I’m sure you have heard of Mario and the iconic world created around him. Created by Nintendo back in 1981, his name and face have become synonymous and iconic with the brand. But other major gaming companies have not had the same luck. For example, Sony hasn’t had any rival mascot to champion their own brand. That is until now.
Introducing — Astro Bot.
Astro Bot is the main character and name of the third installment in the Astro Bot series. Released on Sept. 6, 2024, Astro Bot is a platform game developed by Team Asobi for the PlayStation 5. You play a futuristic robot character moving between 50 planets, gathering points, and killing the bad guys.
The game is very much an homage to PlayStation history with over 150 iconic characters from iconic past games but now in the form of small bots. While this is the third game in the series following 2018’s Astro Bot Rescue Mission and 2020’s Astro’s Playroom, it’s the first to be so well received.
Did Astro Bot get good reviews?
On September 4-5, when many reviews were being released for the game, the verdict was clear – this was going to be a new fan favorite. In this Kalshi market, where users can bet on the likelihood of an event happening, people were confidently betting on Astro Bot achieving an 85 or greater score on Metacritic. Two days before the release date, the chances were at 78%. By the release date, the predictions shot up to 99%!
This isn’t too surprising because the overwhelmingly positive reviews were strong evidence that the game’s Metacritic score was going to be very high. And they were right, the game currently has an impressive 94 score from 113 reviews.
Will Astro Bot be the Game of the Year?
While the 2024 Game Awards won’t be held for another 3 months, there already are markets predicting who will win the top prize. And thanks to its overwhelmingly positive reception, there are talks about Astro Bot being a prime candidate for Game of the Year at this year’s Game Awards.
In a Game of the Year market on Kalshi, Astro Bot’s chances have skyrocketed. At the start of Sept. 3, Astro Bot’s chances were at a low 25%. By the game’s release date, the chances flew up to 66%. Now, Astro Bot is atop the chart ahead of other fan-favorites Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Black Myth: Wukong.
These predictions aren’t too surprising if you look at the headlines and evidence so far. Not only does Astro Bot have a huge Metacritic score of 94, it’s also the best-reviewed game of the year so far. The ranking is so high that it has landed on Metacritic’s Best Games of All Time chart at the No. 63 spot. The game is already being called a “frontrunner” for the award and The Verge goes so far as to call Astro Bot “the game you buy a PS5 for.”
With momentum, rave reviews, and a solid Metacritic score, Astro Bot might just be the unexpected platformer that steals the top prize at the 2024 Game Awards.
