Look, the video game industry has many “goals” for itself when it pertains to the “big releases” that AAA companies drop. It doesn’t matter if it’s one of the “Big Three” or one of the other big publishers like Capcom, Square Enix, etc., they want several things to happen when they release something big. First, they want the game to be reviewed well, as that can influence sales. Second, they want big sales because that’s how they make money. Finally, they want the game to be talked about well after launch. Astro Bot is doing a bang-up job of handling that last part, as players will tell you.
The reason for that is simple: they’re constantly releasing new content. Specifically, they’ve been dropping a set of free speedrun courses for players to enjoy, and they’ve dropped them one at a time over several weeks. We’re on week three right now, and today’s new course is “Spring-Loaded Run.” You can see a clip of the course that you’ll face off against below:
On the surface, a bunch of speedrun courses doesn’t seem like the biggest set of content for a game to drop. However, you need to remember that the beauty and whimsy of Astro Bot in many ways is the fact that it’s a beautifully designed platformer, invoking the feel of Mario in the best ways. The game isn’t supposed to be the most complicated one out there; it’s just meant to challenge you enough to keep you interested, which this game has been doing.
Plus, you’d be surprised how many people invest in not just doing courses but doing them as fast as possible. Many gamers have already gone online during the arrival of these new courses to boast about the fast times they’ve gotten, and that’ll likely happen again here.
Going back to our initial set of things that publishers want, Astro Bot currently has two of the three going for it. It’s gotten new content to keep people talking about it, so that’s good. Then, when it was released, it had some of the best review scores of the year, putting it on track to possibly be the “Game of the Year.” The only question now is sales. Curiously, we aren’t really sure how the game is doing on PS5. Certain reports claim it did well enough to chart highly, but no hard figures have been given. Hopefully, we’ll learn how the game has done soon.
