Astro Bot is a great game, but it leaves a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. This comes after Sony closed their Japan studios, and comes out the SAME WEEK Concord is thrown in the trash. The game reminds you constantly that Sony used to push out dozens of small, unique, and memorable games every year for the PS1 and PS2. Meanwhile the PS5 gets one or two exclusives a year, like, again, Concord. Am I alone in this feeling, or do any of you mirror my thoughts that this is just making you dream of better consoles?
I definitely share the same feelings. When I first saw the reveal trailer for Astro Bot I was like "Oh sweet! Another free game! Loved the last one!". Upon hearing that it was paid and not even going to launch on ps plus, I was pretty confused and it was off-putting. After playing it I did end up easing on the criticism as the game is genuinely incredible but it still had me raising my eyebrow a few times lol. Is the ps5 in the hubworld area singing about it's SSD? Yeah okay Sony lol. It's weird cause super smash bros does do blatant fan service like Astro Bot does (maybe not AS blatant lol) but it feels different there and I'm not sure why. Me unlocking a JPEG of an Arms character in smash ult doesn't feel weird but me rescuing Ratchet and Clank does. That might just be me.
I definitely had the same bittersweet taste in my mouth though. Seeing characters from all the truely inventive and unique games that I've played over the years really did make me appreciate Sony and how great their consoles were only for me to be saddened right afterwards that almost all of them will never be seen in a new game again. Ive never played an ape escape game before. It's level in Astro bot I found was really fun and I found myself wanting to actually go play an ape escape game for the first time. Where do I go though? I guess I'll play the psp version from 15 years ago? So many moments in this game had me thinking this way and it genuinely bummed me out. It felt like I was attending an open casket funeral at times. YES! I know Kat from Gravity Rush is in this game Astro Bot! Please stop making me look at her! You'll only make me sad again! Again, I love the game but idk... sometimes I felt like a pessimistic old man dreaming of better days playing it and I ain't even that old lol
I’ll be honest, as much as I like the Astro series (platinumed the last two!) the PlayStation worship in it makes me feel a little icky considering how some of these series were treated in reality. Astro is a great mascot for PlayStation but tone it down a bit geez.
This is probably the most fun platformer to come out in years but as long as the technical movement in it is still lacking I can’t compare it to something like a Mario Odyssey.
This is a really interesting point. Astrobot seems to be heavy on the graphics from the videos and reviews. It feels like an apt comparison might be Tinykin where it doesn't have a ton of cool movement ideas but the actual puzzles and ideas very so much where as Mario is all about movement and less about the puzzle and graphics
Hey, in honor of next week's episode I was wondering if you all had ever given the Steam Interactive Recommender a try to find some more niche games?
It's a really cool tool that gives you sliders for popularity and age, while also letting you add tags filters and exclusions. If I'm ever in the mood for a certain type of game I'll usually go there and add a tag filter and crank it all the way to niche to find some cool indie games I might never have heard of otherwise.
Also, just want to give a shout out to a trilogy of games I found this way, all made by Enigma Studios, which is really just some dude in Ireland. They're all experimental analogue horror games with an incredible story and interesting narrative design to blend it with the gameplay. The games (in order) are "The Enigma Machine", "Mothered", and "Echostasis". PS- if you play these games, lock them to 60 FPS in your GPU control panel because there are some high framerate bugs.
Justin commented on Astro Bot saying "it's just fun because it's fun", rather than gameplay that may be fun, but it's a grind for leveling needs or shiny skins. I've recently realized I don't want to grind in video games—I don't have the time or patience. What are some more games that are just non-stop fun for fun sake. Shorter the game, the better. Thanks!
If you haven’t played the Turnip Boy games, you should. They’re relatively short, super funny, and have a fun art style. You could grind for every cosmetic if you want but you really don’t need to.
The first one is more of an adventure game and the second is a rogue like dungeon crawler (basically). Which I think it’s cool that the sequel is a different genre.
I get it, Sony. It's a premium console made for super fans of the brand. The problem is, never in history has a console's MSRP gone UP in the four years after its launch. Because of that, you can't sell me the PS5 Pro for the $500 MSRP it should be because you can't compete with yourself in the hardware space. Inflation sucks for everyone, and those parts are still very pricy. How about giving me a year of PS Premium on the house to sweeten the deal? I mean - it's an all-digital machine after all...
I've always been a console gamer moreso than PC, and a large part of that is that I don't want to have to worry about whether all my components are up to snuff to run, I just want to buy my game, insert the disc (or your digital equivalent), and have the shit WORK...and for a long time, consoles offered that. It seems like we're starting to get towards a situation where it's more akin to, "well, it can *technically* run this game, but optimally you will have the PS5 V2.6 edition to really make it hum" and that's a giant bummer.
I have a decent gaming pc set up and it wouldn’t play Indigo Park. I was like bro there is no reason this indie horror game that’s mostly in the dark needs to be this heavy in the graphics.
Astro Bot ended up being something special for my wife and I. Not only was it a fantastic fun experience all around (a short game like this was a nice breath of fresh air) but as someone who grew up on playstations, the pandering was done in a way that actually felt quite good. My wife wasn’t big into playstation growing up so as we were unlocking characters, I’d get to nerd out over the various series they came from with her and we’d watch clips of the games they came from. It ended up being more than just a good game, it became a pretty good bonding experience
I bought a PS5 in June knowing full well that there was a Pro announcement on the horizon (zero dawn).
I'm not disappointed. $700 and no disc drive? I know consoles are going completely digital but they'll have to drag me into that dark future kicking and screaming.
I use to be the complete opposite of this; when I bought my Series S, it was due in part to the fact that I imagined a future where all games are digital, and I'm not a graphics snob, so I figured, "why get the series X"?
But now, seeing what media companies are doing with movies and TV shows, where they take them off of services completely and some pieces of media are just not available anywhere (legally), it has pushed me back towards buying physical media.
Continuing Russ's logic in my own way, I think astro bot is one of the best "collectathons" i've played, but not platformer. This game is really good, but the movement options pale in comparison to a Mario Odyssey (among others) and the precision and design of the platforming levels themselves don't hold a match to the Celestes of the world in my humble opinion. However, it is so so fun to collect everything in the game, whereas collecting everything in a banjo kazooie, donkey kong country, or mario game can be absolutely miserable at points
I’m losing my mind because we randomized a movie and got Blow Out. My wife and I thought it was weird we never heard of it. Got most of the way through last night… cannot believe this was brought up.
Hey Besties! Have you checked out Satisfactory? It is a first-person factory builder that I cannot stop playing. It has been around in early access for years now, but just launched 1.0 this month. It pairs satisfying factory building with world exploration in a joyful way. Would love to hear your thoughts on the game.
I know Griffin mentioned loving Scavengers Reign a while ago so wanted to come in and recommend Pantheon. It was an AMC+ show but they scrapped it after its completion and the only way to watch it is VPN… or 🏴☠️yarr. Regardless it’s one of the best animated TV shows and pieces of Sci Fi I’ve seen in a while. Please watch it, it deserves so much
Astro Bot is a great game, but it leaves a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. This comes after Sony closed their Japan studios, and comes out the SAME WEEK Concord is thrown in the trash. The game reminds you constantly that Sony used to push out dozens of small, unique, and memorable games every year for the PS1 and PS2. Meanwhile the PS5 gets one or two exclusives a year, like, again, Concord. Am I alone in this feeling, or do any of you mirror my thoughts that this is just making you dream of better consoles?
I definitely share the same feelings. When I first saw the reveal trailer for Astro Bot I was like "Oh sweet! Another free game! Loved the last one!". Upon hearing that it was paid and not even going to launch on ps plus, I was pretty confused and it was off-putting. After playing it I did end up easing on the criticism as the game is genuinely incredible but it still had me raising my eyebrow a few times lol. Is the ps5 in the hubworld area singing about it's SSD? Yeah okay Sony lol. It's weird cause super smash bros does do blatant fan service like Astro Bot does (maybe not AS blatant lol) but it feels different there and I'm not sure why. Me unlocking a JPEG of an Arms character in smash ult doesn't feel weird but me rescuing Ratchet and Clank does. That might just be me.
I definitely had the same bittersweet taste in my mouth though. Seeing characters from all the truely inventive and unique games that I've played over the years really did make me appreciate Sony and how great their consoles were only for me to be saddened right afterwards that almost all of them will never be seen in a new game again. Ive never played an ape escape game before. It's level in Astro bot I found was really fun and I found myself wanting to actually go play an ape escape game for the first time. Where do I go though? I guess I'll play the psp version from 15 years ago? So many moments in this game had me thinking this way and it genuinely bummed me out. It felt like I was attending an open casket funeral at times. YES! I know Kat from Gravity Rush is in this game Astro Bot! Please stop making me look at her! You'll only make me sad again! Again, I love the game but idk... sometimes I felt like a pessimistic old man dreaming of better days playing it and I ain't even that old lol
Sackboy ran so Astrobot could walk
Any plans on talking about Space Marine 2 that just came out?
Hoping to before the end of the year!
The most fun co-op experience I have had this year!
I’ll be honest, as much as I like the Astro series (platinumed the last two!) the PlayStation worship in it makes me feel a little icky considering how some of these series were treated in reality. Astro is a great mascot for PlayStation but tone it down a bit geez.
This is probably the most fun platformer to come out in years but as long as the technical movement in it is still lacking I can’t compare it to something like a Mario Odyssey.
This is a really interesting point. Astrobot seems to be heavy on the graphics from the videos and reviews. It feels like an apt comparison might be Tinykin where it doesn't have a ton of cool movement ideas but the actual puzzles and ideas very so much where as Mario is all about movement and less about the puzzle and graphics
Hey, in honor of next week's episode I was wondering if you all had ever given the Steam Interactive Recommender a try to find some more niche games?
It's a really cool tool that gives you sliders for popularity and age, while also letting you add tags filters and exclusions. If I'm ever in the mood for a certain type of game I'll usually go there and add a tag filter and crank it all the way to niche to find some cool indie games I might never have heard of otherwise.
Also, just want to give a shout out to a trilogy of games I found this way, all made by Enigma Studios, which is really just some dude in Ireland. They're all experimental analogue horror games with an incredible story and interesting narrative design to blend it with the gameplay. The games (in order) are "The Enigma Machine", "Mothered", and "Echostasis". PS- if you play these games, lock them to 60 FPS in your GPU control panel because there are some high framerate bugs.
Justin commented on Astro Bot saying "it's just fun because it's fun", rather than gameplay that may be fun, but it's a grind for leveling needs or shiny skins. I've recently realized I don't want to grind in video games—I don't have the time or patience. What are some more games that are just non-stop fun for fun sake. Shorter the game, the better. Thanks!
If you haven’t played the Turnip Boy games, you should. They’re relatively short, super funny, and have a fun art style. You could grind for every cosmetic if you want but you really don’t need to.
Are they platformers? I’ve always got a fun vibe from their store pages but never actually looked at what they are lol
The first one is more of an adventure game and the second is a rogue like dungeon crawler (basically). Which I think it’s cool that the sequel is a different genre.
I get it, Sony. It's a premium console made for super fans of the brand. The problem is, never in history has a console's MSRP gone UP in the four years after its launch. Because of that, you can't sell me the PS5 Pro for the $500 MSRP it should be because you can't compete with yourself in the hardware space. Inflation sucks for everyone, and those parts are still very pricy. How about giving me a year of PS Premium on the house to sweeten the deal? I mean - it's an all-digital machine after all...
That PS Pro situation is nasty work.
I've always been a console gamer moreso than PC, and a large part of that is that I don't want to have to worry about whether all my components are up to snuff to run, I just want to buy my game, insert the disc (or your digital equivalent), and have the shit WORK...and for a long time, consoles offered that. It seems like we're starting to get towards a situation where it's more akin to, "well, it can *technically* run this game, but optimally you will have the PS5 V2.6 edition to really make it hum" and that's a giant bummer.
I have a decent gaming pc set up and it wouldn’t play Indigo Park. I was like bro there is no reason this indie horror game that’s mostly in the dark needs to be this heavy in the graphics.
Why aren't there more break dancing games? I had one on my Commodore 64. What will Rachael "RayGun" Gunn's pro-Breaker be like?
Astro Bot ended up being something special for my wife and I. Not only was it a fantastic fun experience all around (a short game like this was a nice breath of fresh air) but as someone who grew up on playstations, the pandering was done in a way that actually felt quite good. My wife wasn’t big into playstation growing up so as we were unlocking characters, I’d get to nerd out over the various series they came from with her and we’d watch clips of the games they came from. It ended up being more than just a good game, it became a pretty good bonding experience
I bought a PS5 in June knowing full well that there was a Pro announcement on the horizon (zero dawn).
I'm not disappointed. $700 and no disc drive? I know consoles are going completely digital but they'll have to drag me into that dark future kicking and screaming.
I use to be the complete opposite of this; when I bought my Series S, it was due in part to the fact that I imagined a future where all games are digital, and I'm not a graphics snob, so I figured, "why get the series X"?
But now, seeing what media companies are doing with movies and TV shows, where they take them off of services completely and some pieces of media are just not available anywhere (legally), it has pushed me back towards buying physical media.
Yi Yi is my favorite movie of all time.
Shout out to the Phantom Menace poster in the train station scene.
Continuing Russ's logic in my own way, I think astro bot is one of the best "collectathons" i've played, but not platformer. This game is really good, but the movement options pale in comparison to a Mario Odyssey (among others) and the precision and design of the platforming levels themselves don't hold a match to the Celestes of the world in my humble opinion. However, it is so so fun to collect everything in the game, whereas collecting everything in a banjo kazooie, donkey kong country, or mario game can be absolutely miserable at points
I’m losing my mind because we randomized a movie and got Blow Out. My wife and I thought it was weird we never heard of it. Got most of the way through last night… cannot believe this was brought up.
Hey Besties! Have you checked out Satisfactory? It is a first-person factory builder that I cannot stop playing. It has been around in early access for years now, but just launched 1.0 this month. It pairs satisfying factory building with world exploration in a joyful way. Would love to hear your thoughts on the game.
I know Griffin mentioned loving Scavengers Reign a while ago so wanted to come in and recommend Pantheon. It was an AMC+ show but they scrapped it after its completion and the only way to watch it is VPN… or 🏴☠️yarr. Regardless it’s one of the best animated TV shows and pieces of Sci Fi I’ve seen in a while. Please watch it, it deserves so much