We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie (Nintendo Switch) Review

Bursting with colours, the introduction fills players in on what happened in Katamari Damacy. The scene then changes, introducing players to the world of We Love Katamari. The psychedelic art style and animations throughout the story sequences are a joy to watch but in the dark on Switch OLED it can be quite blinding! Players once again land in the shoes of the prince and are tasked with rolling up all in their way just as in the previous title. Only this time the theme is reminiscence and remembering, or at least it is in chapter 1 but there is a lot to the game, a lot more than the first.

Gameplay will be immediately familiar to any who have played a Katamari game before. There are multiple control schemes but if opting for the traditional analogue sticks the scheme exactly matches the prequel. The controls may be simple on the surface but, as with Katamari games of the past, there are things that suffer. Camera control for example is fine for most scenarios but the centre of that camera affects the directionality of the Prince, resulting in left sometimes meaning right. It is infrequent but also a real issue.

The core gameplay loop revolves around rolling up items using the Katamari, starting with smaller items such as matches and ending with large items like houses. It's genuinely a thrill. A lot of the game is run on a timer, each level is a request from a character in the hub world which is then recontextualised by the King of all Cosmos as a gameplay challenge. These can be as simple as making a Katamari of a certain size within a certain time limit, to as complex as a certain size, in a time limit and only including items of a specific type. Each of these levels keeps things fresh and the game has a very smooth difficulty curve ending with fairly hard challenges that are definitely fail-able. The fail screen is also interactive and can be quite terrifying, it's well worth trying not to fail and upset the King.

This remaster is huge with a ton of content. Levels contain extras to roll up, such as the Prince's cousins and rare items. The game also tracks the items that are rolled up and the player can aim to fill out the library of items and collect all types for 100%. This will take a very long time or planned out playing in some levels.

Visually this is an absolute delight. The unique Katamari style is here in full force with amazing artistic vision visible in cutscenes and a nice clean, almost clinical, look in the gameplay which makes it easy to see objects and interact with things. It's great. This fun and funky colourful atmosphere is heartily reinforced by the music. The soundtrack in this game is mind blowing. Its range is endless, and the quality of the tracks and visuals ensures each level is as entertaining as it can be!

All of these positive comments are applicable to arguably the most interesting point in picking up this remake: the Royal Reverie mode. This mode lets players step into the shoes of a younger King of all Cosmos, expanding what is already quite a content rich experience. This additional mode really offers a lot of value for players who are already familiar with the base game and it's something Bandai Namco could do with many of these remasters going forward!