I wonder if the success of Astro Bot is enough for Playstation to consider letting Team Asobi work on different projects again. Cough, Cough, Gravity Rush.
That's the dream. That Japan studios closing down doesn't mean their IPs get traded in purely for Astro. But GR will probably never get another sequel, it just never got popular enough
I think the way the bots evolved is an interesting story, nobody expected them to rise as much as they did but I'm kind of glad for it (even if we lost Japan Studio in the process, what the fuck).
Ah man, really enjoyed Rescue Mission on PSVR 1. Still pissed that there wasn't a VR option for the new Astro Bot game. As much as I've enjoyed his previous iterations, I'm a bit skeptical of his ability to truly be the face of Playstation. Astro Bot himself lacks a distinct identity, mainly since he's pretty much limited to squeaks and gestures and dumb little dances; all of which are also done by the other bots in his universe. Maybe if they put him in a different setting where there weren't hundreds of other similar bots he'd feel a bit more unique? Even still, it would be a tough task to get audiences to bond with a character that can't talk imo. It's been done, but the challenge is real.
There's enough problems with porting over the new astro game to VR that I understand why they didn't do it. Rescue mission integrated motion controls into all the abilities and hid bots specifically in a way that works for a person in VR to physically look around for them. If AB was in VR it would just be like watching it on a big ass screen, and it's not like it's first person also which can help with immersion. I think the choice makes sense personally There are definitely still questions about the characters ability to be that mascot though, i agree. It's clear that's what they want him to be/what he is right now, but I agree that his design is a little too "default character" and the bots all looking like him doesn't help. But the foundations of the world/level style they have and the clear love for platformers it shows (plus the great use of the ps5 controller) is such a solid foundation that I think they can do a gradual pivot into a more standalone character and pull it off well. They have a talented team and I deciding to give them the benefit of the doubt
Astro Bot is closer to what personality cores are to Valve than what Mario is to nintendo. If you want to stay within the realm of nintendo you could say Astro Bot is Sonys Cpt.McCloud.
I think the new astro bot could've pulled a couple things to make it 100% standalone with no references and still been a super fun game in contention for GOTY. The other IP stuff is fun but not what makes it great imo. The question is, will they ever actually make that separation? Or will they always tie him to other playstation stuff in some way?
