It's official: The Game Awards named Astro Bot as 2024's Game of the Year. This delightful game absolutely deserves the recognition, and if you've been hoping to pick it up there's no better time than now. It currently has a $10 discount at several different retailers, dropping its price to $50 (see here at Amazon).
Gaming has a new award-winning mascot, and he’s a little blue robot. PlayStation’s “Astro Bot” took home Game of the Year, the top honor bestowed by the 2024 Game Awards.
In addition to the big name awards, the PlayStation 5 title also took home the coveted Best Game Direction as well as Best Action/Adventure Game and Best Family Game. Overall, the title won the most awards Thursday evening.
It’s not too surprising that “Astro Bot” would have such a strong showing. Astro was first introduced to the world through “Astro Bot Rescue Mission,” a 2018 game that utilized the PlayStation 4’s VR headset. That game was a critical hit, but it wasn’t until 2020 that Astro became something of a household name. That’s when the company unveiled “Astro’s Playroom,” a controller tutorial of sorts that came preinstalled on all PlayStation 5 consoles.
The third title using this character, “Astro Bot” follows the little robot Astro as he rescues other robots, many of which look like beloved PlayStation characters. The 3D platformer, which was developed by Team Asobi and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, sold 1.5 million units by November 2024 and has been universally praised.
The other two titles that won the most awards were “Metaphor: ReFantanzio,” which took home Best Narrative, Best Art Direction and Best RPG, and “Balatro,” which took home Best Independent Game, Best Debut Independent Game and Best Mobile Game. “Metaphor: ReFantanzio” comes from Studio Zero, Atlus and Sega and follows an orphaned boy who comes from a magic-wielding tribe who competes in a tournament to decide his kingdom’s successor. As for “Balatro,” it’s a deck building game in which players play poker hands. It was developed by LocalThunk and published by Playstack.
There was one TV show that also took home top honors on Thursday. Prime Video’s “Fallout” won Best Adaptation. The series also won two Creative Arts Emmys and scored three Primetime Emmy nominations.
