There are multiple hidden levels in Astro Bot, which primarily take the form as hidden planets in each nebula. You’ll need to unveil them if you want to complete every level and rescue every bot. The trick is, you might not even know you’re missing a planet until you complete the nebula and see you’ve somehow missed a few bots and puzzle pieces on the progress screen.
In this Astro Bot guide, we’ll walk you through how to unlock hidden levels and show you where to find all hidden levels.
When you first unlock a nebula in Astro Bot, you’ll have access to one planet. As you complete more levels, more planets will appear, until eventually you’re able to face the boss. However, there are a ton of little planetoids hidden in the nebulas, all of which house a bot. There are even some puzzle pieces that have been abducted by aliens, which you’ll need to chase around the screen to collect.
To get these hidden levels to appear, just fly around until they pop up! Now, there are some caveats there that make it a bit more complex, but generally speaking it’s that simple.
Oftentimes these events won’t show up until you’ve completed other planets in the nebula, so it’s best to wait until you’ve completed all of the core planets before poking around for new ones. Once you’ve finished the nebula’s boss and iconic level, just fly around the screen, bumping into the planets. Eventually — usually within 20 seconds — some event will show up on screen, prompting you to investigate.
All of these events are very straightforward. Most of the time you just need to bump into the planet with your ship and it’ll turn into a level. Other times you might need to fly through a bunch of asteroids, swirl around some space debris, or chase down an alien carrying a puzzle piece.
In four of the five nebulas, you’ll eventually find voids shaped like one of the four PlayStation buttons. By launching those levels and running through to the end, you’ll unlock four new challenges in that nebula, themed after an X, Circle, Square, or Triangle.
If you’ve flown around for 15 to 20 seconds and nothing is showing up, try backing out of the nebula and coming back in. Sometimes doesn’t spawn more than one event per trip.
Below, we’ve provided annotated screenshots showing you what the fully completed version of each nebula should look like after finding all hidden levels, so you’re able to tell at a glance which planets you might be missing.
There are three hidden levels and no challenge levels in the Gorilla Nebula.
The Tentacle System has two hidden levels and four challenge levels.
The Serpent Starway has three hidden levels and four challenge levels.
The Camo Cosmos has two hidden levels and four challenge levels.
The Feather Cluster has three hidden levels and four challenge levels.
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