I'm suddenly sold on ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission

ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission has a weird history. The little Astro Bot characters have been bopping around the outskirts of Sony's mascot camp for a few years now, most recently appearing in a little free demo game that appeared with the release of the PlayStation VR. Though there were a number of short experiences included, the one that made the biggest impression had players steering a little Astro Bot through a short series of platforming levels. While the experience wasn't overly long, it did serve to highlight how cool platforming can be in VR.

Earlier this year, Sony announced the upcoming platformer ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission, and my first thought was "Is it free?". Because I am a cheapskate, and every other experience I've had with this franchise has been gifted to the public by Sony as a matter of promotion. However, ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission is indeed NOT free, instead retailing for $39.99, which is a hearty chuck of change for a VR title these days. My skepticism hackles went up, and I moved on with my life.

Then I watched this video, and I was suddenly very excited for ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission:

I should have known that a first-party game using the little characters that Sony has adopted as mascots was gonna be cool. This game looks to have tremendous production value, and a very high level of polish. The sense of scale that you get when watching the little Astro Bot dude hop around in front of these massive bosses is great even in this video, but in VR these boss fights are going to be simply epic. Here's another cool video, highlighting some of the environments in ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission:

Super dope, right?

So, without warning, ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission has rocketed onto my "must play" list, and just in the nick of time. The game will be available physically and digitally on October 2nd (this coming Tuesday!).