The year 2023 will be known as the year that Tears Of The Kingdom came out and all the other gaming franchises were too scared to compete against it that it just sent out remakes to fill the year until the scary Zelda game left. Resident Evil 4, Dead Space, Kirby’s Return To Dreamland; they’re just a couple of the games remade and pushed out this year. Now, We Love Katamari is rolling again with We Love Katamari REROLL + Royal Reverie, almost 5 years since Katamari Damacy REROLL rolled out onto store shelves, the same day as Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Definitely a bold play to say the least. But that was in the past, and now, with its new remake, it not only is still a good game but it also was elevated. It’s not as big of an improvement as Kirby’s Return To Dreamland Deluxe was to its original game, but it’s still fantastic.
The story goes that the original Katamari Damacy was created in-universe as a video game, becoming a hit sensation. More and more people grow fond of it and the King Of All Cosmos, wanting to see him in person and ask him for wishes. The King, with an ego that can be seen from the next galaxy over, sends his son and his cousins out to help fulfill these desires. Meanwhile, as you play, you get to see the King’s backstory, from when he started as a prince and grew into the giant powerful being he is today.
Just from the story, you can tell that the game knows just want it wants to be; something that prioritizes fun over logic, and that fits the actual gameplay. You’re given a ball called the Katamari at the start of each level and are given one main goal; grow that small ball into a giant sphere so the King can toss it into the sky to turn it into a star. You’ll be rolling up thumbtacks, dominoes, glue bottles, candy boxes, dogs, cats, basketballs, humans, telephone booths, streetlights, vending machines, trees, lighthouses, mansions, the very continent itself, the planets in the solar system…basically, anything you can think of.
Just be careful to not get your Katamari knocked around too much by either crashing into walls or being pushed by bigger things chasing you, or else objects will start falling off it you will need to collect them again. Also, be careful how you roll stuff up. If you roll up a pencil by rolling into the tip rather than the side, it will stick to your Katamari like that and can make your ball push off the ground and away from other collectibles. It’s a game where you start you trying to find the nearest pile of coins to roll up while being chased by a crab only to come back later and roll into that same crab with a much bigger Katamari. It’s cathartic, to say the least.
While getting big is the goal, each level has you going about this in different ways. Some levels will also be counting just how much of a specific object you’re rolling up, from paper cranes to tires. One rather infamous level will stop once you roll up anything cow or bear related, and your goal is to get the biggest cow or bear item. Others will have you roll up to get bigger and bigger before going back to roll up a certain object, be it the fan or a campfire. You’re always trying to get your Katamari to be as big as possible, but you do end up getting several unique scenarios building off of this idea.
After completing a fan’s request, they may have other wises for you, with you tasked with either ensuring your Katamari gets a certain size as fast as possible or doing a more challenging version of their original task. One of these tasks for example is rolling your Katamari to a set size, but you can’t see how big it is; only a glimpse of how your end size should be. Each level has you rolling the Katamari to be bigger and bigger while not going too far off course.
Along with fulfilling these tasks, the levels will also have secrets for you to get. These secrets come in the form of three ways, those being cousins, presents, or stickers. The cousins are strange alien-looking creatures just vibing on Earth. Roll them up and keep them in the Katamari to unlock them so you can play as them in future levels. Unlocking all of them gives you access to a special level. Presents are gift boxes placed throughout the world for you to roll up and collect. Keep them with you till the end and you can get a cosmetic item to wear during your playthrough. You can wear an item for your head and an item for your body. The final collectible, and unique to this game, is stickers. On the walls, you can find 8-bit stickers of Namco’s past games. Taking a picture of them will allow you to get them and with enough stickers, you can get new frames and filters for your camera. It’s certainly a unique idea, but considering how collecting them means you’re forced to wear the camera present 24/7, it can feel a bit limiting, especially if you don’t care about the camera feature.
However, the big draw of this game’s remake is the addition of Royal Reverie. Here you go through five levels of the King’s past, showing you his training under his harsh father. These levels were advertised as new levels, but the locations are lifted from the original game, and given a new coat of paint. However, the goals in each level are least different enough from the base game, with them being harder than the original game. For example, at the school level, instead of rolling to your heart’s content, you’re trapped to a small size trying to avoid ghosts and roll up the musical instruments you left behind. Another level has you tracking down and trying to roll up ballerinas as fast as possible instead of being focused on animals in the original game. It’s a nice addition, and if the game wasn’t only $30, I feel like I would be harsher on it for having only a decent new addition instead of something truly amazing.
One thing I can’t ever be hard on this game for is the presentation. Visually, it’s a bright, distinct, and cheerful world dripping with oddities and personality. You can see penguins plotting something with a whiteboard, a chef on a handcar pushing some meat, a group of lions cooking a ballerina alive, and so on. Some select items can be swapped out and exchanged for other odd trinkets to roll up, so it’s always a treat seeing just what you’ll be rolling up each time you play the same level.
For the entire series, the music is one of its strongest aspects. These Japanese songs give the game a nice and upbeat feeling, even as you run down innocent civilians running for their lives and roll them up. The songs in this game are no exception, and with the option to buy a music pack featuring songs from across the entire series, this game’s library of songs is nice and strong. From the majestic King of King’s song to the cheerful upbeat main theme, the tunes are always a treat to hear. Unlike the last game, you can also choose which song to play during a level, even getting your own playlist where you can choose 10 favorite songs to play at random. The sound effects are all very satisfying to hear; from knocking out an opponent and rolling them up, hearing each object’s unique sound effect when you roll them up, knowing that you conquered them, to the revving sound you make when you prepare to dash with the Katamari, it’s all a musical treat.
Needless to say, this game has a lot of character, and is proud of it, with the main star of this performance being The King Of All Cosmos himself. He’s such a suave and arrogant godly figure that it loops back to being humorous. This is a man that will dismiss the idea of going to the lake to roll a Katamari, only to backtrack once he hears someone compliment his chin. His grand and bizarre nature also extends to in-game, with him giving his own commentary when you roll up specific items, calling the Prince’s cousins odd wads of gum, getting insulted if you roll off before letting him finish speaking, and of course, flying into a rage shooting lasers from his eyes if you fail a stage. Every word and action he performs is outlandish, and it’s hard to treat the flaws he has as seriously as they would be in real life when the game is in on the joke. Even then, doesn’t stop him from getting some character growth during the backstory cutscenes we see of him; from being abused by his own father, to finding his lifelong love, to him taking over for his tired father. Everything about him is larger than life.
Thinking about any potential flaws here is honestly hard, as the game is aware of the fact it is a game and just wants to be a trippy and unique time. Some of the levels can be irritating if you’re trying to go for the top score, like the already mentioned Cowbear level, but aside from that, the worse a level can do is just be boring. The snowman level for instance is just you rolling around in a circle till you decide the snowman’s head is big enough. You’re not really rolling up any objects to get bigger, as the stuff you roll up is more just for decorating your snowman. A couple more levels that were a bit longer for the Royal Reverie part of this game certainly wouldn’t have hurt as well. Control-wise, turning can be a bit jarring with how slow it can be, especially compared to other titles, but it’s nothing you can’t get used to. The series already is very unorthodox with how it controls, so if you’re able to play the other games in the series, you can adapt to this easily.
In short, We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie is a game that places gameplay solely front and center and is proud of it. The basic game and controls are satisfying to master and play around with, and the satisfaction of seeing your Katamari get bigger to roll over previously unobtainable objects is very high. Even when you fail a level, you get a sense of just wanting one more try, and how you know for certain that this time will be the one. The graphics also complement the playful cartoonish nature of the world and add on the music and sound effects all sounding wonderful to the ears, and it’s a game that one can easily get hooked on. Back in the day, We Love Katamari was locked onto the PS2, not really being brought forth to new consoles as they got their own Katamari games. Now, with the original game and its sequel being remastered, I’m more than happy to see this series keep rolling on. Perhaps we can see Beautiful Katamari or Me and My Katamari remade next…But for now, for only $30, this game is an absolute steal that deserves a spot in your PS5 library.
