Let’s get to rolling, then. After 14 years, there’s a new Katamari Damacy game and it’s out now. Once Upon A Katamari is developed by Rengame and brings a rather appropriate theme to the quirky roll-’em-up: Time.
Once Upon A Katamari will have you rolling through the ages, including the Jurassic Period, the Ice Age and historic Japan. So expect new (old) things to gets stuck to ever-growing, ever-rolling Katamari ball.
In terms of content, players can play as the iconic Prince or any of the 68 cousins all with customisable colours and facial features this time. Yes, there are 69 of them, but maybe it’s not as a timely reference as recently there’s a new funny number just two digits shorter.
The game also includes 4-player multiplayer via the new KatamariBall game mode, which is also playable with CPU bots.
Here’s a glimpse of the gameplay, and how ridiculous a realistic-looking CGI katamari would look like, in this launch trailer:
While it’s been 14 years since a new Katamari Damacy game proper has been released, Bandai Namco did remaster the first two console-based Katamari games: the original Katamari Damacy (as Katamari Damacy Reroll) back in 2018 and its sequel, We Love Katamari (as We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie) in 2023. So the ball towards a new Katamari game has indeed been in motion for quite some time.
Once Upon A Katamari is out now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch, and will release tomorrow in Asia, October 24, on PC (Steam).