PlayStation needs more games like Astro Bot and Lego Horizon Adventures

polygon.com:

After playing just 15 minutes of the adorable and smartly designed Astro Bot on PlayStation 5 as part of a Sony preview event earlier in July, I thought to myself, “Why aren’t there more PlayStation games like this?”

My initial reaction to Astro Bot is meant as a compliment to developer Team Asobi, the Tokyo-based team behind the similarly great Astro Bot: Rescue Mission and Astro’s Playroom, which Astro Bot builds upon.

Like Astro’s previous games, I played as the glossy white-and-blue robot who can jump, punch, and shoot beams from his feet, which act like jet propulsors. Across the various planets I visit, I acquire power-ups that grant Astro different abilities, letting him float through the air, throw extended punches, or burst through walls. Astro’s abilities aren’t complicated, but the smartly designed levels in Astro’s games are full of blind spots that hide secrets and pathways leading to collectible tchotchkes.

I wound up spending 45 minutes with the new Astro Bot game, scratching the itch that comes from knowing there were hidden goodies and cleverly tucked-away robots I needed to rescue. I walked away delighted by what Team Asobi had made: a blue sky game with bright yellow suns that felt like playing with a shiny new toy. Almost everything I interacted with — giant inflatable duckies, pink-leafed trees, a robot stingray — reacted to my touch in pleasing ways. I unzipped a big zipper on an octopus balloon, finding glowing treasure inside that let Astro turn into an inflated balloon himself. I jumped on that swimming stingray bot and my character did a little surfing pose. I thwacked a giant octopus boss with a pair of spring-loaded boxing gloves. Classic video game stuff that I’m looking forward to playing more of when the game arrives in September.

Astro Bot also immediately felt familiar. Controlling Astro in his new game seems nearly identical to the Astro’s Playroom that shipped with the PS5. Like that launch freebie, Astro Bot showcases what the