Astro's Playroom is a tech demo that comes installed on every PlayStation 5. It stars Astro Bot (from Astro Bot: Rescue Mission) and his bot friends as they introduce the various aspects of the PS5 system, wrapped in a fun platform game filled with references to PlayStation's past characters and hardware. It would later be succeeded with the full length game Astro Bot in 2024.
Early Level Layouts#
The back of Astro's metallic head shows reflections of static images, which vary depending on which area Astro visits. If the camera is adjusted to zoom in closer to his head, the reflections can be seen in greater detail. Some of the static images display earlier versions of maps, while others are likely placeholder images.
GPU Jungle - Render Forest#
- Sky contains less clouds.
- Sunset horizon is more orange.
- The PlayStation SoC is placed in the grass, rather than on the boardwalk spawn area.
- Gray rocks along the cliffside rise higher and extend further.
- Boardwalk has a different pattern.
Cooling Springs - Bot Beach#
- Flat sandy map (possibly a placeholder).
- The sky contains more clouds.
SSD Speedway - Turbo Trail#
- Sky is overcast rather than a starry night sky.
- Several neon lights that appear pink and yellow.
Memory Meadow - Gusty Gateway#
- No map visible (possibly a placeholder).
- Reflection may be final version of the sky texture.
CPU Plaza#
- Mysterious flat map with many blocks and platforms.
Unused Graphics#
hero_eyes_broken_m.gnfp#
Likely a leftover from Astro Bot: Rescue Mission. In the final game, neither Astro Bot nor any of the AR Bots are depicted with a cracked screen.
tst_text_hud.gnfp#
A black grid texture.
mup_ibl_ropestage_tex_ibl_01.gnfp#
Another leftover from Astro Bot: Rescue Mission, this time a skybox for one of the levels in the game.
artifact_playstation_portal_display_astro_d.gnfp#
An AI-upscaled version of the recreated PlayStation 5 menu artwork shown on the box for the PlayStation Portal.
Unused Sounds#
data\prein\sound\Next Gen\pri_music\pri_logo_jst_asobi.szd#
The Japan Studio jingle from Astro Bot: Rescue Mission. While the Japan Studio logo doesn't appear in the final game, it does appear when you start the kiosk demo, where the sound itself is used.
data\prein\sound\Next Gen\pri_controller_discovery_sfx\pri_controller_discovery_test.szd#
The sound of glass shattering.
Unused Music#
Inside data/prein/sound, there are the City and Canyon themes left over from Astro Bot: Rescue Mission.
Hidden Music Information#
In data/prein/sound/Next Gen/pri_music/, several SZD files contain information of the song's BPM and date of recording within the stream name. For example, the stream name for the Controller Discovery theme is "#Controller_Discovery_v3_1_VIBRATION_QUAD_100BPM_20200420".
Debug Free Fly and Death#
By settings -debugInput to true in args.txt, you can enable free fly by pressing L1 and Cross at the same time. You can use R1 to go up, and R2 to go down. Holding Square also lets you fly faster. Whereas, pressing both L2 and Triangle will cause Astro Bot to die.
Hint Video Differences#
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As most of the hint videos inside the game were created a few months before the release, some of them contain earlier versions of items.
prompt_gatcha_(trigger button).mp4 (July 9, 2020)#
- There is a ten-thousands digit on the coin counter.
- Different lighting.
- Gold gatcha items appear to not have been implemented yet.
- The base of the gatcha machine appears to still use the textures from Astro Bot: Rescue Mission.
- Different static reflection, showing what appears to be a coastal/island area.
prompt_punch_action.mp4 (April 28, 2020)#
- The coin texture from Astro Bot: Rescue Mission is still used.
Internal Codename#
The game's codename is Next Gen, judging by the folder name containing most Astro's Playroom-specific sounds inside data/prein/sound.
Revisional Differences#
v1.400.000#
Released on February 2, 2021.
- Made several performance improvements.
- Gameplay optimizations added.
- Fixed an issue that caused framerate drops.
- Fixed sporadic crashes.
- Addressed audio-related issues.
- Other minor bug fixes.
v1.500.000#
Released on February 7, 2021.
- Improved performance and fixed application stability.
- Fixed certain issues with loading.
- Fixed other bugs.
v1.600.000#
Released on May 6, 2021.
- Further improvements for performance and stability fixes.
- Fixed certain loading issues.
- Added various gameplay optimizations.
- Fixed other bugs.
v1.700.000#
Released on April 6, 2022.
- Optimized performance, gameplay, stability, and framerate.
- Fixed crashes that can occur sporadically.
- Fixed issues with audio.
- Fixed other bugs.
v1.900.000#
Released on June 7, 2024.
- The Team Asobi logo in the introduction screen was replaced with the current one.
- Adds an option to the title screen to pre-order Astro Bot.
- Adds a new sidequest to the game, where you find four new special bots, one in each world. Each one is added every 30 days, in a new update, until the release of Astro Bot, upon which, all of the special bots are able to be transferred to the new game.
- The first special bot, which is based on Lady Maria from Bloodborne, is found in the Renderforest section of the GPU Forest.
- Adds seven new gachas to the machine in PlayStation Labo, which, when obtained, add the following hardware to Labo: PS5 Slim, PSVR2, PSVR2 Sense Controllers Left & Right, DualSense Edge, PlayStation Portal, and the Access Controller.
- A secret portal was added to PlayStation Labo which leads to a new Secret Labo room, which houses the new hardware that was added, as well as a portal that leads into another room that houses the special bots, a link to pre-order Astro Bot, and a day-by-day countdown to said game.
- Five trophies were added, four of which are obtained from finding the special bots and one that is obtained from finding all of them.
v1.901.000#
Released on July 5, 2024.
- Adds the second special bot, Selene from Returnal, which can be found in the Deep Dataspace section of the SSD Speedway.
v1.902.000#
Released on August 2, 2024.
- Adds the third special bot, GT Driver from Gran Turismo, which can be found in the Bot Beach section of the Cooling Springs.
- A notice appears at the title screen that explains that the ESRB rating for the game was revised to include the "In-Game Purchases" interactive element, due to the in-game ability to preorder Astro Bot.
v1.903.000#
Released on August 30, 2024.
- Adds the fourth and final special bot, Piposaru (a bot dressed as a monkey), from Ape Escape, which can be found in the Gusty Gateway section of the Memory Meadow.
v1.905.000#
Released on February 20, 2025.
- Adds PS5 Pro, Pulse Explore Earbuds, and Pulse Elite Headset to the gacha and Secret Labo.
- Updates the game's icon and splash screen:
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References#
- Japan Studio's logo appears after the Sony Interactive Entertainment logo and before the Team Asobi logo when you start the kiosk demo.↩︎
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The Astro Bot series | |
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