Astro's Playroom (2020): The Review

Overview

Astro’s Playroom completely caught me off guard with how much joy and charm it packs into what’s essentially a tech showcase. Sure, it’s more of a sandbox tour designed to flaunt the PS5’s capabilities, but it’s filled with clever ideas, hidden collectibles, and brilliant DualSense moments that make it far more than just a demo. After endless hype about how the DualSense would revolutionize immersion, this little adventure actually delivers on that promise, turning every jump, vibration, and gust of wind into proof that the PS5’s new controller magic is real.

Score: 9.5 out of 10

The Positives ✅

For what’s technically a glorified tech demo, Astro’s Playroom packs an absurd amount of heart. It’s the best kind of surprise, the kind that sneaks up on you while you’re expecting nothing. What should’ve been a simple showcase for the DualSense controller ends up being one of the most joyful and creative platformers of the generation. It’s a celebration of everything PlayStation has ever been, wrapped up in the tight, charming world of a tiny robot. From the second Astro hops out of the CPU Plaza hub, every jump, spin, and punch becomes a playground for the DualSense’s many tricks, haptics, adaptive triggers, touchpad, motion sensors, and even its goofy little speaker.

Team Asobi clearly built Astro’s Playroom with the same love they poured into Astro Bot: Rescue Mission, only now the magic isn’t coming from VR immersion but from touch and feel. The DualSense brings the world to life, you can literally feel every raindrop, gust of wind, and surface texture through the controller. The difference between trudging through mud, skating on ice, or swimming through water isn’t just visual; it’s physical. The haptics don’t just rumble, they speak. Add in adaptive triggers that genuinely resist your press when pulling a bowstring or firing a paintball gun, and you’ve got a tactile symphony that makes every mechanic sing.

But the DualSense gimmicks would mean nothing without great design, and thankfully, Playroom is bursting with clever ideas. Each world, Cooling Springs, GPU Jungle, Memory Meadows, and SSD Speedway, feels distinct, blending fun level design with unique gimmicks like the springy frog suit, the spaceship suit that uses both triggers as thrusters, or the fan-favorite monkey climb that tests both patience and grip strength. Every mechanic feels fresh, every level is packed with detail, and the whole thing hums with that same joyful inventiveness that made Wii Sports so special. Then there’s the love letter to PlayStation history: artifacts, collectibles, and cameos that span every generation, from the PS1 memory card to deep-cut PSP accessories. It’s nostalgia done right, interactive, self-aware, and always endearing.

The Negatives ⚠️

It’s hard to be too critical of something this charming, but sure, there are a few hiccups under the hood. The biggest is that Astro’s Playroom is over far too soon. You can breeze through the main levels in just a couple of hours, which leaves you craving more. The structure is smart, but you can feel the limits of its scope. The frog suit, for instance, is delightful in theory, its springy feedback feels spot-on, but its awkward precision sometimes turns satisfying jumps into frustrating overshoots. Similarly, the touchpad-based rolling ball segments feel fine, but they’re easily the least imaginative parts of the game, the kind of “we had to use this feature somewhere” design moment that breaks the otherwise perfect flow.

The microphone gimmick also feels a bit outdated. Blowing into the mic to move an in-game fan is something we’ve been doing since the Nintendo DS era, and here it’s more “neat” than “necessary.” While the DualSense integration is incredible overall, not all of its tricks hit with equal charm. And while the collectibles are delightful for PlayStation fans, newcomers to the brand might not feel the same thrill spotting a reference to LocoRoco or a long-dead PSP GPS add-on. It’s a nostalgia bomb, but one that hits harder if you’ve been in the PlayStation ecosystem for decades.

Still, these complaints are minor. Astro’s Playroom isn’t trying to reinvent the genre, it’s trying to remind you why you fell in love with gaming in the first place. And on that front, it’s flawless.

The Experience 🎮

Playing Astro’s Playroom feels like pure, unfiltered joy, the kind that makes you grin like an idiot while you play. It’s a rare blend of innovation and simplicity, marrying the futuristic tech of the DualSense with the timeless charm of a well-made platformer. Every step through its digital playground feels alive, every reference feels earned, and every vibration feels intentional. It’s playful, polished, and packed with personality.

There’s also a magic to how Team Asobi treats nostalgia. It’s not a sterile museum, it’s a living, breathing celebration. You’re not just looking at old consoles; you’re playing with them, punching buttons, hearing disc trays pop open, and seeing Astro Bots cosplaying as God of War, Uncharted, and Crash Bandicoot characters. The game manages to be both a heartfelt tribute and a glimpse at the future, a perfect bridge between where PlayStation has been and where it’s going.

In the end, Astro’s Playroom is far more than a free pack-in, it’s a statement of intent. It shows what the PS5 can do, what the DualSense can feel like, and what happens when a developer pours creativity into every pixel. It’s short, sure, but it’s the most fun you’ll have holding a controller in years. If this is just the “demo,” then I can’t wait to see what a full course from Team Asobi looks like.