Astro Bot Could’ve Been An Open-World Game

Highlights

• Team Asobi considered open-world design for Astro Bot, but ultimately chose a level-based approach, as it wanted to ensure the game had plenty of variety throughout.
• Astro Bot will offer over 80 levels and pay tribute to PlayStation’s rich gaming history with over 150 VIP bots.
• The upcoming platformer will still break the mold by being a fully-fledged experience, set to launch on September 6.

Astro Bot developer Team Asobi has revealed that it initially considered an open-world design approach for the upcoming 3D platformer. As the largest, most ambitious game in the series to date, Astro Bot has been making headlines for its simplistic yet densely packed level design that echoes Super Mario Odyssey. However, Team Asobi’s early discussions could’ve swayed the game’s structure in a starkly different direction.

Fans of the Astro Bot series were quite excited when Team Asobi unveiled its first full-length effort at PlayStation’s May State of Play. Prior to Astro Bot, the series was only featured in small tech demos and pack-in titles meant to show off PlayStation hardware. However, the upcoming Astro Bot title will finally break the mold as a charming, fully-fledged platformer that pays tribute to PlayStation’s rich lineage of games, while also standing out among the brand’s usual gritty action-adventure games.

Astro Bot marks PlayStation’s first revisit to level-based platformers from a dedicated first-party team since 2017’s Knack 2, but it could’ve strayed far away from that design philosophy. In a new interview with Edge Magazine, Astro Bot creative director Nicholas Doucet stated that during early discussions for the game’s design, Team Asobi briefly considered making it an open-world title. Ultimately, though, the studio went with “a level-based approach” as it allowed it to exact “the most control over the game’s variety.” Astro Bot is confirmed to offer over 80 levels at launch, which is on the higher end for a level-based platformer.

Team Asobi Considered an Open-World Design Approach for Astro Bot

While there are several great open-world platformers out there, Team Asobi clearly didn’t feel it would be the right fit for Astro Bot, and it may have been the right instinct. Every single Astro Bot title in the past has taken a level-based approach to its structure, and the resulting simplicity made them very popular with players who preferred fun and easygoing experiences. Sticking to that ethos was possibly Team Asobi’s best course of action, and the generally positive reception of Astro Bot might have validated that notion.

Additionally, Team Asobi decided to remain true to Astro Bot‘s referential nature with over 150 VIP bots based on characters from other PlayStation franchises, while also aiming to cleverly weave them into the game’s narrative itself. Interestingly, Doucet did remark in a prior interview that he could see a future where the Astro Bot series may not rely on the PlayStation references as much, which would be a hefty departure for the series, but one that should be interesting to see. For now, though, the studio is readying up Astro Bot for its September 6 launch.