While there’s a way to go before Summer ends, the Fall season is fast approaching, which means exclusives like Team Asobi’s Astro Bot. As the team’s first title since Astro’s Playroom, it’s a big adventure with over 80 levels, more than 300 Bots to rescue, and a larger scale. However, regarding playtime, creative director and studio head Nicolas Doucet revealed that it’s 12 to 15 hours long.
Speaking to Julien Chièze on YouTube (translation via DeepL), Doucet said optional activities could provide more hours of gameplay, but that’s not the focus. “It’s a game in which you collect a lot of characters… But that’s never really been the focus. We never said it absolutely has to be 20 to 30 hours of play.
“We want to really make a game in which the tempo is constant throughout and that each level is the same quality rather than having moments that are actually a little long.” Furthermore, if required, the team would reduce the game’s length to avoid repetition.
It’s reminiscent of Doucet’s statement to EDGE magazine, where the team initially thought of going open world. However opted for level-based structure since it provided the “most control over the game’s variety.” As such, those seeking more can take on Hard stages on top of finding all the Bots.
Astro Bot launches on September 6th for PS5. Its file size is roughly 66 GB, and even with all its content, Team Asobi will release free post-launch DLC. Check out our feature for more details.