Astro Bot isn't the franchise I think of when I think of the PlayStation version of Mario, but after playing the demo for a few hours, this is it.

The Astro Bot demo I played at Evo 2024 was a real surprise. Seeing Astro Bot at an event like Evo, which normally only shows off upcoming fighting games, was a treat, especially since Sony’s charming platformer had intrigued me since it was first revealed in late May. The Astro Bot series has always been a love letter to the PlayStation IP, celebrating the console’s history and games from the past two decades under the guise of a pretty fun platformer.

When I played the demo, I didn't expect to come out of it thinking Astro Bot would be the game of the year.

The demo was a small sample of a gigantic game. We were given access to a sprawling galactic world map with many planets scattered across it (a bit like Super Mario Galaxy 2), but we could only unlock five of them. Each planet was a unique world, with its own themed level to complete and collectibles to find. Three of the worlds involved traversing a typical 3D platforming level until you reached a boss at the end, while two were challenge maps, testing you to complete the entire course in one go without respawn points.