Astro Bot and Concord demonstrate that there is a desire to return to the classic and simpler models of video games

The warm critical response to Astro Bot comes just as Concord went bankrupt in record time, perhaps suggesting a possible lesson: in a market saturated by games that are often technologically over-engineered or carefully crafted to follow passing trends and psychological and social dynamics, return to more classic and simple forms is seen as a breath of fresh air. If you want, you could also add that it’s about looking a bit at the great models of the past, like the great classics of Nintendo and Sega, in search of that immediacy that has been progressively lost in recent decades, at least on the front of large-scale productions.

Asobi’s little robot doesn’t invent practically anything new but recovers ideas and game solutions from the great successes of an emblematic genre of video games themselves such as the platform and re-proposes them in a truly refined form, with great attention to rhythm and also to accessibility for every type of audience. The reference to the past it is also explicit in its being a sort of celebration of 30 years of PlayStation, and the presence of numerous easter eggs and references to previous successes does nothing but increase this feeling of being in front of something that comes from the past, but updated to modern times. This is enough to upset the current videogame landscape, seven years after the last unreleased 3D Mario platformer, and it is something that makes you think a lot.

A clear pattern

This is not an isolated case: last year, for example, the huge surprise success of Hi-Fi Rush had already proposed a similar case, with the rhythmic action game by Tango Gameworks which clearly took up the dynamics but above all the atmospheres, colours and immediacy of the gameplay of times gone by.

Even then, it seemed like we were rediscovering a Sega-style arcade, with an effect amplified by the completely unexpected release. In general, it seems that in a landscape where big productions struggle to find success, putting millions of dollars in investments at risk, the solution is simpler than you might think and mainly involves going back to the basics of video games, that is, the immediacy of interaction and the joy of gameplay that is simply fun right from the start.

This, in fact, also explains how he does it Nintendo to often remain sheltered from the systemic crises that affect the video game market, usually linked to the economic weight of titles that require huge budgets just to seem as close as possible to spectacular films rather than real games. By pulling out of the race for the latest in technology, starting from the design of the gameplay almost always turns out to be a winning choice. In fact, it is simply a matter of reconsidering the video game in its most classic meaning, focusing above all on the playful aspect compared to the “video”, understood as a possible mix with other media.