Meet Astro Bots new monkey friend and go behind the scenes with Team Asobi – PlayStation.Blog

Hi everyone. How have you been doing these past few weeks? I hope you enjoyed your vacation and hot summer gaming!

On behalf of the little robots of Team Asobi, it’s my pleasure to give you one more update on Astro Bot before we launch on September 6th. Check out our new trailer, which reveals a few more cool features that we’ve been keeping under wraps.

New gameplay from the launch trailer

Let’s start with new worlds and new gameplay, introducing Handy-D, a cheeky monkey that rides on Astro’s back and allows Astro to climb, swing, and punch with his giant hands. It’s a returning mechanic that we’re taking to the next level by mixing it with the core platforming.

You’ll also find Muteki (which means invincible in Japanese), a fitting name for Astro’s iron armor that allows him to roll through spiky areas, fit into tight spaces, or be launched like a cannonball! Finally, you’ll see Astro transform into a tiny mouse, making the world and every surrounding stomp feel enormous via the DualSense wireless controller. One of our favorites!

Also visible in this new trailer is how the bots you rescue impact the adventure. There are a total of 300 bots to rescue in Astro Bot, 150 of which are PlayStation cameos. We’ve put a lot of love into animating these characters, so that they recreate funny moments from their respective games. So no matter who your favorite PlayStation characters are, you’re sure to find a laugh with them. Once rescued, these little guys can work together to perform group moves that let you explore more of the hub planet. In the video, you can see a few PlayStation characters team up to create a running wall that Astro can use to get to higher places.

And finally… the part that many of you have been wondering and asking about since we shared our first trailer: the hero gameplay! So yes, at a few key moments in the adventure, Astro will be able to borrow some special abilities from some PlayStation heroes. In this video, we can see Kratos handing out the awesome Leviathan Axe for Astro to use in a God of War-infused level. We won’t talk about it any further, as we believe it’s one of the most fun features to discover for yourself. We just hope that you find it a faithful and fun tribute to the original material. We want to take this opportunity to thank all the game teams who have put their trust and support in us to make this big PlayStation celebration possible.

There’s a lot more we haven’t talked about yet! So we can’t wait to hear your reactions when Astro lands on September 6th.

Before we leave, we have a few more announcements:

Don’t forget to collect your 4 special Bots in Astro’s Playroom, pre-loaded on your PS5. Once you’ve been rescued, you can bring these bots into the new game and add them to your starting crew. And in the last few hours leading up to Astro Bot’s release, we’re hosting a special countdown in Astro’s Playroom. Be sure to check it out.

Speaking of the final countdown, with Astro Bot’s September 6th launch approaching, you still have time to pre-order the game and unlock costumes and paint for your DualSpeeder early. The digital soundtrack and digital artbook are also available if you opt for the Digital Deluxe Edition.

Behind the scenes of Astro Bot

And finally, we also invite you to check out our behind-the-scenes series. These are quite short and snappy videos and a nice moment for us to sit down and reflect after many months of continuous work. We hope you enjoy these videos as well. They will be rolled out as follows:

Episode 1: Created Gameplay

Members of Team Asobi discuss what it takes to make a platformer feel good.

Episode 2: Techno Magic (tbc)

Discover how Team Asobi uses technology to create magical moments.

Episode 3: PlayStation Fiesta (tbc)

Find out how the PlayStation cameos came about and the level of collaboration with other PlayStation studios that went into bringing this celebration to life.

Episode 4: Overflowing Charm (TBA)

We focus on the fun features of Astro Bot, from graphics to animations and all the other nice extras.

Episode 5: Being an Asobi (TBA)

A behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to work at Team Asobi, featuring some of the studio’s young talent.

And that’s all!

All that remains is to thank you for all the months of care and support that have led to this launch. It has been a fun ride going from a pre-loaded demo to Astro on the big stage. But it would never have happened without the encouragement of you, the players.

On behalf of our entire team at Team Asobi, we would like to thank you from the bottom of our little robot hearts.