I remember back in the old days when tech demo’s for games consoles were just simple videos or still images of what the system was capable of rendering. They were usually a poor representation of what the system was actually capable of because the entire power of the system was put into rendering one model or one environment. They always looked great, which was the point when trying to sell the power of a new system; but when you actually got your hands on the games that were developed things looked nothing like that tech demo because the system was being strained in so many areas to render a proper game, rather than just one image or video.
I’m also a real PlayStation fanboy. I love the brand and always have. I own all the consoles and most of the official peripherals, I always try to play every first party exclusive game, and I’ve repaired a good number of the older systems and love to know how they work.
It’s no wonder then that Astro’s Playroom, the PS5 tech demo that is a fully fledged game dedicated to the history of PlayStation, is right up my street.
The first time we saw Astro was with his Recue Bot Missions, a tech demo for the PSVR headset. So seemingly continuing in that stead, Astro’s Playroom is a 6–7-hour collectathon 3D platformer designed specifically to showcase the power of the PS5 and the capabilities of its first major peripherals, the DualSense controller and the Pulse 3D headset.
There’s no story to Playroom, but your goal is to collect gold coins, puzzle pieces, and artefacts from PlayStation’s nearly thirty-year history to fill a museum of PlayStation memorabilia.
The game world is set within your PS5 system with each of the system’s main component’s playing an environmental role. The CPU is the central hub where you’ll find the museum room, as well as portals to access the other parts of the system. You have GPU Jungle (a jungle themed level based around the system’s graphics processor), Cooling Springs (an ice themed level based around the system fan), Memory Meadows (a sky themed level based around the GDDR6 system memory), and SSD Speedway (an urban themed level based around the system’s superfast SSD storage).
I’m also a real PlayStation fanboy. I love the brand and always have. I own all the consoles and most of the official peripherals, I always try to play every first party exclusive game, and I’ve repaired a good number of the older systems and love to know how they work.
It’s no wonder then that Astro’s Playroom, the PS5 tech demo that is a fully fledged game dedicated to the history of PlayStation, is right up my street.
The first time we saw Astro was with his Recue Bot Missions, a tech demo for the PSVR headset. So seemingly continuing in that stead, Astro’s Playroom is a 6–7-hour collectathon 3D platformer designed specifically to showcase the power of the PS5 and the capabilities of its first major peripherals, the DualSense controller and the Pulse 3D headset.
There’s no story to Playroom, but your goal is to collect gold coins, puzzle pieces, and artefacts from PlayStation’s nearly thirty-year history to fill a museum of PlayStation memorabilia.
The game world is set within your PS5 system with each of the system’s main component’s playing an environmental role. The CPU is the central hub where you’ll find the museum room, as well as portals to access the other parts of the system. You have GPU Jungle (a jungle themed level based around the system’s graphics processor), Cooling Springs (an ice themed level based around the system fan), Memory Meadows (a sky themed level based around the GDDR6 system memory), and SSD Speedway (an urban themed level based around the system’s superfast SSD storage).
Astro’s Playroom is so much more fun than it has any right to be for a glorified tech demo. Though each mission only takes a few minutes to complete, there’s so much to look at and appreciate. The level of detail and charm that is packed into each square inch of this game is more than some AAA releases have in their entire game world. You’ll see countless references and easter eggs to PlayStation games past like The Last of Us, God of War, Final Fantasy VII, and more. The levels all use the features of the DualSense to their fullest too with great use of the touchpad, gyroscope, and haptic feedback. Although some of my least favourite sections to play, the sections where you control a monkey suit to climb cliff faces is such a great way to show off how the trigger feedback can work with different holds requiring different kinds of pressure to be climbed, as well as the gyroscope to swing the monkey up the cliff face and tilt the arms to each new hold.
The gameplay is very simple, but also very enjoyable as a result. Most of the fun is seeing the fruits of your labour in the museum section called ‘PlayStation Labo’ where consoles and peripherals are on display and can be interacted with.
From a presentation standpoint the game is also superb. The speed of the SSD makes loading times non-existent as you’re zapped from one area to another. The glorious visuals are a real feast for the eyes with a wide range of colours, particle effects, and physics effects at play. Playing the game at 4K 60PFS with HDR enabled makes it absolutely gorgeous.
On top of this the audio is fantastic and made even better when paired with the Pulse 3D headset if you’ve picked one up. The sound is all around you in a way that even 7.1 surround sound cannot emulate. The sounds have real texture and depth to them, that mixed with the feedback from the DualSense makes for a sensory experience that’s truly worth experiencing.
Whilst Astro’s Playroom may only be a free tech demo bundled in with every PS5, it’s one of the best reasons to not only go out and buy a PS5, but also pick up some of the extra peripherals such as the Pulse 3D headset. Not all games will take advantage of the PS5’s features the same way as Astro’s Playroom, but to show gamers that they are there and what they are capable of is fantastic as it makes me want those features used to their fullest in every game possible!
The gameplay is very simple, but also very enjoyable as a result. Most of the fun is seeing the fruits of your labour in the museum section called ‘PlayStation Labo’ where consoles and peripherals are on display and can be interacted with.
From a presentation standpoint the game is also superb. The speed of the SSD makes loading times non-existent as you’re zapped from one area to another. The glorious visuals are a real feast for the eyes with a wide range of colours, particle effects, and physics effects at play. Playing the game at 4K 60PFS with HDR enabled makes it absolutely gorgeous.
On top of this the audio is fantastic and made even better when paired with the Pulse 3D headset if you’ve picked one up. The sound is all around you in a way that even 7.1 surround sound cannot emulate. The sounds have real texture and depth to them, that mixed with the feedback from the DualSense makes for a sensory experience that’s truly worth experiencing.
Whilst Astro’s Playroom may only be a free tech demo bundled in with every PS5, it’s one of the best reasons to not only go out and buy a PS5, but also pick up some of the extra peripherals such as the Pulse 3D headset. Not all games will take advantage of the PS5’s features the same way as Astro’s Playroom, but to show gamers that they are there and what they are capable of is fantastic as it makes me want those features used to their fullest in every game possible!
STORY: N/A
GAMEPLAY: 10/10
PRESENTATION: 10/10
LIFESPAN: 5/10
SCORE: 9/10
The next generation is here, and Astro’s Playroom wants you to know it.