Product Info

Platform

Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PC

Publisher

Bandai Namco

Developer

RENGAME

Series

Katamari Damacy

Genre

Action, Adventure

Players

1 offline (2-4 online)

File Size (Minimum)

3.3 GB

Release Date (NA)

Oct 24, 2025

Purchase From

eShop

PSN Store

Microsoft Store

Steam

After fourteen years, a new Katamari Damacy game has arrived, Once Upon a Katamari. This new entry continues with the random goofiness and unique gameplay that made the Katamari Damacy series a hit. Katamari is back and ready to roll.

Oops! My Bad, Let’s Roll to Make a New One

While cleaning, The King of All Cosmos accidentally destroys the Earth and stars from a scroll. Oops! Now his son, The Prince, must collect objects with the katamari ball while you explore past eras on Earth to restore the planet. Roll dinosaurs, tumbleweeds, Edo Japan buildings, and more in this new entry in the Katamari Damacy series.

The goofy, off-the-wall humor and unique art style remain unchanged and look great in higher resolution. The silly dialogue from The King of All Cosmos doesn’t miss a beat, and his floating head continues to interrupt as you roll. Even when you don’t let him finish talking before rolling, he still has something to say. All (a)round, it’s amusing.

Many Ways to Roll

You are not just rolling to make a bigger katamari, you are using your ball for various other reasons, depending on what is requested from characters in the game and from your father. For example, one of the stages in Ancient Egypt needs an oasis built. Your mission this time is to take your katamari, which acts like a sponge, to water the sandy areas and create a green oasis. When your ball runs out of water, return it to a nearby water spot to refill it. There are other scenarios requiring players to roll specific objects to complete the mission. Another example is to roll up yokai, supernatural figures from Japan, but you’ll be rolling in a dark environment where your katamari ball is a glowing ball. It makes rolling this round feel different than other levels.

Controlling your katamari is straightforward and simpler in this title. Players who have played previous Katamari Damacy titles can use the controller’s two joysticks to move forward or backwards. Those who are new or want a simpler way to play, you can change it to be one joystick. Having this option makes a big difference on comfort levels. Moving your character in front or back of your ball is the same as before to make those quick turns. The game introduces all the basic steps in the first stage whether you are a veteran or a novice. Players can also use camera views from the katamari ball or from the character to see what objects are around but most of the time you won’t use this.

During a few times playing, you can expect to find yourself and your katamari ball stuck in tight spots. At times like this, the game should offer a reset option to move your character out. Even if the game deducts points or clock time, it’s worth having that option to keep rolling rather than starting all over. Hopefully this option will be possible in future Katamari Damacy games. Camera angles sometimes get in the way, even though the game offers a see-through view when stuck between objects.

If your score at the end doesn’t meet expectations, you’ll get a game over scenario from The King of All Cosmos to try again. Otherwise, you’ll hear various dialogues from The King depending on your results. It’s amusing as The King of All Cosmos doesn’t hold back his thoughts.

Keeping the gameplay of utilizing the katamari ball in different ways makes this new Katamari Damacy game more appealing. Its replay value adds additional value to the game. Players can retry levels to earn higher scores or find missing collections such as crowns and The Prince’s cousins. When you find these, you do not have to worry about collecting them again, making it easier for players to focus on what they need to do.

Many of these missions are required to finish in a timed amount or are finished when you collect a certain amount of objects. It varies and it’s good to see that it’s not the same every time. Some levels have additional missions that players can try to complete and earn more crowns. Crowns are a necessity to unlock additional areas to roll and to adventure into new eras.

Once Upon a Katamari adds new features to help with your rolling, magnets, radar, and rockets. The magnet is very helpful in automatically drawing objects that your ball can handle quicker. The radar is more handy if you are looking to find cousins and crowns. Rockets give your character quicker speed to roll. These objects can be found throughout the stage and are timed once you activate them. The downfall is you can only have one at a time, even when activated.

The latest rolling game adds a four-player competition called KatamariBall. This can be played offline against other CPU opponents, which are found in each era for a variety of playfields. Players can also play online against real players online. However, players can only play against others online on the same platform. The game does not support crossplay between other consoles and PC.

The rules on both offline and online are the same: roll objects, bring them to the spaceship to collect points. The more points you earn will determine your place. However, if you are not careful you can become part of the opponent’s katamari ball for a few seconds. It’s a simple battle royal that playing in either way doesn’t disrupt the overall experience with Once Upon a Katamari. Just think of it as more of a bonus stage.

A Colorful Roll

Everything about Once Upon a Katamari is clean, colorful, and yes awkward. People and many other living objects look weird with their low-polygon counts but that’s what makes Katamari Damacy stand out from the multitude of games out there today. Players will also receive short animated clips of The Prince’s family in random scenarios such as The King of All Cosmos throwing a firework ball into the air or fishing a giant crab from the ocean. These can be watched again in the game’s library located in the spaceship.

Players can swap to any of The Prince’s cousins, but only to the ones you find during your rolling adventure. Be sure to track them down! Additionally, you can create your own figure based on the cousins you find and change their color schemes, facial expressions, and more. You can save a large handful of custom figures, adding more customization to your experience of exploring Once Upon a Katamari.

If that wasn’t enough, players can also change the game’s background music to a song of their choice before taking on the next stage to roll. These upbeat and mixed styles of tunes are based on the game’s soundtrack that you’ve heard from prior levels. There’s at least a handful of tracks you’ll want to add to your favorite playlist and will want to add to your personal music library when not playing.

The Final Roll

Once Upon a Katamari is a rollicking good time with its newest entry in fourteen years. Players will delight in its random goofiness as they roll up dinosaurs, civilians, and buildings to rebuild the Earth. After such a long wait, it’s great to see this series rolling back into players’ hearts!

A PlayStation 5 review code was provided for this review. Once Upon a Katamari releases on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on October 24, 2025.