Astro Bot Rescue Mission Originally Had a Four-Person Multiplayer Mode

By now, it’s clear that Astro Bot Rescue Mission is one of the premiere titles on the PlayStation VR. However, SIE Japan Studio has recently lifted the lid on some content that didn’t manage to make the cut. While there are the usual suspects, like levels and enemies, one of the more notable pieces of cut content is a bit of a surprise: a four-person multiplayer mode.

Astro Bot Rescue Mission was originally envisioned as a multiplayer title, keeping in-line with Team Asobi’s other titles. While Astro Bot was still designed with VR in mind, a TV mode was also developed to allow three other players to join in on the action. This mode would let the group of four to play the mission together, while generally “goofing around.” And according to the account, the team was successful when making thi shappen!

Unfortunately, this had the adverse effect of making solo play simply not as fun as a result. The team had unintentionally made multiplayer a priority over solo play (and especially VR play). As such, there wasn’t enough in each level to make them engaging for those playing by themselves. With the levels having to account for four players at a time, levels were too big and empty to make them interesting for single players.

Because of this, nine months into development, Team Asobi decided to make the call to shuffle its work on multiplayer to the side. This allowed the team to “unleash the creativity of the level designers,” and fully focus on making this a game that took full advantage of VR. Unfortunately, the developers became so focused on making the single-player title the best it possibly can be, they decided to cut multiplayer altogether.

However, the tough decision may have been the right call. Astro Bot Rescue Mission was critically acclaimed at launch, in addition to achieving strong sales. The PlayStation LifeStyle readers even called Astro Bot Rescue Mission the best VR game of 2018. Perhaps we’ll see the little robot get a multiplayer game in the future.

[Source: PlayStation Blog]