Astro Bot Isn’t A Celebration, It’s A Graveyard

I’m as excited to play Astro Bot later this week as everyone else. Sony is bringing back the cutesy, simple platformer that’s all about vibes and gameplay first and foremost, finally injecting some variety into a library that has long grown oversaturated by cinematic narrative blockbusters. It’s a major step in the right direction, and one we should all be supporting to show that PlayStation is so much more than this one specific genre it has pigeonholed itself into over the last two console generations.

But Astro Bot isn’t just a cutesy platformer. It also pays homage to PlayStation’s rich history with appearances from icons of the genre like Jak & Daxter, as well as more contemporary favourites like Bloodborne. Fans are beyond thrilled that Sony is finally acknowledging these long-dormant properties, seeing Astro Bot as one big celebration of the past 30 years of PlayStation just in time for its anniversary, but all I see is a graveyard of wasted potential.

Let’s start with those two games. Bloodborne has been idle for nearly ten years with no sign of so much as a current-gen update, and the last Jak game is a 15-year-old, poorly-received PSP spin-off that wasn’t even developed by Naughty Dog. Finally paying tribute to the games that helped shape PlayStation across multiple generations is amazing to see, but it feels shallow in the wake of constant studio closures and layoffs — like Bloodborne co-developer Japan Studio — and while the focus remains on live-service games like the already axed Concord and cinematic adventures that take too long and too much to make.

With over 150 cameos, most will inevitably share similar stories to Bloodborne and Jak: long since abandoned games that have been pushed aside. Already, that feels more like a sombre reminder of what was than a cheery commemoration of what is.

Even a series like Ratchet & Clank, which received a sequel as recently as 2021, is a bitter reminder of the current state of Sony. Insomniac has locked itself into a decade of Marvel games, leaving no room for anything new or to finally tie the knot on dangling story threads for the next decade. The modern Sony is chasing trends, not innovation.

Walking through Astro Bot and ‘rescuing’ these PlayStation-ified droids will have a bitter irony to it. Fans finally have the agency to pull their favourites out from their shallow graves, but only for a brief appearance in one big crossover extravaganza. It’s hard not to feel cynical given what PlayStation has become.

The passion and appreciation from trailers alone is palpable; Team Asobi is putting meticulous care into honouring these legacy series. It’s endearing, even the cynicism can’t take away from that. But comparing it to Little Big Planet 3’s myriad crossovers from ten years ago shows a stark contrast. The context these games exist in couldn’t be more different.

With Little Big Planet 3, which itself had its online servers shuttered, wiping away swathes of PlayStation history, the Sackboy costumes felt like a celebratory coming together. It was an uplifting moment of all our favourites uniting, looking at the rich tapestry PlayStation had to offer while also bringing together fans of all different genres. With Astro Bot, it’s a bleak reminder of how good PlayStation used to be, and how it pushed so much of that talent aside in a desperate bid to earn the prestige and respect of film, while clambering to the unrealistic heights of titans like Fortnite.

I’ll be there day one, because outside of Ratchet & Clank, platformers have been all but forgotten by PlayStation and Astro Bot could finally break the mould. But the cameos that people are jumping with joy over feel hollow, because so many formative PlayStation classics are dead and buried.