I can't afford to keep up with the best games of 2025, so I went back to Astro Bot for a shot of unadulterated joy

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I can't afford to keep up with the best games of 2025, so I went back to Astro Bot for a shot of unadulterated joy Features By Luke Kemp published 22 November 2025

Now Playing | Speedrunning, the best DualSense haptics, and a rocket-powered chicken: my time back in the world of Astro Bot

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(Image credit: PlayStation)

2025 sure has been a year, huh? If you need to carve yourself out a little oasis of joy to escape to every now and then, I strongly recommend booting up Astro Bot. Not only is it easily one of the best PS5 games, it's also one of the warmest, brightest, and most welcoming on any system out there. It's the sort of game that makes you feel like you're being given a digital hug and tickle.

Simply put, Astro Bot is fun. There's a playfulness to the character designs and animations, the music, the level design, the tasks you're given, the secrets you can find; everything. I like to refer to it as the best Nintendo game Nintendo never made, but if you feel like that's disrespectful to Team Asobi (or overly generous to Nintendo), I'm happy to express that sentiment in a different, and significantly more detailed, way.

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(Image credit: PlayStation)Five Years of PS5

(Image credit: PlayStation)

Like a playable Pixar film, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is still one of the best reasons to buy a PS5. We're celebrating 5 years of PS5 by looking at the console's best moments as well as what's in store for the future.

People of a certain age, and/or those with an interest in retro games, will immediately know what I mean when I say that this captures the feel of the best late 1990s/early 2000s platformers. You don't need a pair of rose tinted glasses welded to your face in order to enjoy Astro Bot, though. It would in fact be more accurate, I think, to say that the game captures people's memories of the feel of those games – which is even more impressive. Revisiting these old platformers can sometimes disappoint, but Astro Bot does not.

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Astro Bot reminds me of the Wii U's zombie apocalypse survival game ZombiU. No, my brain hasn't short circuited; both titles act as a showcase for their respective consoles' controllers in a way that few other games do. In the case of ZombiU, this meant taking advantage of the controller's screen, most memorably (for me) forcing you to look away from the TV while organising your backpack, which left you vulnerable. Astro Bot, meanwhile, is the most impressive DualSense tech demo you could hope for.

Astro journeys across a variety of terrain and through many different environments, and it all leaps to life in your hands through an amazing use of haptic feedback. You can feel the grains of sand, the crunch of fresh crisp snow, the short sharp tap tap tap of metallic legs on hard surfaces, and so much more. If you think the capabilities of the DualSense haptics have been greatly exaggerated, you haven't played Astro Bot.

(Image credit: PlayStation)

And the variety! You never get a chance to become bored. Alongside the jumping, gliding, swimming, punching, bouncing, pulling, punching, sliding, etc etc, some levels give you a toy to play with that grants a unique ability. How about a chicken that lets you rocket upwards? An elephant that sucks up material to place platforms mid-air? A penguin that allows you to zoom through and out of the water that looks, sounds, and feels like a clockwork toy? These are just a taste of the abilities available.

It looks stunning by the way, gleeful colors and wonderful attention to detail running at an uninterrupted 60fps. What you'll see is often explicitly Sony-themed – there are costumes from various franchises to unlock, and a great many bots cosplaying as famous gaming characters to rescue – but it all feels like a celebration rather than an advertisement. A party; because that, really, is what this is.

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(Image credit: PlayStation)

Astro Bot is a game to be experienced and explored.

It's no surprise that a successful and big-budget title such as this has received post-launch DLC. What's more unexpected – and very, very welcome – is that this extra content has all been provided to everybody free of charge via updates. The Christmas level was a lovely little addition, but that isn't all that we've seen. The new Vicious Void galaxy offers new levels that kick the difficulty up several notches, for those who aren't afraid of a slightly sharper edge to their adorable adventure. There are also new levels in the Stellar Speedway galaxy dedicated to speedrunning, with global and friend leaderboards. One mistake and you're back to the beginning, but the almost instant reloads and relatively short levels mean this fact melts into the background.

Vicious Void aside, there are very few levels – in truth, very few sections of levels – that most people would identify as 'difficult'. This is entirely by design. Astro Bot is a game to be experienced and explored, not battled and overcome. Bubbles of joy pop around every corner, and you waddle off the obvious path in search of secrets because it's impossible to imagine not doing so. You can never be quite sure what Astro Bot has in store for you next, and I love it for that.

Those who haven't yet played Astro Bot might look at a few screenshots or gameplay clips, and label it – due to the bold colors, lack of menace, and expressive face of any and every character – as a game for kids. Astro Bot is a game for kids. Suited to children, sure, but powered by a vibrant, imaginative, and joyful core that people of every age need to draw from every once in a while.

Check out our best PS5 games ranking for what to play next!

CATEGORIES PS5 Platforms PlayStation Luke KempSocial Links Navigation

Luke contributed regularly to PLAY Magazine as well as PC Gamer, SFX, The Guardian, and Eurogamer. His crowning achievement? Writing many, many words for the last 18 issues of GamesMaster, something he’ll eagerly tell anybody who’ll listen (and anybody who won’t). While happy to try his hand at anything, he’s particularly fond of FPS games, strong narratives, and anything with a good sense of humour. He is also in a competition with his eldest child to see who can be the most enthusiastic fan of the Life is Strange series.

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