Each hub world‚ like GPU Jungle‚ contains multiple pieces across its four areas. Collecting all pieces unlocks special rewards and contributes to trophy progress. Thorough exploration and careful navigation are key to finding every piece‚ ensuring you don’t miss any hidden gems. Earning Gold Trophies in Astro Playroom demands exceptional skill and precision. These trophies are tied to challenging tasks like speedrunning specific levels or completing difficult sections without taking damage. One k9k9 notable trophy requires defeating a boss using only melee attacks‚ while another involves navigating a tricky obstacle course flawlessly.

Levels constantly throw me new toys to play with that totally change the way the level plays. Later levels include a spaceship (with rockets powered by the adaptive triggers) and a rolling ball (controlled by swiping the touchpad on the DualSense), intermingled with platforming sequences. The smooth, 60-frames-per-second gameplay makes controlling Astro a real treat.

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Jump onto the left-hand one, right it up, then Beam Glide to the block on the right. At this spot, look at the wall between the red and green level entrys to find a ramp heading to the basement floor of the Plaza, where many different Bots are hanging out. The Astro franchise is built upon the success of the PlayStation brand and became the de facto mascot.

In its opening moments, Astro’s Playroom literally describes itself as a tutorial. Specifically, it explains that the Playroom’s light and lighthearted platforming levels are a means of showing off the special features of the PlayStation 5’s new DualSense controller. Some, like the adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, and built-in microphone, are new. But they all distinguish the DualSense from its Xbox- and Nintendo-based counterparts. Playroom is an incredibly charming jaunt through a PlayStation-inspired digital theme park, ensuring that your first hop, skip, and jump of the PS5 era is wholly, unequivocally joyful. There are other hidden special collectibles in the levels too that I won’t spoil but they play into the other part of this game and that is how it is a love letter to PlayStation fans everywhere.

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In the PlayStation Labo area, the wall skirting just above the floor contain references to various PlayStation hardware ports. In the picture above, you can spot the PSP, PS Vita and PSP Go port and button layouts from the top and bottom of the systems. The only unknown one is the one with the Ethernet port, which doesn’t match any PlayStation system. These icons were displayed on the back of PS1 game boxes to show what features the game supported. The icons on the monitor are, from left to right, Memory Card block requirement, Dual Analog support, Link Cable support, DualShock support, PlayStation Mouse support, Player count, and Multi-Tap support.

It seems the special bots are integrated into the guide as opposed to being tacked on as an addendum. Either way, most guides are from when it came out, and a lot more people have a PS5 now. Those that haven’t played it have been tempted to give it a go with a second installment being announced, so an updated guide will be helpful to quite a few I would imagine. Each of Astro’s Playroom’s four worlds are representative of a part of the PS5 console, from Cooling Springs to GPU Jungle to the SSD Speedway. The different themes of the areas stand out as starkly different biomes and environments, and even within each of the levels’ four subsections, there’s a notable amount of variety.

Astro’s Playroom guide contains a detailed walkthrough for the game. We described the trophies, controls, and the most important aspects of the game. As you can tell, there’s not much of a story with this game, but you don’t need a fully fleshed-out plot for this demo.

You’ll be greeted with a message that says a special bot is hidden somewhere in Deep Dataspace. The rumble feedback lets you get a sense of the rain that falls on you or the fluttering of snowfall. The adaptive triggers get harder to press when aspects of the game demand — like judging how tight to pull a spring before releasing. This means you need deft soft touches as much as quick hard presses — like when you have to gently press the triggers to grip a handhold without doing it too tight and making them crumble. From the start, climb the first ledge, and instead of progressing on the critical path to the wall ahead, go through the grass on the left, and you’ll find a Bloodborne bot. And yet, even when Astro is pulling off his most basic moves in familiar environments, this game feels revelatory.

Bot Beach

The microphone makes the wind more intense while the vibrations of the sand are felt as the controller feels like a sandstorm. But it’s not all suits and colorful levels to enjoy, there’s also a mountain of collectibles to find that tug on the nostalgic heartstrings of any PlayStation fan. The game’s 16 levels feature nasty little bots to defeat, and little secrets and character cameos to find, such as the Buster Sword from Final Fantasy 7 or Jin Sakai from Ghost of Tsushima. Levels have Astro jumping on fluffy clouds in Memory Meadows, skating along the ice in Cooling Springs, or blowing up asteroids in a later level in SSD Speedway.

It swaped the Analog button for the Home button, and had convex triggers for L2 and R2. Its primary new feature was SIXAXIS motion sensing that let you move and rotate the controller to control the game, a feature still in use today. The PSP Go was the smallest version of the PSP, removing the disc drive and having a screen that slid up to reveal the buttons underneath.

Climb past these enemies and carefully reach the top of the walls of this room, which you can walk along. When one hits you, Astro will be reset to the last checkpoint, and Selene’s capsule will open. Some platform games require a lot of skill and combination movements, which can be frustrating to master. For younger players, set time aside to help them learn and practise the skills. On its own, Astro’s Playroom would be a fun platforming distraction fit for younger gamers or families. Its world is vibrant and wonderfully detailed, and it looks exceptional on the PS5.

These were added just before the launch of Astro Bot, and each section of the game has its special bot to find and collect in preparation for the next game in the Astro Bot world. Start by completing the story‚ then backtrack to collect all puzzle pieces and artifacts. Use DualSense features for precise controls and check collectible lists to ensure nothing’s missed.

Puzzle Piece 3/4 – After sliding down the long cable, pull the next wire and go up the two platforms moving up and down. Every time I had fun with the game, it always ended in me encountering an area that is simply impossible for me to finish. This includes all the aforementioned key areas of levels with physical mandatory controls, but also some minor elements that appear briefly through the game. Further mandatory physical interaction with the controller includes blowing into the microphone and flicking your finger to launch Astro like a slingshot.