While most games these days push for an epic adventure across a vast open world, not every game needs to be like it. Sometimes, people just want a game they can finish over a few days. Not every game needs to be a 75-hour action-RPG to offer a deep experience.
Case in point:Astro Bot. Team Asobi’s platformer might not be an open-world game with countless ability trees and whatnot, but even without those, it’s still one heck of a good time. The game’s director, Nicolas Doucet, believes in this and that not every game needs to be the next big thing.
10 Amazing Small Open World Games
We aren’t just saying this to protect their feelings. In this case, size doesn’t matter!
“It’s Okay To Make A Small Game,” Claims Astro Bot’s Director
Speaking at GDC 2025 (viaGame Developer), Nicolas Doucet conducted a “The Making Astro Bot” talk, which was packed with attendees. In it, Doucet said “it’s okay to make a small game. " He also presented people with a photograph of Team Asobi’s onboarding handbook, which states, “We aim for quality, not quantity.”
Doucet notes that thinking small means gaining more control over your work and the process behind it. It also means that with the shorter/smaller game, the chances of players actually finishing it are higher.
“The prospect of a game you can actually complete is a really, really positive argument [for small games],” Doucet explains. “That meant being okay with the game being 12 hours, but if it had been eight hours—and the eight hours were fantastic—we would have settled for that to reach consistent quality.”
Compared to most big-budget AAA titles, Astro Bot was developed in just three and a half years, six months more than the team initially planned. They didn’t go over-budget, as Team Asobi maintained it by choosing to adjust the pitch of the studio’s ramp-up curve to accommodate fewer developers over a longer period of time.
10 Best Games Like Astro Bot
Games like Crash Bandicoot 4 and New Super Lucky’s Tale will fill the Astro Bot-shaped hole in your heart.
Whatever Team Asobi did, worked. Not only did the platformer win the prestigious Game of the Year award at last year’s The Game Awards, butit even convinced Sony’s president that they should release more family-friendly gameslike it.
Even if Astro Bot’s graphics seem simplistic compared to God of War, the Horizon franchise, and other AAA first-party titles, one of Team Asobi’s developers said the game was pushing the PS5’s processing power “to its limit.”
With today’s burgeoning game development costs and the fact that many “old” people who play games have responsibilities and can’t devote two weeks of their lives (or more) to just one game, I’d say bring on the small games! Hopefully, many game studios will take notice of Astro Bot’s success and use that as motivation that not every game needs to be an open-world action-RPG blockbuster.
Former Nintendo President Says Astro Bot “Almost Outdid Nintendo At Its Own Game”
Astro Bot wins multiple awards at the New York Game Awards, and that includes the Game of the Year.
