PlayStation leak sends good news to fans of adorable robots

Rumors suggest Sony could announce a new Astro Bot game for the PlayStation 5 in the next two weeks.

According to reliable leaker billbil-kun and website Dealabs, the developers of Astro’s Playroom, Team Asobi, are developing a new game in the Astro Bot series and will be ready to announce it in the coming fortnight. The leaker is also the source of Days of Play imagery that includes the bot.

The leak suggests that not only will the game at least partially take place in a desert area, but one of the new characters will be a fennec fox robot. We’re picturing absurdly big ears.

The game, which is apparently titled simply Astro Bot, has not been confirmed by Team Asobi. But the studio has hinted at its next project both on its official website, where they say they’re hard at work on their “most ambitious game yet.”

Other clues can be found in job listings past and present. One posting currently live says that they need a programmer to “Create advanced and fun gameplay mechanics around physics engine and related techniques,” suggesting that the fun, tight platforming we saw in Astro’s Playroom is something they are looking to repeat.

An older post, no longer up but reported in IGN at the time was looking for a game designer to “make a variety of levels for a 3D action game, each providing great tempo and creative situations.” So we can relatively safely speculate that movement, physics, and tempo will be the core mechanics – layer that on top of the leaked desert level info and the fennec fox robot, and this game is surely one to be looking out for.

According to Dealabs, the game is intended to be a PlayStation 5 exclusive and will not be released for other consoles, or for PS VR2.

Astro debuted with 2018’s Astro Bot Rescue Mission, which was designed to showcase the then-new PlayStation VR. The character reached breakout hit status with Astro’s Playroom, a free title given to all PlayStation 5 owners, when that console launched in 2020. That game was designed to show off the new DualSense controller and how its capabilities could be incorporated into gameplay. 

Astro’s Playroom was widely regarded as a huge success — also very few games have come close to making good on the promises Sony made when they showed off with this masterful game. Sony recognizes the potential of its unique DualSense controller and includes it frequently in the update schedule for the console.

Featured image credit: Sony

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