Developer: Bandai Namco
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PS5
We Love Katamari REROLL + Royal Reverie – Review
Back in 2020, we took a closer look at a game that was probably a blast from the past for many gamers, namely Katamari Damacy REROLL. The game had been remastered for modern-day audiences, even though the game’s graphics still looked a bit dated. Nonetheless, this old-school wacky title proved to be a lot of fun and it comes as no surprise that its sequel is now getting the same treatment. Today we’ll be taking a closer look at We Love Katamari REROLL + Royal Reverie, a remastered version of We Love Katamari with some newly added content dubbed Royal Reverie.
Story
The story of We Love Katamari REROLL + Royal Reverie picks up where the previous game left off. After The King of All Cosmos had his son, The Prince, roll a host of colorful Katamari to use as stars across the galaxy, the King gained a lot of popularity. Now his fans are sending loads of requests of what they need help with. Again, The Prince (and his many cousins) will have to roll a lot of new Katamari to please the many fans. In this new release, the story of the King’s youth is fleshed out a bit more via additional stages. Overall, the narrative is very silly but enjoyable. We did find some of the intermezzos to be a bit lengthy.
Graphics
Just like its remastered predecessor, We Love Katamari REROLL + Royal Reverie is a colorful mess (in a good way). The game puts you in many different environments where you’ll have to roll up as many objects, animals, and people as possible. We loved the overall variety, and even with the dated graphics still present, there is a lot to love here. Thanks to the over-the-top designs, the game does get away with a lot. We mainly struggled with very awkward camera angles and poor overviews during certain stages.
Sound
We Love Katamari REROLL + Royal Reverie has a very amusing (albeit chaotic) soundtrack. We enjoyed many of the silly tracks, and the sound effects were also rather satisfying. We loved the audio feedback when rolling over items (and people). Perhaps some added voice acting would have added a bit more to the overall charm of the game, but the sound design is still quite good.
Gameplay
It’s hard to place We Love Katamari REROLL + Royal Reverie in an exact genre. We’d still call the game somewhat of an arcade experience with a few puzzle elements thrown in the mix. Just like in the previous game, it’s your job to make the biggest Katamari possible in the different levels. You’ll always start off with a small Katamari, which is a small ball, and then you’ll start rolling up objects, animals, people, and so on. You cannot roll up everything in sight, however, as you can only roll up items that are smaller than your Katamari. When it grows you’ll be able to roll up bigger items as well. This means that sometimes you might need to revisit parts of the levels where you were unable to collect certain objects. In this second entry, you can also find the Prince’s cousins, who will then also serve as playable characters. To unlock everything, you’ll need to find and roll up all the Prince’s cousins.
That’s basically all there is to the game. While the game has the added ‘Royal Reverie‘ levels, they basically offer more of the same. The experience is quite entertaining and relaxing, but we struggled a bit with the clunky controls in combination with the very awkward camera angles. We would have loved it if things were a bit more intuitive here. We encountered quite a few stages where we had absolutely no overview at all when rolling up objects in certain corners of the level.
Conclusion
We Love Katamari REROLL + Royal Reverie is an amusing sequel and we had a lot of fun rolling our way through the different levels. The overall silly atmosphere is what truly makes this a unique experience, and even after we completed the levels, we still came back for more, hoping to break our previous records. While the multiplayer mode is a bit simplistic at times, it’s still a great addition. The only things that held back the experience were awkward camera angles and clunky controls. That being said, if you’re looking for a relaxing and colorful experience, this one is certainly worth checking out.
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