Earlier today we reported that five new stages are now available for Astro Bot alongside new Bots for players to locate, but it’s now emerged that one of those cameos is none other than Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII.
Cloud is one of the Bots that you can unlock after completing the latest challenge stages, specifically the High Inflation level. Many fans have been wondering why Cloud was absent from Astro Bot at launch given his iconic status among PlayStation gamers, and it had always been expected he would show up at some point. Well, sure enough, he has!
Astro Bot’s game director, Nicholas Doucet, previously touched on the possibility of Final Fantasy Bots coming to the game, adopting a “we’ll see” approach.
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Final Fantasy VII was released for the PSOne back in 1997 and remains one of the most successful games for Sony’s original console, and also a vital instalment in the franchise as a whole, which up until that point had only really been a big deal in its native Japan. Given that Astro Bot is a celebration of many key franchises to grace PlayStation, it didn’t really feel right for Final Fantasy not to be represented…until now, that is.
Astro Bot was released for the PS5 back in September 2024, and you can read our full review here. Back in June this year, PlayStation bigwig Herman Hulst described Astro Bot as one of the platform’s ‘most exciting recent successes‘ and an ‘emerging IP,’ which hopefully means we haven’t seen the last of the series.
Team Asobi’s platformer was on the receiving end of numerous Game of the Year awards since its launch last fall, the most recent of which being the ‘Best Game’ gong at the BAFTA Game Awards.