t fix. Reported by Eurogamer, Doucet revealed Astro was going to be in a much worse state when he plummeted back down to Earth, or whatever planet Astro calls home, but it was just too upsetting.

Astro Bot’s Ending Is Briefly Quite Upsetting

Turns Out The Original Idea Was Even Worse

“The first version of this prototype included a completely dismembered Astro, so you gain the torso without the head,” Doucet told attendees at GDC. Yes, there was a version of Astro Bot that ends with the hero’s headless torso falling from the sky. “That meant some people were really upset in the team – and for good reasons.”

If the adults developing the game find something about a colorful platformer that will be largely played by children too upsetting, it’s probably safe to assume you might have gone a little too far. Doucet and the rest of the team at Asobi realized that and watered down the ending a little so it wasn’t quite as harrowing. No decapitated Astro falling from the sky, just a slightly roughed up bot who needs his arm screwed back in and his heart replaced.

It’s unclear how well Astro Bot has performed for PlayStation at this stage. The only sales figures we have put the game at 1.5 million copies sold, but that figure is now four months old. Even if its sales numbers don’t sound impressive, it won 2024’s Game of the Year, has continued to receive support via 11 DLC levels, and now has its own PS5 bundle which will hopefully give it a sales boost.

Systems

Released

September 6, 2024

ESRB

E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Crude Humor, Fantasy Violence

Developer(s)

Team Asobi

Publisher(s)

Sony Interactive Entertainment