Astro Bot's Beautiful Nostalgia Extends Beyond PlayStation

Astro Bot, the new joyous 3D platformer for the PlayStation 5, is one of those games where it's difficult to talk about in a normal way. The game's positioning as an anniversary celebration of all things PlayStation, packed full of references and aesthetics tied to series from the company's past - many of them long-dormant - has stirred a lot of complicated feelings. Astro Bot is a game that is prompting many of us to think about the business of video games, and the history of Sony. It released right before the reveal of the PlayStation 5 Pro, a reveal that, notably, did not contain any footage of Astro Bot, a game of such tight, smart production that you can't help but suspect that there's simply no room for improvement. 

All of this is a bit funny, because Astro Bot is a textbook definition of a normal video game. It's a little guy running and jumping! Look at how cute the little robot is! Look at how pretty the world is! If you asked a person on the street to describe the very first thing they picture when they picture a video game, they might describe something similar to Astro Bot. It's what we in the business call "a real video game-ass video game", albeit one that has been given the task of reflecting on 30 years of PlayStation and reminding players of all the experiences they've had on Sony's consoles in that time.

I went into Astro Bot being unsure how all this nostalgia was going to hit me, especially because I did not actually grow up with PlayStation. I bought a PlayStation 3, along with a copy of Uncharted, in early 2010 - not because I felt like I was missing out, but because I'd just gotten a gig as a games editor for a magazine, and it felt like a necessary business purchase. I played the console when I received review code for it, or on the rare occasion where the Xbox 360's lower capacity game discs caused issues that were resolved on PS3; it wasn't until the PlayStation 4 came out and clearly trounced the Xbox One that I fully embraced Sony's console ecosystem. So sure, I like playing games on my PlayStation 5, but I wondered if the celebratory tone of the game would have much of an impact on me. 

If you asked a person on the street to describe the very first thing they picture when they picture a video game, they might describe something similar to Astro Bot.

I imagine I'm not alone in playing Astro Bot and not piecing together some of the references, or, in some cases, simply not really caring about them. Part of the game's charm is in finding the hidden themed bots hidden throughout each level, which are costumed to represent characters from different series with histories tied to Sony consoles. But the joy in finding a bot based on a particular series, I've found, is often in thinking "oh, that's a deep cut", or "ha, wow, it must have been interesting negotiating the rights to that character", rather than being thrilled that a little themed bot is going to be running around my hub world now. It's not exactly the same thrill as, say, when a new character is introduced into Smash Bros.

But none of that matters, as it turns out, because Astro Bot is much more than a love letter to the history of PlayStation. This is a deeply nostalgic game, but for all its brand recognition and aesthetic nods, there's a sense that what Astro Bot really wants to celebrate is the last thirty years of games, period. It's a game about games, in the broadest sense possible - the inherent thrill of picking up a controller and doing interesting stuff with a funny little character, the joy of bring in control of all the interesting stuff happening on the screen. Is that a shallow thing to celebrate? Maybe. But Astro Bot is a 3D platformer with such a high bar of quality that it completely cuts through my cynicism. 

When I say that Astro Bot is a celebration of games aside from PlayStation, I don't just mean that Astro Bot owes obvious inspiration to Mario - even if it's approximating Mario's energy and verve perhaps better than any non-Nintendo game ever has, and, yes, it feels explicitly, heavily inspired by Super Mario Galaxy (and Sunshine, to a lesser extent). But there's the DNA of other games sprinkled throughout, too. Metroid Prime. Bayonetta. Sonic Adventure. Pikmin. Kirby. I don't mean to say that any of these games are referenced, explicitly or subtly - it's more that you get the sense that there were folks in the design team who played and really liked these games. I'm sure other people will play and feel different influences, depending on games they've loved themselves. 

This is a deeply nostalgic game, but for all its brand recognition and aesthetic nods, there's a sense that what Astro Bot really wants to celebrate is the last thirty years of games, period.

People come to games from a lot of different angles, and their relationships with the history of the medium are going to be different. As I've gotten older, I've seen the relationships my friends and colleagues have with games deepen and complicate. The debates, the discussion, the discourse around what games are, what they aren’t, and what they should be is endless. This is a good thing, really - any good media invites scrutiny - but it sure can be tiring, and there are games that become lightning rods for endless back-and-forths about what they represent for the artform. 

Astro Bot cuts right through it all to find the common thing that just about everyone agrees with: controlling a funny little character through colourful and inventive worlds is fundamentally good. Jumping, punching, pulling on cords so that the controller rumbles - that's good stuff! It's a simple game, occasionally challenging but rarely difficult, full of hidden surprises, linear levels, boss fights, collectables, good controls - the basic building blocks of Good Game Design 101. The most universally beloved mechanics in the medium, polished to a sheen and ready to be celebrated. 

In its explicit nods to PlayStation classics, Astro Bot peels its references back to imagery and core interactions - Kratos smashes stuff with a hammer, Nathan Drake shoots folks in a jungle environment, everyone wears the appropriate costumes and acts out little skits for the fans. But the game's appreciation for the fundamental, core things that just about everyone can agree with runs deeper. This is not a design team that grew up only loving PlayStation games, and you can feel a deeper well of influences in the experience.

This is not a design team that grew up only loving PlayStation games, and you can feel a deeper well of influences in the experience.

Maybe there's something inherently nostalgic about 3D platformers, too - a genre whose heyday has arguably passed, in that every new modern take on the genre is trying to explicitly recall its past in some way or another. Astro Bot may look like a toy from the near future, but his game also feels like a throwback to a time when games like this were the most anticipated releases of the year for PlayStation, Nintendo, and Sony kids alike. If you were gaming in the '90s, on any system, Astro Bot is going to feel like a game you would have played on whatever system you owned back then.

As a critic and developer who takes his work and practices in games seriously, I've always tried to avoid throwing my hands up and saying "whatever! It's really fun!" on any game - good analysis should run deeper, and being "fun" is a potential goal for games, but not the ultimate goal of the medium. And yet, when I play Astro Bot, I think about a lifetime of play, of little guys in 3D worlds, of the thrill you feel seeing a level stretch out ahead of you, knowing that if you jump and punch and use whatever other mechanics the level might grant you, you're going to have a good time. Astro Bot isn't just an amazing execution of that premise, it's a loving tribute to the many games that gave the folks at Team Asobi that excited feeling that can come from experiencing great design  - the sense that controlling a character and exploring a world someone else designed for your entertainment is fundamentally pretty special.

So, just this once, let me throw my hands up here and say…whatever! It's really fun!!