Released earlier this month, Team Asobi's Astro Bot has become a must-play adventure platformer for the PlayStation 5. The cutesy platformer proved that Astro's Playroom could be more than just freeware packed onto PS5 consoles for free to showcase the system's unique features.
It's now been a couple of weeks since Astro Bot has released and Team Asobi is teasing new content set to arrive this Fall. Announced during the recent State of Play, Astro Bot will receive five brand new speedrun levels for free.
"Many of you asked for the return of speedrun levels so we hope you enjoy those," said Team Asobi Studio Director Nicoals Doucet on the PlayStation Blog. "Time to sharpen those jumping skills and shave milli-seconds at every turn!"
For those who never played Astro's Playroom, speedrun levels are essentially small, bite-sized stages in which players compete with others to score the fastest run. Times are usually tracked in online leaderboards. The original Astro's Playroom featured a couple of speedrun challenges, offering tons of competitive replay value well after completing the game.
In addition to the speedrun levels, 10 new Special Bots will be added to the game for you to rescue.
These are obtained by beating cheeky birds racing against Astro. We’re super happy to welcome the Helldivers squad who will bring super democracy to the crash site as well as Eve from slick and delightful PS5 hit Stellar Blade! You’ll have to find out who the other ones are!
Astro Bot was released in celebration of PlayStation's 30th anniversary and pays homage to the gaming brand's rich history of games. While completing the various stages in Astro Bot, players can rescue hundreds of bots, many of which are inspired by iconic PlayStation video game characters.
Sony hasn't released sales numbers for Astro Bot, but the game received universal acclaim from critics. The game boasts near-perfect scores with 94/100 on Metacritic. It was compared favorably to some of gaming's most iconic and beloved platforms, including Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Mario Odyssey. Some of the game's features even drew comparisons to other popular Nintendo series, including Arms, Pikmin, and Splatoon.
The fact that Astro Bot is receiving free content so soon after launch feels like a positive sign that the game sold well. If that's the case, then there will hopefully be a bright future for the game post-launch, including a more fully-fledged expansion or possibly even a sequel sometime down the line.