The news comes via Famitsu magazine (thanks, Genki). "We plan to release DLC that includes playful stages and exciting speed run stages like in the previous game by the end of the year, so please look forward to it," creative director Nicolas Doucet told the Japanese mag.
If you remember, Astro's Playroom has a section named Network Speed Run, which houses a series of timed challenges. After racing through each level as fast as you can manage, you're then presented with leaderboards, which utilize PS5's built-in challenge system that alerts your friends when you've beaten their times. This is a really addictive and fun part of Astro's Playroom (and an underused PS5 feature in general), so it's great to hear these speed run stages will make their return in Astro Bot.
In addition to these competitive levels, Doucet does also mention "playful stages", so it seems the DLC will be more than just the time trials. Exactly what these are is a mystery, although we do know the main game includes smaller platforming gauntlets to test your skills, so it could be more of them.
Astro Bot is super close now; it launches on 6th September exclusively on PS5.
