A number of special bots were added to Astro’s Playroom in the months leading up to the release of Astro Bot.
Each of the four worlds in the free PS5 pack-in adventure hides a secret bot, and can be unlocked by solving their respective riddles. Once you do, these bots will be added to your collection of bots when you play Astro Bot.
These four bots are completely optional, so if you don’t have the time (or the storage space to redownload Astro’s Playroom), know won’t give you much of an advantage in Astro Bot. Bots are used to access new areas and puzzles, and since you’ll encounter most of the 300 bots in the sequel without too much effort, you can unlock what you need without what Astro’s Playroom can give you.
That said, for completionists who want to unlock everything, it’s something you’ll want to add to your save file — and the cherry on top is you’ll also unlock five additional Astro’s Playroom trophies (four bronze, and an additional silver for finding all four) for the effort.
GPU Jungle Special Bot location
To find the special bot in GPU Jungle, head to the Renderforest area.
From the start, climb the first ledge, and instead of progressing on the critical path to the wall ahead, go through the grass on the left, and you’ll find a Bloodborne bot.
From here, stand at the very corner on the edge — as shown in the image below — until a platform appears ahead of you, revealing the special bot and a clue to the riddle: a clock.
To solve the riddle, jump up to the circular platforms above this area, where on the far side, you’ll see a little clock on the column.
Standing next to it, press the menu button. Instead of opening the world navigation selection, you’ll come to a date entry screen. Change the date to Nov. 11, 2015. This is the release date of Bloodborne: The Old Hunters, and doing so unlocks the Bloodborne Special Bot and the “Hunted Down” trophy.
SSD Speedway Special Bot location
To find the special bot in SSD Speedway, head to the Deep Dataspace area.
Progress through this level for a minute or so, until you come to the glass bridge where you have to grab the gun from the chest to proceed.
Before you do that, stand on the edge just to the left of where you need to pull the chest from the ground. Doing so reveals the riddle for this area, which is a rather cryptic space outfit.
As the riddle is based on Returnal, the task here is to die in a specific spot and respawn again.
Grab the gun from the chest, and blast through the enemies until you get to the stairs going up. You’ll ideally want to keep at least one of these green projectile-firing enemies alive, as they’re your means of dying momentarily.
At the top of the steps, turn around, and come back on yourself so you’re walking across the white beams at the edges. You know you’re in the right place when a series of coins appear.
Stand where the big coin appears, as shown in the image below, which is where a blue circle appears beneath you. Wait here until you’re hit by a projectile.
Once you respawn, the Returnal Special Bot and the “Déjà phew!” trophy is yours.
Cooling Springs Special Bot location
To find the special bot in SSD Speedway, head to the Bot Beach area.
Proceed down the slide to the beach area. From here, the task is to find four green starfish embedded in the stand, and stand on them in sequence.
- The first starfish is found just to the right of where you first drop onto the beach, underneath the jetty.
- The second starfish can be found going left from where you first drop onto the beach, next to two shells.
- The third starfish requires going back to where you dropped onto the beach (so anti-clockwise from the second starfish), where it’s a little inland, next to a palm tree.
- The fourth and final starfish is tucked away behind the giant blue pipes and the sandstorm at the far end. Go along the outside of the left pipe, into the shallow water, to find the starfish.
Upon touching the fourth starfish, you’ll come across the special bot, and the clue for the riddle — an arrow following a specific route.
Go back along to the front of the blue pipes and the sandstorm, and this time, go along the outside on the right. Go past the PlayStation face button symbols in the sand, and punch the shell tucked away under the pipe towards the end. It’ll reveal a steering wheel.
Press the menu button to open the world navigation selection screen. However, you’ll notice something different — the sound of cars. The aim here is to follow the route shown in the riddle’s clue on this screen, like so:
If done successfully, the Gran Turismo Special Bot and the “Grand Tourist” trophy will unlock.
Memory Meadow Special Bot location
To find the special in Memory Meadow, head to the Gusty Gateway area.
First, activate the first two rope bridges by pulling the wires out of the ground. Now, return to the starting area, and to the side, you’ll find another set of wires, which gives you a projectile with a net inside.
Travel over the two rope bridges — if you didn’t activate them, drop the item, get the bridges up and running, and collect the item again — and, just after the second bridge, you’ll see an Ape Escape scene at the end, and something glowing blue in the clouds just beyond.
Stand at the edge of the level and throw the projectile towards it to reveal the location of the bot.
The riddle clue here is… bananas. Before you proceed, we recommend you play around with the D-Pad, which will cause Astro to perform four different dances through the four directions. Familiarize yourself with these, as you’ll need to remember them shortly.
Back to finding the bananas. They are located high up above at a tree on the hill top just ahead. To reach the tree, progress the level so you end up behind the hill, and use the PS1-shaped clouds and the steps on the rock face to climb up the wall.
Use your powered-up punch (hold the Square button) on the tree to drop the bananas.
Carry the bananas back to the bot, and you’ll then have to play a dancing mini-game. This requires you to match the dances the ape bot performs in sequence. Note the order is seemingly random, so you have to know which dance corresponds to the button input, and react in-kind. They are:
- Up: Flossing
- Left: The Carlton Dance
- Down: Toe taps and dabs
- Right: Saturday Night Fever
If you get it wrong, then you’ll need to scale the hill again, grab another bunch of bananas, and retry the dance minigame. If you’re successful, you’ll unlock the bot and get the “No Escape! Trophy.
How to import the special bots in Astro Bot
To add the four bots to Astro Bot, play until you’ve completed the first nebula and unlocked the Crash Site hub. Here, you can continue to unlock additional collectibles, including puzzle pieces and bots to add to your totals.
Around the edge of the main hub area is where you will find the bots from Astro’s Playroom. These will appear automatically once they have been unlocked them; there is no specific importing process or menu screen to go through first.
When you are ready to unlock them, approach their locations in the Crash Site hub. Their locations can be seen on the map below, as indicated by the “2” icon.
Simply interact with each one, help the bots lift up the rock, and they will be added to your collection.
The Astro’s Playroom Special Bots you unlock are as follows:
- Nightmare Guardian (Bloodborne)
- Greedy Ape (Ape Escape)
- Pro Driver (Gran Turismo)
- Stranded Scout (Returnal)
Finally, know you don’t need to unlock all four at once. If you have only unlocked one or two in Astro’s Playroom, they will appear here individually, meaning you can return and get the rest when you are ready.
If you’re interested in more on Astro Bot, you can read our verdict on how long it takes to beat and 100%.