Recent rumors were validated at the State of Play event, where Sony and Team Asobi unveiled Astro Bot, the esteemed franchise's first comprehensive platformer devised for a console. More information was revealed after the announcement, including the fact that the game will house more than 80 levels and over 70 novel enemy types, among other things. Given this, Nicolas Doucet, the head of Team Asobi studio, was not taken aback when labeling Astro Bot as an extremely expansive game.
In his recent dialogue with Entertainment Weekly, Doucet argued that this upcoming platformer is the grandest game they have ever crafted, and the team's vision of it as a fresh start influenced the decision to name it Astro Bot.
Doucet expressed his studio's intent to create a substantial game. This is essentially about taking up a notch, many notches, and focusing on Astro’s expansive story. It is aptly named Astro Bot since it is seen as the dawn of something new and fundamentally large. According to Doucet, this is the largest game they've ever developed.
Further into the conversation, Doucet assured of an array of diversity across the game's levels and settings. He highlighted the aim of providing the player with a refreshed gaming experience every 10 or so minutes.
He also portrayed the game as an extravaganza of PlayStation, hinting at multiple cameo appearances of robot versions of PlayStation's reputed characters and symbols. Several were even included in the revealing trailer, such as Kratos, Ratchet, Nathan Drake, and PaRappa the Rapper.
Doucet referred to these cameos as a type of visual delight and indicated there's more to follow. Over time, they would discuss these characters' relevance to the game but confirmed that it is going to be a grand reunion. Numerous characters from the PlayStation universe will cross paths with Astro. Despite being an Astro Bot narrative with Astro being the focal character, a plethora of PlayStation characters will also contribute.
Astro Bot is set to be launched exclusively for PS5 on September 6.