Once Upon a Katamari is likely one of the biggest bundles of joy that I’ve experienced in a video game this year. 2025 has brought a plethora of brilliant video games, and finishing off the year with this one being the last new title I was excited for made it the cherry on top!
Rolling off the success (pun intended) of the Katamari Damacy Reroll remakes of the first two games, Bandai Namco decided to release their first new main series title since Touch My Katamari on the PS Vita. Before that game was released, new Katamari games were created again and again for different platforms without introducing too many new ideas. The series eventually reached a hiatus for new entries due to declining sales, as each new game began to feel like a rehash of the previous one. With no fresh ideas and no involvement from the series’ creator, Keita Takahashi, since the second game, it became clear to Namco why the franchise might need to spend some time in dormancy.
During the series’ break, remakes of the first two games, Katamari Damacy and We ❤ Katamari, were released for modern platforms. After seven years with no new game, this was a smart move by Bandai Namco. The remakes didn’t reinvent the series or turn it into something new, but they ushered in a new audience of players to enjoy these delightful gems from a past era of gaming. In my opinion, the first two titles remain the best in the franchise.
When I first heard of the Katamari games, I was likely just starting middle school, and the internet was becoming more of a place for me to express my interest in video games and learn about titles I’d never played. I remember watching a playthrough of the first game by the Game Grumps and being thoroughly engaged by how simple yet wildly entertaining the concept was. I never played the game myself until my college years, and when I did, I couldn’t even tell you how many times I replayed the final level over and over, trying to make the biggest katamari possible by rolling up the entire planet.
After that, I was hooked. I played the remake of We ❤ Katamari a couple of years later, then borrowed my friend’s PS3 to play Katamari Forever. Next, I modded a PS Vita to play Touch My Katamari and Me & My Katamari on the PSP. Up to the release of Once Upon a Katamari, I had played so many Katamari games. (aside from the one on the Xbox 360 and some mobile titles). Eventually, I began to notice the redundancy of the series and realized that each entry lacked a bit of the charm and quality of the one before it.
Then I played Once Upon a Katamari. It’s not that this game does anything drastically different from what you’d expect from a Katamari title. Instead, it takes ideas and level concepts from past entries and fine-tunes them to perfection. This is by far the tightest-feeling Katamari game I’ve played so far. It takes what made the Reroll games so smooth and improves upon those mechanics rather than reinventing them. If I had to pick a word to describe this game, I would just use the word ‘fun’. Its so enjoyable to get back behind the giant Katamari and start rolling up everything that these levels have to offer. For an experienced player like myself, it was so easy to jump in and get right into it.
As for the story, it’s exactly what you’d expect. The King has somehow destroyed the cosmos again, and you’ve got to remake all the stars. But this time, you take a journey through time in the SS Prince and visit iconic eras and historical periods. This is where the game expands beyond previous titles. There are many more maps to explore and up to 50 stages to complete, almost as many as both Reroll games combined. They also added more playable characters and new songs to the soundtrack.
The levels they brought back feel great in these new maps. Though they’re inspired by past titles, the game doesn’t feel like just a “greatest hits” package like Katamari Forever. They even added brand-new levels unique to each map, though most follow a similar formula: “Grab as many of these items,” “As Big as Possible,” “As Fast as Possible,” and even the dreaded “Grab the Biggest Cow/Bear” makes a return in its own new way.
As a critique, it’s fair to not be impressed with the idea of recycling level concepts. I think the new areas expand on the old levels and give them a fresh coat of paint that works in this title, but it’s reasonable to wish that entirely new ideas had been introduced. The new “Tag, You’re It” levels are great, though, serving as a gallery of all the cousins collected (and correct me if I’m wrong), I don’t think they exist in other titles.
Another thing I wish had been implemented is a true endless mode. That’s something I’ve wanted across multiple entries in this series. The game has “Eternal” modes for the “As Big as Possible” levels, where there’s no time limit and you’re free to get as big as you want until you’ve gathered everything possible. But since you’ll eventually run out of items to pick up, the mode comes to an end. Imagine a true endless level where, after getting big enough to roll up everything, you never stop growing, eventually moving onto the stars, rolling up galaxies, then the universe! The bigger you get, the smaller the items seem until you’re just rolling stars in the void. But then the stars start to look like molecules, then dust, and suddenly you realize you’ve completely looped around to being tiny again.
I’m doing a bad job explaining how this would work because I’m not smart enough to explain theoretical ideas of the space time continuum, but think of it like one of those infinite zoom paintings, or the Futurama episode where they go so far into the future that they see the universe end and witness a new Big Bang, signifying a reset of existence (Futurama Season 6, Episode 7). If that concept were implemented into a true endless mode, it could be a cool addition for the Katamari franchise—maybe as a DLC or in a future title. But I digress.
Once Upon a Katamari is the perfect Katamari game for existing fans of the series. New fans are totally welcome to start here if this ends up being their first game. But if I had to recommend a title for someone just getting into the Katamari franchise, I can’t really think of an argument for starting with this one over picking up one of the Reroll games on a Steam sale or playing We ❤ Katamari on Game Pass or PS+. It’s not even that the new game is expensive; retailing at around $40 USD at launch makes it a great value. But if you asked me where to start, I’d still point you toward the originals to see if the series clicks for you. If you’re already a fan of these titles, though, you’ll appreciate this new entry even more.
Recommended for fans of Arcade Games, Past Katamari Titles, and silly little characters.
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