Creative director Nicholas Doucet said the team "did consider, at first: should this be an open-world game?"
The only reason that Astro Bot eventually "went for a level-based approach" was "because that was the one that gave us the most control over the game's variety."

www.gamesradar.com
The only reason that Astro Bot eventually "went for a level-based approach" was "because that was the one that gave us the most control over the game's variety."


Astro Bot almost went open-world, but opted for 80 planets instead because that led to "the most control over the game's variety"
Team Asobi "did consider, at first: should this be an open-world game?"