Each of them can be completed in around a minute or less and there’s a leaderboard to see how you stack up. Without spoiling anything, Astro’s Playroom essentially takes place inside the inner workings of a PS5 console. Each of the four main zones are themed after hardware concepts such as the SSD Speedway and the Cooling Springs. Cooling Springs for example is chocked full of various PS3 models, the PS Sharp Shooter gun, the PSP, Vita, and so on. Luckily, Sony seems intent on reliving their past in more than one way with the launch of the PS5. Puzzle Pieces 4/4 – In the area with the stomping television, use the two clouds by the checkpoint to jump on top of it when it’s on the ground, then jump to the puzzle piece when it’s in the air.

Before jumping into any of the locales (all of which are just a simple animation away, with no loading screens in between), the portal to each world features the type of terrain you’ll primarily encounter. So, before hopping into Cooling Springs, there’s a small pool for Astro to splash around in, or ahead of SSD Speedway, I can stomp around the mechanical mesh platforms that will blanket the upcoming levels. They’re the most subtle uses of the DualSense, but it’s a nice way to set the scene. Astro’s Playroom is a 2020 platform game developed by Japan Studio‘s Team Asobi division and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 5. A sequel to Astro Bot Rescue Mission, the game comes pre-installed on every console, serving additionally as a free tech demo for the DualSense controller.

For starters, the load times are super-fast thanks to the SSD so getting into and out of levels never has you waiting. Even better is that if you find that you missed some collectibles and want to go back to get them then pulling up the Activities menu will give you options to instantly jump to where you need to go. The game runs at a full 4K resolution and a smooth 60fps as well and it makes great use of its color palette and lighting.

Cooling Springs Special Bot – Bot Beach Location

Artifact 1/2 “PS One LCD Monitor” – Continue along that path to the end where the group of bots are and pull the wires on the ground to reveal this artifact. Puzzle Piece 1/4 – Once in the main area where you are rolling around as a ball, this puzzle piece is underneath a bridge to the left. Puzzle Piece 2/4 – You will progress through a path of electrified mines to a checkpoint. From TG88 of continuing upwards, follow the path of coins down to the right to enter another asteroid with this puzzle piece inside. Puzzle Piece 4/4 – After landing from the above hang glider section, go to the back left of the platform and drop down to find a lower area with this puzzle piece. Puzzle Piece 3/4 – In the third hang glider section you will need to avoid a number of mines that appear in the air.

Cool Boarders was one of the most popular PS1 games, spawning four sequels. In the PlayStation Labo area is a Bot sadly trying to make sense of a pile of shapes. This is referencing PS4 launch title Knack, released in 2013 and developed by SCE Japan Studio. The shapes are what Knack is made of, and he was designed to showcase the power of the PlayStation 4 by being made up of thousands of objects.

Astro’s Playroom makes the case that the DualSense Controller is the best in all gaming. It perfectly showcases the capabilities of the device in fun and engaging ways. From the moment you boot up the demo, the game takes you through the DualSense. It takes you through the vibration, adaptive triggers, touchpad, motion sensor and microphone. As spotted by Twitter user realradec, Astro’s Playroom received an update for February 2025 that added the PS5 Pro as an artifact. In Astro’s Playroom, players can obtain “Artifacts” from a gacha machine that unlocks collectible PlayStation products.

Right next to the PS + easter egg are two Bots next to eight blue shopping bags. The shopping bag is the icon of the PlayStation Store that launched in 2006, allowing PlayStation Network members to buy digital goods such as games, add-on content, console themes and even game soundtracks. One of the unlockable displays in the Gatcha Game is a house-shaped outline, which gets you the “Honey, I’m Home!

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You can explore all these items in the PlayStation Lago, a hub area of everything you collect. It’s a lot of fun to scale up these objects, and each one has a cool animation. Granted, it’s only a startup noise or something getting popped open. You can tell how much love Team Asobi put into this celebration of PlayStation. You become entranced with all the functions, but it doesn’t stop there. So many little details throughout Astro’s Playroom make the DualSense exciting.

The final Astro’s Playroom update for all four special bots is out now, and the DLC can be carried over to Astro Bot when it launches on Friday, September 6, for the PS5. The special bots are from Bloodborne, Returnal, Gran Turismo, and Ape Escape. At its most basic, Astro’s Playroom is a fairly straightforward platforming game. You play as a cute little robot named Astro, exploring four different worlds set in a universe that appears to exist inside of a computer. You’ll collect coins, stomp on enemies, and poke around in search of secrets. There are boss battles and one-off sequences, like one where you have to pilot a small spaceship through dangerous caverns, or another where you use a bow to pick off faraway enemies.

Series of trivia games for the PlayStation 2 and 3, with over eighteen games released between 2005 and 2010. The first PS3 Buzz, Quick TV, introduced a wireless version of the Buzz Controller. The PlayStation 2 Memory Card holds 8 MB of storage, eight times more than the original’s, and abandoned the blocks system so that saves could be whatever size they needed to. It could also store PS1 saves on it if copied over (which Suikoden III took advantage of), although PS1 games would not be able to detect them. Interestingly, the disc in Astro’s Playroom has a blue back, which was used for PS2 games that were small enough to fit on a CD-ROM, the format used by the original PlayStation. Throughout the worlds of Astro’s Playroom, you’ll encounter small animals like Rabbits, Squirrels, Crabs and even Toucans.

This is a great game to play with the family, not only as a demo of the new controller but as a game that will hold your attention for a considerable time. Also, because of the different skills required, you may find a wider audience of players than usual platform games. In the game, you control your little character as he jumps, dodges and explores his way around the levels. Unlike other platform games, this has a trick up its sleeve in the form of the DualSense controller’s ability to let you feel your way around levels. A number of special bots were added to Astro’s Playroom in the months leading up to the release of Astro Bot. Astro’s Playroom first launched in 2020 as a pre-installed PS5 exclusive that highlighted the DualSense controller’s features.

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Finally, the controller also has a built-in microphone so that it can be used for game and party chats. Codenamed Project Neo, the PlayStation 4 was the first mid-generation hardware revision that added significant amounts of power compared to earlier models. It used custom hardware that supported streamlined rendering techniques for better performance, or increased resolutions via checkerboard rendering. Curiously, playback of Ultra-HD Blu-Rays would not appear until the PlayStation 5.

This is taken from the PlayStation Eye for PS3, which is itself unlockable in the Bot Beach level of Cooling Springs. In the PlayStation Labo area below the entryway is a device that lets you view all your Artefacts up close. The device is a PocketStation, a peripheral for the PS1 that was part Memory Card. Sold exclusively in Japan to popular demand, it could also be used for extra functionality in games such as Final Fantasy VIII and Monster Ranch.

Prince of Persia is a 1989 cinematic platform game developed and published by Broderbund for the Apple II. Taking place in medieval Persia, players control an unnamed protagonist who must venture through a series of dungeons to defeat the evil Grand Vizier Jaffar and save an imprisoned princess. The little robot that couldSince this is a free pack-in game there is no deliberation required on whether or not you should buy Astro’s Playroom — you’ve already got access to it for free if you own a PS5. The question is should you play it and the answer is a resounding yes if you’ve ever found yourself nostalgic for PlayStation as a brand or if you enjoy 3D platformers.

With an experience like this, it’s no wonder that Astro Bot has a devoted following so much that a full-length game is coming soon. If you haven’t played this gem, enjoy the pinnacle PS5 experience. Having the rewards be items that we grew up with tugs nostalgic heartstrings — and each model is rendered perfectly. The PSP reward is so detailed that it feels like Team Asobi could have placed your old childhood PSP into the game.