Astronite from JanduSoft and Dume Games Studio is a 1-bit Metroidvania on PlayStation 5. Learn more in our Astronite review!

 

Astronite from JanduSoft and Dume Games Studio is a 1-bit Metroidvania on PlayStation 5. As your spaceship approaches Neplea, you contact command to request permission to commence Mission 2205. You are to explore the planet since none of the explorers sent before you managed to make it back… which is certainly odd. Unfortunately, something hits your ship on approach, so you’re forced to make an emergency landing. You must now explore Neplea and find a way to return home.

You’ll control your character with the left analog stick or the D-Pad as you jump with the X button and shoot with the Square button. Once up in the air, you can press and hold down the X button to activate your jetpack, which will allow you to gain some extra height. The R1 button allows your character to dash, which will prove to be very useful for the trickier platforming segments in Astronite. If you want to take a closer look at your map, just press on the DualSense’s Touchpad. Oh, and a few minutes into the game, you’ll lose your gun, your jetpack, your dash, and your map. Good luck!

 

The Shpirti you collect from the enemies you defeat or from the treasure chests you loot can be traded at the shop for some useful items. You’ll be able to collect them once you receive the Shpirti Module for your suit from the merchant. When you die, you will lose all of the Shpirti that you’ve gathered, but you’ll have a chance to travel back to the spot where you were defeated to recover it. But if you die on your way there, then it’s gone for good!

The only way out of the merchant’s store is through a passage in the back that has been flooded. Since you don’t have an underwater module installed on your suit, you won’t be able to spend much time underwater, so you’ll have to try to get to the surface as fast as possible. You also only have three hit points at the start of your journey, so you should avoid touching any enemy or being hit by their attacks because you never know when you’ll manage to reach the next save point to recover any lost health and save your progress.

 

What can you buy from the merchant with your hard-earned Shpirti? You can purchase a Membership Card to receive a discount on the cost of using teleporters; Ogma’s Orb, which will allow you to know the name of your enemies, Eyes of Tea, which will reveal the health of enemies; the Map Module that you lost, so that you can once again check the map of each area you’re exploring; an upgrade to improve the recovery speed for your dash, an upgrade to your jetpack, so that you can use it for longer during each jump; an upgrade for your gun to increase its rate of fire and the distance of your bullets; Shpirti Insurance, so that you keep 25% of your total Shpirti upon death; a very useful upgrade to your Map Module so that it can show the location of Shpirti chests, a 2x Damage Module to boost the damage dealt with your gun; and the Health Module, which gives your suit an extra block of health.

Astronite has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy waiting for you. The list consists of 4 Bronze trophies, 15 Silver trophies, and 6 Gold trophies. The objectives you’ll have to complete include meeting the Unknown – a.k.a., the creature that steals all of your equipment – getting your first upgrade, getting all upgrades, completing the game, completing the game with all upgrades, defeating all of the bosses in the game, finding a secret key for a secret room in a secret place, collecting all special chests, solving all puzzles, revering your Shpirti after dying, and finding the lost grave.

 

Astronite is a fun and challenging 1-bit Metroidvania in which you’re going to be dying a lot during the first segment of the game, right after losing all of your equipment. But once you learn from your mistakes and get into the groove, you’ll be gaining access to more and more areas of Neplea. Astronite is out today on PlayStation with a $14.99 asking price, and it offers an entertaining 2D 1-bit Metroidvania.

Disclaimer
This Astronite review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by JanduSoft.