While watchingSony’sMay State of Play last week, the closing reveal of Astro Bot’s first trailer was not on many fans’ bingo cards. The entire showcase was reportedly underwhelming to many, but thankfully, theSilent Hill 2transmission that followed saved the day with an extended look at gameplay and a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming live-action movie, Return to Silent Hill.
Debuting as the successor toAstro’s Playroom, Astro Bot’s trailer revealed a host of vibrant, interactive environments for the bots to play in and a plethora of Easter eggs referencing severalPlayStationIPs - but sadly, there wasno nod to Bloodborne. Astro’s cameos have been the talk of the town since, which brought a past Knack reference to the surface.
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Astro’s Playroom Contained A Meta Reference To Knack’s Death
Following the cute Astro robots' resurgence, a screenshot from Astro’s Playroom was posted on X captioned “I totally forgot that Astro’s Playroom heavily implies that Knack is dead”, showing a bot sitting on the floor visibly grieved by the broken geometric-shaped blocks. The sad robot is joined by Astro and another bot wearing a backward hat and holding a video camera recording the distressed figure.
Knack is a 2013 action platform game released by Japan Studio and Sony as a PS4 bundle title. The third-person narrative followed the titular protagonist, who existed as a “living humanoid organism” made up of Relics, and his mission was to save humanity from the Goblins through a series of energy-based powers. The first title received mixed reviews, which begs the question of why Sony decided to release a sequel in 2017, which became an instant failure.
Spectators were quick to chime in on the forgotten reference,saying“It’s awesome that they openly acknowledged an IP failure.” Others turned the Easter egg into a positive accolade for the bot game,expressing“A sad story of the PlayStation’s lore genuinely told in Astro’s Playroom. This little game is so big.”
Sony was certainly pushing for Knack to become as big a franchise as Astro’s has become, but the idea never took off and didn’t have the PS5’s Haptic Controller to enhance gameplay. To further prove its popularity, the Astro Bot trailer has even beenoutperformingthe debut gameplay trailer for new shooter Concord.
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