Astro Botis full of surprises. But you probably already knew that. Team Asobi’s platformer is a smile-a-minute masterpiece whereevery new PlayStation cameo, creative power-up, and inventive boss battle is a reason to punch the air in triumph. But despite knowing so much of this history and naively believing it wouldn’t be able to catch me out, I’m still blown away.
Much of that amazement comes from the Crash Site, a hub area where all your rescued bots gather to hang out, performing bespoke animations after you gift them items from the nearby Gatcha Lab. They are beautifully animated and utterly adorable, and watching the area’s population fill out as you play is a constant delight. you’re able to also decorate your ship, discover new puzzle pieces and characters by using your bots to reach secret areas, and waste hours trying to find every single carefully placed easter egg.
And all of these are given so much more life once you discover the Safari Park. I had no idea what this area would entail. Obviously, it would have animals - it’s a safari - but would I stare at them before moving on? Would all the wild creatures I encountered across dozens of levels come to call this place home?
The truth is a little bit of everything. Upon walking in, you’ll see a handful of shiny blue markers on the ground that you can walk into to take pictures with the local wildlife. But these aren’t just solitary snapshots, it also unlocks a photo mode that can be accessed by pressing up on the D-pad at any time. It changes everything about Astro Bot.
I saw some screenshots taken by Stacey Henley inour excellent guides coverageand had a feeling there was a photo mode hiding in Astro Bot somewhere. Turns out I was right.
One thing I instantly admired about the photo mode present here is its simplicity. The shot is instantly focused on Astro Bot, centering around him whether you are fighting bad guys, in a jumping position, or simply sitting around. you may move the controller to adjust the framing or move the camera up and down using the shoulder buttons. There’s also an emote button to change Astro’s expression, but beyond that, all you need to do is snap until you can’t snap no more. Every picture I’ve taken so far looks amazing, and even if it doesn’t, it captures little bits of joy and whimsy in microcosm because Astro Bot feels so alive no matter what you’re doing.
I also love how it adds purpose to replaying levels outside of hoovering up the remaining bots or puzzle pieces. The cardboard cutouts that Astro can stick his head inside as a scene orients itself around him now reward the players with coins by using photo mode, which is bound to make the race for the Platinum one filled with distractions. It has a surprising lack of settings to fiddle with too, meaning you don’t need to fiddle with angles, lighting, or saturation to nail the perfect picture like so many other games require. Obviously, I won’t say no to an accomplished suite of virtual photography tools, but Astro Bot understands we want things to be snappy.
Every level is already colourful and varied enough that the photo mode is confident with its simplicity, centering on the joyous reactions of our titular character and nothing more. I first thought it was strange to lock photo mode behind an arbitrary wall of progression because I wouldn’t bother using it when the time came because half of the game was already over, but it only made me appreciate things so much more. I can take pictures with the touch of a few buttons and they, for the most part, look incredible. Not sinceGhost of Tsushimahave I been so enamoured with a mechanic like this, because it complements everything the base game is trying to accomplish.
Astro Bot is already stuffed full of nostalgic memories, and now it has given me the tools to make even more of these moments, all through a photo mode that might not arrive until we’re already on the home stretch. It screams confidence and creativity in ways that few modern games do.
