The Breaker Times

Astro Bot is a game I cannot help but to evangelize, raving about its cute characters, its bright and varied level design, and its short but dense 8–10 hour runtime. But perhaps the biggest element contributing to the game’s joyousness is its sound design, which makes Astro Bot something that engages and delights more than just your mind but your body as well.

Astro Bot had me hooked before the game even started. I left my PS5 running on the game’s preload screen and was simultaneously soothed by calming bell tones and thrilled because the song conveyed a sense of imminent wonder. It sounded like something that would play in the opening sequence of a children’s movie, letting you know that an adventure was on the way. Music has a tendency to distract me as I’m working, but I let it play for hours because listening to it felt that good.

The music in the game itself is also banger after banger. I cannot get enough of hearing Astro sing in his little robot voice, “I am Astro Bot!” His theme song is bouncy and happy and seems immune to the pitfalls typical of music geared toward a younger audience. “Baby Shark” is only cute the first couple of times you hear it, but I could listen to “I Am Astro Bot” on a loop and it would never get old. “Astro,” with its funky beat, is another song on my endless repeat playlist. Each level has its own song appropriate to its theme, but every so often, “Astro” will play, and I giggle longer and louder in those levels than anywhere else. I need this soundtrack on Spotify yesterday.

Astro Bot’s incredible soundtrack is only half of the equation. The game also makes phenomenal use of the DualSense controller. As Astro moved about, I could hear the soft swish of grass or the hard clang of metal underfoot. The ability to hear environmental sounds emanating from the controller is not particularly new for the PS5, but what astonished me about Astro Bot was the sheer depth, detail, and quality of those sounds that made me feel like I could perceive texture. In one level, the sound and feedback from bouncing on a regular trampoline was so subtly different from what I felt bouncing on a hot air balloon that I could almost feel the texture of the nylon. In another, I could feel the rain pelting Astro’s metal body with a hard clink. But suddenly that sound softened and muffled with a light whumpf when Astro automatically deployed his umbrella. It felt like I was the one who hit the button on a real umbrella to do it.

Perhaps the most magical thing about Astro Bot is the depth with which sound and the controller enhanced my perception of the game. Astro’s Playroom incorporated a lot of these same elements and developer Team Asobi enhanced them greatly for the sequel. The controller acts as a bridge between the game world and the real one. I was delighted when I’d fiddle with the sticks or the buttons and those actions were mirrored on the controller in the game. When Astro rescues another bot, they get stored for safekeeping within the onscreen controller. But when I put my ear to my DualSense, I can hear their muffled little squeals, and when I shake it, the controller subtlely rumbles as though those little suckers are actually in your hand. 

The worlds in Astro Bot are colorful and fantastical places but, through the player’s suspension of disbelief, are nevertheless entirely real. As I played, absorbing the sounds coming out of my controller, I had a revelation. Of course, there are logs of wood in the gardening world, but when I hit them, they made the distinct hollow noise that comes from striking two Lincoln Logs together. It made me realize that there are two games going on in Astro Bot. In one, I’m a little robot rescuing my friends. But in the other, I’m actually just playing with toys.