While everyone was hoping Sony’s Astro Bot would be good, I’m not sure anyone predicted what happened here. And we’re now witnessing a huge win for PlayStation in a week when it desperately needs one.

As it stands, Astro Bot is the best full game of the year according to dozens of reviews. It has a metascore of 94, putting it in the running for the GOTY title, even if it’s not the clear favorite right now. It’s been called one of the best platform games of all time, right up there with the classics, and the reviews are just rave.

With a score of 94, it’s actually the highest rated game of the year if you don’t count Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion as a full game (which most don’t), and that has a score of 95. Here’s the list of “game” games:

1. AstroBot – 94
2. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – 92
3. Animal fountain – 91
4. Balatro-90
5. Thank God you are here! – 90
6. 8 – 90
7. Tactical Breakthrough Wizards – 90
8. Like a Dragon – Infinite Wealth – 89
9. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes – 88
10. Minishooting Adventure – 87

It’s been a weird year so far. You can see that most of these are indie games that have had fewer reviews counted, and the reviews I left out are for “definitive collections” or remasters that I won’t count. And one or two expansions like The Final Shape of Elden Ring or Destiny 2. But if we’re talking about full games, games with GOTY potential, Astro Bot is right up there.

At the time of writing, Astro Bot has 29 10/10 ratings from 78 reviews. Here’s one that sums up a lot of it, a perfect 10 from VGC:

“Astro Bot isn’t just a fun platformer with a hint of nostalgia; it’s a cross-generational, impressive entry in the genre that understands PlayStation at an atomic level. The sheer fun the game generates makes it impossible to compare it to anything other than Mario’s very best adventure. Astro is no longer a vector by which to reference PlayStation icons; it is a PlayStation icon.”

There is only one rating below 8, which is 7.8/10 from GamersRD. There are only seven ratings below nine.

So it’s a huge critical success and we’ll see if it’s a sales hit too. Gamers are hoping that this game offers such good reviews and hopefully revenue to match that it pushes Sony and other publishers further in the direction of solid single-player games rather than endlessly chasing live service titles, so many of which have failed spectacularly recently. The contrast between Astro Bot and Concord this week alone is absolutely wild. I can’t wait to play it.

Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, And Instagram.

Get my science fiction novels the Herokiller series And The Earthborn Trilogy.