Astro’s Playroom is my first PS5 Platinum Trophy… and my biggest surprise on the console yet. That’s because Astro’s exudes a level of passion, love, and quality that is rarely seen. I am not generally a platformer player — I love RPGs and action-adventures — but after finishing the game, I felt compelled to send a thank you e-mail to the developers, the Japan-based Team Asobi — still waiting for a reply, guys!
My point here is to encourage you to give this outstanding title a chance as it comes pre-loaded with your PS5. No additional purchase is required, and you can always download it for free. You have no excuse. It is really a celebration of all things PlayStation.
If I were to review the game today, I would give it as close to a 10 as possible. The challenge is the game is short and functions as mostly a tech demo for the PS5. Nonetheless, Team Asobi is currently working on its biggest game to date. Who knows, maybe my Christmas wish for a full-length Astrobot game may come true after all. 
Love
Astro’s Playroom features the most extensive love letter I’ve ever seen to PlayStation’s storied history. And I really mean everything is here, from consoles like the PS1 to PS5, to handhelds like the Vita, to all the cool — and gimmicky — peripherals, to the PS exclusives that are presented in funny recreations by other Astrobots. Only someone with profound love and respect for PlayStation could’ve pulled this together in such a caring way.
Importantly, Astro’s Playroom reminded me why I have loved PlayStation titles and the consoles for so long. Titles I’ve forgotten, like Sly Cooper and Ico, suddenly re-appeared in my life, carefully and lovingly recreated by funny Astrobots. When I reached the PS3 level, I heard its startup theme again after many years. I went back in time in an instant to a place where games were a magical experience for a young player like me (they still are). Hearing that theme again reminded me of all the great experiences — Metal Gear Solid 4, GTA IV, Uncharted 2. The titles and memories kept coming back to me. It made me feel nostalgic and appreciative of all the history that PlayStation and I had built together. It may do the same to you.
Spectacle
Astro’s Playroom is built as a technical demo. This is meant to be your first foray into what the PS5 can do. The levels remind you of that, as each one is themed accordingly. We have SSD Speedway (with an incredibly catchy tune), CPU Plaza, GPU Jungle, and others. But these are not just buzzwords meant to impress you. The SSD Speedway puts to the test the PS5’s SSD, trying to prove a point to you — loading is now much faster than what we’ve ever been used to, or non-existent in the first place.
The DualSense controller integration is hands down the best example of what its haptic feedback and adaptive triggers can do. Walk across sand, and the controller recreates the coarse surface, walk through rain, and you will feel the droplets hitting Astrobot’s umbrella, get stuck in the mud, and the DualSense triggers will fight back with a pronounced sluggishness, and so on.
Because Astrobot gets put through several environments and situations, there is scope here to really showcase the new controller. As a result, Astro’s Playroom remains the standard of what the DualSense can do. Importantly, it demonstrates that the new controller technology is not a gimmick by any means. 
Fun
What is a game’s purpose if not to be fun? Luckily, Astro’s Playroom understands this very well. Aside from all the love, passion, and technical spectacle that goes into it, the game is just flat-out great to play. Astrobot is charming, and the movement here is effortless. The game is incredibly responsive to the DualSense inputs, with jumping and punching being especially satisfying. Nonetheless, the game will challenge you here and there. That’s because there is also a variety to the levels.
Each level takes you to places like a jungle where you get to climb using a monkey suit, to icy cold springs where you skate on ice, to space where you essentially fly using a rocket, etc. This variety, alongside its short playtime, makes for an incredibly fun Platinum experience. The framerate is also a smooth 60 fps at a native 4K with no bugs in sight. It is one of the prettiest, most polished, and most fun experiences on the console… and it made me want even more. If you like fun, there is really nothing to complain about here.
Past and future
To me, Astro’s Playroom is PlayStation’s past and its future. Team Asobi reminded us (and hopefully Sony management) of the generational passion, love, and hard work that went into making PlayStation a household name. History must be respectfully preserved, and Astro’s Playroom does precisely that. At the same time, the game brings this history to the future through its next-gen presentation. Three years have passed since the PS5 launched, and no other game has utilized all of the DualSense bells and whistles like Astro’s. No other game so far has recaptured that magic of gaming and rekindling with my own history.
