When Bandai Namco announced Once Upon a Katamari during a Nintendo Direct in July, I jumped out of my seat with excitement. I didn’t grow up with the world of Katamari Damacy, but after reviewing We Love Katamari Reroll for the Switch and recently replaying it to completion on PC, I can safely say that I’m a fan for life.
Once Upon a Katamari is the first new mainline game for the series in 14 years, following two successful remasters and a push to break away from platform exclusivity. If the aim of this game was to expand on the existing series with new features while also providing lifelong fans with a sense of familiarity, Bandai Namco and RENGAME achieved their goal with flying colors. Before getting into the nitty-gritty details, from the very top level, I can say that if you already love Katamari Damacy, you’ll enjoy this game.
The Prince’s adventure here follows a slightly more linear trajectory than in previous games. Once Upon a Katamari begins with the King of All Cosmos doing some spring cleaning, finding a long-lost scroll, and immediately dropping it on the Earth, destroying it completely. As the Prince, or one of his many cousins, you must travel through Earth’s history and roll things up to fix it. It’s a simple tale, but the comedic writing makes up for the lack of narrative depth. In a game this wacky, we’re not really here for the story anyway.
Read the full story on Pocket Tactics: Once Upon a Katamari review – rolling all over the world