I Love Astro Bot Too Much To Play The New DLC

I’ve just exited my longest stretch of time not playing my PlayStation 5 since I got the console at launch. Instead, my precious, dwindling gaming time has been spent with the Nintendo Switch 2. I’ve been exclusively playing that console, in handheld mode, for the past two months. And it’s been great. The first week was nothing but online Mario Kart World where I would consistently place in the top four in Knockout Tour. And by top four I mean I was always fourth. Once I entered that final area I always fell apart. But then my week-long free trial of Nintendo Online ran out and instead of signing up for another subscription to sap my bank account, I started playing something else.

That something else was Spyro Reignited Trilogy. Yes, a seven-year-old remake of a twenty-seven-year-old gaming trilogy. I’m sure that’s exactly what Nintendo designed the Switch 2 for. I played those games back when I was a kid, some of my first gaming memories from when I was gifted an original PlayStation so as not to get too jealous when my sister got a PlayStation 2 one Christmas. And as sacrilegious as it might sound, it just felt right playing the former PlayStation exclusive on a Nintendo handheld. It was a wonderful gaming experience.

It took me about seven weeks to one-hundred-percent all three games. Or rather, 120%, 100%, and 117%, because the game completion percentages make very little sense. If the build quality of the Switch 2 was any poorer I may have snapped the device in two with how angry some parts made me. Was the game always so hard? And as the credits rolled on Spyro 3 I looked at my faithful PlayStation 5 and felt a little sorry for my neglected machine, used for the past two months as nothing more than a Netflix and 4K Blu-Ray player. Then I saw what would be my perfect reintroduction to the console: new DLC for Astro Bot had dropped.

It all seemed perfect. Going straight from the 3D Sony Platformer that made me fall in love with gaming decades ago to the 3D Sony Platformer that ranked as my favourite game of last year. While I’d been away, four new DLC levels had been added, increasing the already significant total. While I enjoyed the Switch 2, it felt good to pick up the DualSense and feel the pitter-patter of Astro’s feet vibrate through the controller. But this good feeling lasted a very short amount of time.

30 minutes later I was contemplating deleting Astro Bot from my PlayStation 5. Not because I hate it but because I love it, and I don’t want that to change. The new additional levels of the game are my least favourite kind, more of the ‘Vicious Void’ challenge maps. No checkpoints, just a time trial gauntlet to complete in one single run. The kind where I make it quite far on my first attempt and the spend 20 minutes failing to get anywhere near that first go again because I’ve started overthinking it. Best to put on a podcast and use half my brain try and complete it. Failure after failure after failure.

I finished the first level, where the special ability is Astro inflating himself like a balloon before then farting himself back down to the floor. It was fine. I mean, it’s Astro Bot. The visuals are great, it plays well, and the soundtrack’s a banger. But I didn’t enjoy it. It was challenging but not in a way I found ultimately satisfying. I was frustrated and impatient. I started another level, this time the one with the big monkey hands, and after five minutes gave up. It’s not that I couldn’t complete the levels if I kept going, I could, but I knew I wouldn’t enjoy it.

This is probably insufferable to read. That I’m stating the obvious: if you don’t enjoy the game, don’t play it. But for me that’s quite the epiphany. I’m a completionist. I see that I still have 3 bots to unlock, the tally incomplete at the top of the screen, and I want to rescue them. There are four trophies left unobtained and once this would have sent me on an OCD stress spiral. But now, perhaps my affair with the Switch 2 has changed me, I have other gaming priorities.

Namely, I don’t want to jeopardise my love for the game by forcing myself to play parts I don’t enjoy. Those time trial levels are the one thing I dislike. The only DLC I’ve truly loved for Astro Bot is the Christmas level, which is much more like a traditional, exploratory level of the game. I would love more of that. But I’m sure the time trials work for other players. As much as I want to keep playing Astro Bot I’ve had to decide to stop, to let it go, and not play any more of the new DLC. I’m in danger of lessening or tainting my love for the game by refusing to let it go. That is the last thing I want for what is otherwise such a masterful and joyful experience.

I haven’t deleted Astro Bot. I couldn’t bring myself to take such a drastic step. There it remains on the dashboard, taking up SSD space. Maybe there’ll be another level added like that Christmas one, the type I do want to play. But for now I’ll let it rest. It’s not like I can be angry that the developers are offering consistent free additional content. I’ll give Astro Bot some time, let the positive memories fester into the beginnings of a sweet nostalgia, and play the core game again when it feels right, hopefully when we learn a sequel is on the way. I doubt it’ll take me as long to revisit as Spyro did. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to use my Switch 2 to play Bioshock rather than Donkey Kong Bananza.