Games these days are generally targeted at certain levels: either the hardcore gamer looking for a continual challenge (see Elden Tree) or for the casual gamer just looking to be entertained (step forward, Dave the Diver or Dredge).
The family-led gaming market has been largely sidelined for a long time - but that looks likely to change with the September release on PlayStation of the G-rated Astro Bot.
A sequel to 2020's Astro's Playroom and a spiritual cousin to Ape Escape, Team Asobi's Astro Bot pulls together the very best of platform games and offers a family-led title that will thrill as well as challenge.
Making strong use of the haptics and deeply mining PlayStation's history as it approaches 30 years, Astro Bot's full-length outing offers around 80 levels of challenges.
A very loose story ties it all together - Astro Bot's mothership has been wrecked, scattering hundreds of Bots through the galaxy. It's up to the Wall-E-esque spinoff to explore 50 planets across six galaxies and collect the Bots that have gone missing.
The demo offered up five levels - with many more locked off - all of which had varying levels of challenge for any seasoned or non-seasoned players. From flying on a Dualsense controller that buzzes in your hands to feeling and hearing the cracking of ice through the controller's sound system, this is a game that's embraced both the haptics and the possibilities of what can be done.
Essentially, it's built on what was on offer in Astro's Playroom when it comes to sound and vision, but with such solid basics, it feels like a natural progression rather than a shoe-horned approach.
Yet while the game has stuck to its basics, it's also added in new tricks to make levels more enjoyable.
From the ability to inflate via the controller's triggers to a dog who sits on your back and can send you zooming through solid but breakable walls, the game is about making it fun to muck about in the environments while collecting the AWOL bots.
While these add-ons are great fun, what's not fully clear is whether the game will see you transfer them from level to level or from planet to planet. From the demo, it was a case of them being locked into one level and no further - but whether that changes remains to be seen.
A boss-level fight saw Astro being guided as he took on an octopus, with the L2 and R2 triggers being transformed into both suction cups and catapults as well as boxing gloves to pummel the slimy creature into submission. Quick-fire use of L2 and R2 here made it seem like Astro was in a boxing ring, dishing out worlds of pain to a contender.
(As a side note, it's worth mentioning this is a family game that doesn't go for "kills" - slapping enemies about and dispatching them is more about ACME levels of cartoonery than anything too serious).
What is clear about Astro Bot is just how tactile the game is; how easy it is to experience the sensations of running through grass, skating on glass-thin ice or swimming, thanks to the DualSense Controller and its haptics.
It's easy to see why Astro Bot will capture a family audience. While it's a disappointment that it is one player only and you can't co-op locally, the option to simply hand on the controller to a sofa-bound kid or friend is too tempting to resist.
Complete with PlayStation-themed Bots to collect, there's a feeling of nostalgia throughout Astro Bot. It collects the ethos of a Mario Bros game and the ideas of an Ape Escape - but while parts of it appear to look to the past, thanks to Team Asobi, Astro Bot's future is clear - it will be a family-themed smash hit, too cute to ignore and too damn playable to put down.
Astro Bot releases exclusively on the PlayStation 5 on September 6.
