Astros Playroom Review: A Stellar Showpiece For Ps5 & Dualsense Controller
The Bot with the staff is the Maiden in Black, a demon who uses souls collected by the player character to help them level up in the Nexus. Demon’s Souls got a PS5 remake in 2020 for the launch of the console. This references Concrete Genie, a 2019 PS4 game developed by Pixelopus. The main character Ash uses a paint brush that can bring his creations to life. When you get to the very end of the level, you’ll land on a Sacred Symbols rainbow bridge.
Ps Eye Camera
This version has the Circle, X and Options buttons, while the left-hand controller from before has the Square, Triangle and Create buttons. The follow-up to the original PS VR uses headset-mounted cameras rather than lights, and has a vibration motor. The interior display is four times the resolution of the original, and 3D audio adjusts with your head position. Eye tracking also allows for foveated rendering, where areas you aren’t looking at will not be given priority in order to optimize game performance. Vita Game Packs could also be used on the PlayStation TV, which meant it wasn’t a digital-only platform like the PSP Go was.
What’s so remarkable about Astro’s Playroom is that while it’s ostensibly about showing off the features of the PlayStation 5, it’s also a fabulous platformer. Levels constantly throw me new toys to play with that totally change the way the level plays. Later levels include a spaceship (with rockets powered by the adaptive triggers) and a rolling ball (controlled by swiping the touchpad on the DualSense), intermingled with platforming sequences. The smooth, 60-frames-per-second gameplay makes controlling Astro a real treat. While none of the sequences are terribly difficult, there’s enough of a challenge here to keep me busy for around six hours as I chase the Platinum Trophy. It doesn’t stop at the collectibles; some bots pay tribute to past icons.
Around the edge of the main hub area is where you will find the bots from Astro’s Playroom. These will appear automatically once they have been unlocked them; there is no specific importing process or menu screen to go through first. Upon touching the fourth starfish, you’ll come across the special bot, and the clue for the riddle — an arrow following a specific route. From the start, climb the first ledge, and instead of progressing on the critical path to the wall ahead, go through the grass on the left, and you’ll find a Bloodborne bot.
Playstation Now
Each trophy represents a unique moment or challenge, adding depth and replayability to this charming PlayStation 5 experience. 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. Puzzle Piece 1/4 – Right at the start of the level, cross the tightrope and jump across to reach this puzzle piece.
It also had space for a hard drive, which was required for some games, while others could use them for optional DLC or game installation to reduce load times, much like the PS3 would do. The last official servers, for Final Fantasy XI, were shut down on March 31st 2016. The use among games would vary, but it’s most influential game was Toro’s first game, Doko Demo Issyo in 1999, turning him into a PS1 mascot in Japan. Since Memory Cards were sold separately, many PlayStation 1 games (like Crash Bandicoot) offered a password system that allowed you to return to where you left off with all your progress. s8.com would later release a USB adapter to connect PS1 and PS2 Memory Cards to a PlayStation 3, even PS3s that couldn’t play those games. The PlayStation Memory Card acted as an interim between on-board cartridge memory and storing saves on a console’s internal storage (which the PlayStation lacked, outside of the RAM).
I can’t say I had very high expectations for Astro’s Playroom, a game that comes free with every PlayStation 5 console. I figured it might be a cute series of minigames, akin to the robot-themed minigames in the PlayStation 4’s pack-in title, The Playroom. That PS4 game was the sort of thing you boot up once, mess around with for 30 minutes, and then forget it exists. Been with gamepressure.com since 2019, mostly writing game guides but you can also find me geeking out about LEGO (huge collection, btw). Even with a ton of games, sometimes I just gotta fire up Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, KOTOR, or Baldur’s Gate 2 (Shadows of Amn, the OG, not that Throne of Bhaal stuff). When I’m not gaming, I’m probably painting miniatures or admiring my collection of retro consoles.
Most of them involve collectibles and completing specific parts of the story. Here are Metacritic’s 10 lowest-scoring video games released in 2025. The song “I Am Astro Bot [Playroom Remix],” which repeats the title and plays on the opening menu, is enough to make it a catchy earworm. While it’s not the game’s fault, it makes every exclusive PS5 game feel like it lacks DualSense exclusivity.
Astro & his crew lead you into a magical introduction through the PlayStation®5! In this fun platformer, explore 4 worlds based on the console’s components. Each area showcases innovative gameplay using the new features of the PS5 DualSense™ wireless controller.