Once Upon A Katamari Review: A Long-Awaited Sequel That Keeps the Sticky Ball Rolling

Why This Once Upon A Katamari Review Matters to Fans of the Series

After more than a decade of remasters, re-releases, and silence, the Prince finally has a brand-new adventure to roll through. If you have been waiting for a fresh Katamari since the PlayStation Vita era, this Once Upon A Katamari review is here to tell you whether the wait paid off — and the short answer is yes, with a few caveats worth knowing before you buy.

The Katamari formula is famously strange and famously sticky: you roll a ball, you pick up everything in sight, and you grow from a thumbtack-sized curiosity into a planet-swallowing monster. Once Upon A Katamari does not try to reinvent that loop. Instead, it doubles down on what made the series beloved, adding new levels, more objects on screen than ever, and a handful of optional features that long-time players can take or leave.

That design decision is the heart of this Once Upon A Katamari review. In most franchises, a sequel that changes almost nothing gets called a cash grab. Here, the opposite is true: after fourteen dormant years, "more of the same" is exactly what the community asked for.

What Makes This Once Upon A Katamari Review Different From a Cash-Grab Sequel

Plenty of sequels exist purely to move units. The difference with this one is intent. The developers clearly understood that Katamari fans do not want a gritty reboot, a live-service roadmap, or a hyper-realistic Unreal Engine overhaul. They want the low-poly chaos, the absurd soundtrack, the King of All Cosmos yelling about the sky, and a ball that picks up cats, bicycles, and eventually entire cities.

According to the review scores published by Way Too Many Games, the game lands as one of the stronger entries in the modern era. Here is how the individual categories shake out:

The takeaway is simple: the core experience is stronger than the score breakdown suggests, because "fun factor" is the only metric that really matters when you are rolling a giant ball of screaming pedestrians across a suburban cul-de-sac.

The Case for Familiarity

When a franchise sleeps for over a decade, a conservative sequel is a feature, not a bug. Rebuilding the audience comes first. A radical reinvention would have risked alienating the exact people who kept asking for another Katamari in the first place.

Community reports from early players echo that sentiment. Many describe the game as "a new level pack with better lighting," and they mean it as a compliment. The tone, the humor, the deliberately awkward dialogue, and the loop are all intact.

Gameplay and Controls: Dual-Stick vs. Single-Stick

The most talked-about mechanical addition in this Once Upon A Katamari review cycle is the new control scheme. Traditionally, Katamari is played with both analog sticks — a method that looks unplayable on paper but becomes second nature after twenty minutes. This entry adds an optional single-stick mode designed to lower the barrier for newcomers.

In practice, the consensus is mixed. The single-stick option works, and its inclusion is genuinely thoughtful for accessibility and for younger players. But most veterans return to the classic setup, and the reasons are worth understanding before you decide which to use.

Tips for Adjusting to Either Scheme

• Give the classic controls a full level before judging them. The dual-stick layout clicks once your hands stop thinking about it.
• Switch to single-stick for handheld play. On Switch or a handheld PC, one-stick rolling is genuinely more comfortable.
• Use the dash-and-turn rhythm. Push both sticks forward to accelerate, then flick to steer — do not fight the momentum.
• Practice in a small starting stage. Early levels have fewer obstacles, which makes learning the physics far less punishing.
• Rebind nothing and trust the defaults. The game's tuning assumes the stock layout.

Content, Levels, and Multiplayer: Is There Enough to Do?

This is where the game quietly overdelivers. Compared with earlier entries, the package is unusually generous, and the level variety keeps the loop from going stale. The optional competitive multiplayer mode exists, but community feedback describes it as merely passable — a bonus rather than a reason to buy.

The DLC Question

The one consistent complaint in this Once Upon A Katamari review is monetization. A meaningful chunk of the franchise's most iconic songs is locked behind paid DLC. The brand-new soundtrack is strong on its own, so the base game never feels musically empty, but the decision still rubs players the wrong way. Katamari is a series built on joy and absurdity, not season passes, and charging extra for nostalgia tracks feels unnecessary.

If you are deciding how to spend, the practical advice is this: buy the base game first, play through the campaign, and only pick up music DLC if the licensed tracks are genuinely important to your experience.

Graphics, Sound, and Performance

Visually, this is the best-performing Katamari game to date. The art style remains deliberately low-poly — that is the identity, not a limitation — but the lighting, frame rate, and sheer number of objects on screen represent a real generational step up. Rolling through a crowded city and watching hundreds of props load in without stutter is satisfying in a way that screenshots cannot capture.

For anyone researching a Once Upon A Katamari review before buying, platform parity is good news. There is no obvious "wrong" version, so the decision comes down to where you prefer to play. You can check availability and platform details on Bandai Namco Entertainment's official site, which lists the current release lineup.

Practical Tips for Your First Few Hours

Newcomers and returning veterans both benefit from a few habits. These come from general series knowledge and player experience shared across the community.

A Word on the Humor

The series has always been gloriously weird, and this entry keeps the tone intact. The dialogue, the King's melodramatic decrees, and the slightly uncomfortable cousin interactions are all present. If you have played a Katamari game before, you know exactly what you are getting, and that consistency is part of the charm.

Verdict: Who Should Roll With This One?

Anyone who has been waiting for a proper new Katamari should feel confident. This is not an ambitious reinvention, and it does not need to be. It is a well-made, content-rich continuation that respects its own legacy — which, after fourteen years, is exactly the right call.

If you have never touched the series, this is also a fine entry point. The single-stick control option softens the learning curve, and the campaign does a good job introducing the loop gradually. Just be prepared for the DLC music situation and for multiplayer that is fun but forgettable.

In short, this Once Upon A Katamari review lands on a clear recommendation: buy it for the rolling, stay for the chaos, and do not expect a revolution. Expect a reunion, and a very sticky one at that.

FAQ

Is Once Upon A Katamari a good starting point for newcomers? Yes. The campaign introduces mechanics gradually, and the optional single-stick control scheme makes the learning curve gentler. Most new players adapt within an hour or two of rolling.

How long has it been since the last new Katamari game? The previous brand-new entry was Touch My Katamari, a PlayStation Vita launch title from 2011. That makes this release the first genuinely new game in the series in well over a decade, which is a big part of why this Once Upon A Katamari review frames it as a reunion rather than a reinvention.

Which platforms can I play it on? It is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, PC, and Nintendo Switch. Performance is solid across all four, so choose based on your preferred setup.

Is the multiplayer mode worth buying the game for? No. Competitive multiplayer is optional and, by most community reports, merely passable. The single-player campaign, level variety, and customization options are the real reasons to pick this one up.