The Katamari games are so stupid. They are so dumb. They are so pointless. And that’s why I love them. Those are games which would never be greenlit by a major publisher like Bandai Namco nowadays if they were original ideas. It’s such a hard sell: a game where you control a sticky ball with bizarre controls, with the objective of rolling over smaller, low-poly objects, with the objective of creating the biggest ball possible under a time limit, all while a fabulous, Esperanto-speaking monarch keeps telling you you’re not good enough, with tons of dialogue full of double entendres. Against all odds, the first game was a hit back in 2004, which prompted a sequel a year later, called We Love Katamari.

The main issue with the first Katamari Damacy game, besides the bizarre control scheme (which is basically a charming part of the franchsie’s ethos at this point anyway), was the fact it was a bit too short. The moment the puzzles started getting outright absurd, the game would end. We Love Katamari fixed that issue by being vastly larger, with more more levels and a wider variety on the objectives at hand. Not to mention a hilarious plot which centers around the success of the first game, with you and the King of All Cosmos performing tasks to fans of the first game, basically out of pure arrogance. It’s lovely, it’s amazing. Thankfully, after waiting for nearly five years, a remaster of said game is finally out, just like how Bandai Namco did to the original game.

The fact that We Love Katamari is basically more of the same isn’t a negative at all. In all fairness, there is not a lot you can do to improve upon the foundations of the franchise. You roll up a ball onto things, and grow in size. That’s it. If there is a quintessential example to “don’t fix what isn’t broken”, that would be it. I wouldn’t want for Katamari Damacy games to not have intentionally crappy visuals, and if anyone decided to replace the style of its soundtrack to literally anything else I’d set up a protest march in front of Bandai Namco’s headquarters. We Love Katamari is more of the stupid same, and it’s aware of that.

Every single level consists of a random person (or dog, we don’t discriminate in the land of We Love Katamari) asking for a favor from the King of All Cosmos. At first, he refuses, but once he finds out said person is a fan of Katamari Damacy, he decides to send you, his own son, to do whatever the person is asking for. For the most part, all you need to do is partake on a time attack, just like in Damacy.

Other levels spice things up a bit. In one level, you need to look for one thousand paper cranes inside a school. In another level, you control sumo fighter, with the objective of rolling over food (or other objects, again, no prejudice) to feed him and increase his mass in order to defeat another sumo fighter. That kind of weird crap that would have never been greenlit in 2023.

This is what you’ll be doing until the very end. But that doesn’t mean this is the exact game from 2005, with no improvements or additions. There have been slight improvements to the quality of the textures and resolution, while still retaining the franchise’s traditional crappy feel, and the UI has been redesigned. The main addition, however, is a brand new series of challenges where you play as the King of All Cosmos himself, albeit in his childhood days.

The story behind the King’s upbringing has always been a bizarre but charming part of We Love Katamari (and the franchise as a whole to be fair), so giving us the chance to play as him for a few levels is still a most welcoming addition. It’s nothing too fancy, as it reuses the levels from the base game, but these smaller missions usually have a neat twist, such as obstacles or additional objectives. Not to mention the fact that the King’s father is ruthless and hilarious. You almost want to fail a mission just to see the old man lose his temper.

We Love Katamari has always been the fan favorite of the franchise, so having access to a modernized port, which retains everything that worked in the original (namely, almost everything), all while slightly improving its UI and giving players even more content than before, is something worth celebrating. Would I prefer an actual modern Katamari game, with new levels and content to enjoy? Sure, but I get that this franchise is a really hard sell. I would, however, absolutely recommend picking the remaster of We Love Katamari up. This kind of ultra-dumb but ultra-fun game is rarely seen nowadays.

 

Graphics: 7.0 It looks sharper and slightly more detailed than the remaster of the first Katamari Damacy. Well, as “more detailed” as a Katamari game can be, at least.	Gameplay: 6.5 It’s still a super weird and occasionally frustrating control scheme, but I suppose that’s also part of what makes the Katamari games so endearing; it’s almost as if you are overcoming the odds.
Sound: 9.5 More of the same, and this is not criticism. On the contrary: it’s more of Katamari‘s insanely catchy collection of tunes, and I couldn’t be happier about it.	Fun Factor: 10 The main issue with the first Katamari Damacy game was the fact it was a bit too short. We Love Katamari has a lot more content, and more variety to its levels. Furthermore, this remaster added some qualiy of life improvements and some extra levels. It’s fantastic. I’ll be playing the damn thing non-stop for the foreseeable future.
Final Verdict: 8.5

We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

A copy of We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie was provided by the publisher.