GOTY Contender Astro Bot Is Getting A Festive Update Just In Time For The Holidays

Sport of the Yr award contender Astro Bot is getting a free winter replace this vacation season. Launched on September 6, 2024, Astro Bot is a platformer that includes characters, places, and ideas from PlayStation video games all through the ages. On its launch, Astro Bot received rave reviews, with critics commenting positively on its pleasant gameplay and ingenious improvements. It additionally occurs to be one in all six video games nominated for Game of the Year at 2024’s Game Awards, in such illustrious firm as Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Remaining Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Metaphor ReFantazio, and Balatro.

However lest you suppose you’d already skilled all the things the yr’s greatest platformer has to supply, Sony introduced that Astro Bot will likely be getting a free vacation replace in a put up on the official PlayStation Blog. The replace is predicted to be out tomorrow, December 12, 2024, at 6:00 PM PT (9:00 PM ET, 2:00 AM GMT). The replace features a single, winter holiday-themed stage, Winter Surprise, that includes snow-covered rooftops, a gargantuan, ribbon-wrapped tree, and a jolly determine in purple driving a flying boat pulled by a reindeer.

The Winter Surprise Replace Is The Newest Nice Astro Bot Addition

What To Count on From Astro Bot’s New Stage

The Winter Surprise replace focuses on a single stage of the identical title, which will likely be obtainable to most Astro Bot gamers beginning on Thursday. It is a post-game stage, designed to be tackled solely after ending the principle marketing campaign – actually, gamers can solely entry it after they’ve overwhelmed the remainder of Astro Bot. Nonetheless, the replace will stay free to all gamers, and is predicted to stay obtainable even after the vacation season is up, so don’t fret about speeding by the remainder of the sport simply to play it.

Based on the PlayStation Weblog and the picture posted above, Winter Surprise will comprise tons of festive surprises for gamers to find. That features particular presents, in addition to unique, presumably Christmas-themed, Astro Bots for the participant to recruit and acquire.

Astro bot with a big beard, dressed as kratos from God of War holding an axe

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Astro Bot has bought over 1.5 million copies thus far, however the actually fascinating information revealed is that 37% of patrons are new Sony customers.

Not like sure different ranges, Winter Surprise is designed to be completely household pleasant – particularly, that it will not be as arduous as another Astro Bot ranges. Though the sport itself is completely PG (or extra particularly, E10+), Astro Bot has gained some notoriety for its problem, particularly in the case of earning the Platinum trophy. In the end, the purpose of this replace is to unfold vacation cheer with a enjoyable, inventive sequence of challenges, to not push gamers’ expertise to their absolute limits.

This is not the primary free DLC to return to Astro Bot, which has already had a pair runs of post-launch content material updates. Beforehand, Astro Bot devs Team Asobi put out five individual speedrun levels – one per week from October 17 to November 14. Every of those posed a novel problem, requiring gamers to optimize their methods to finish the extent as shortly as doable. These ranges got here together with ten new bots to unlock.

Our Take: Astro Bot Deserves Its GOTY Nomination

Astro Bot Is 2024’s Largest Shock

Whether or not or not you suppose it deserves to win, I believe we are able to all agree that Astro Bot‘s GOTY nomination is greater than deserved. If nothing else, it is probably the most inventive platformer to return out this yr, and plenty of enjoyable in addition. It is a worthwhile addition to any PlayStation 5 consumer’s assortment, a celebration of 30 years of fantastic, iconic PlayStation video games.

For a lot of, enjoying Astro Bot can also be a nostalgic expertise, and never simply due to all of the PlayStation character cameos. As a mascot-centered platformer, it seems like a sport from a bygone age, other than all of the flashy PS5 tech it exhibits off. It avoids most of the pitfalls of recent monetization, like battle passes and paid DLC. It prioritizes a cute, colourful, efficient artwork model over hyperrealism. And it is simply plain enjoyable, with none darkish patterns or pressured grinding.

The
Astro Bot
sequence started as a sequence of tech demos for PlayStation merchandise, starting with
The Playroom
, a launch title included with each PS4 bought.

And if all of the pleasant options it included at launch weren’t sufficient, Group Asobi continues to impress with the common addition of recent, free ranges, geared at introducing new methods to play the sport. For these causes amongst many others, Astro Bot deserves its laurels.

Supply: PlayStation Blog