Once Upon a Katamari Review – Rolling Through Time, But Not Forward

Once Upon a Katamari Review

Once Upon a Katamari is the first brand-new entry in the Katamari series since 2011. Modern consoles have excellent remasters of the first two games in the series: Katamari Damacy Reroll and We Love Katamari + Royal Reverie. Both remasters were lovingly put together and added new content in addition to quality of life upgrades. Still, a brand new Katamari game hasn’t been seen since the PlayStation Vita during the PS3 generation. Once Upon a Katamari was recently announced during a Nintendo Direct in August 2025, as that long-awaited brand new Katamari game.

Once Upon a Katamari has the same phenomenal puzzle gameplay as the other games in the series. The idea is that the player rolls a sticky ball, called a katamari, around, and things stick to it. The Katamari starts small and collects tiny objects, but as it grows in size, larger objects stick to it. The further the player progresses, the more ludicrously large the scale of the katamari gets. Once Upon a Katamari keeps the series tried and true gameplay, and it feels great on PS5.

Roll ‘Em Up Fast

Every level has a goal. Usually, it’s a variation of “make your katamari this large in this amount of time”. Sometimes the player has to collect every item within a certain time limit. Sometimes the player has to collect a certain amount of a certain kind of item within a time limit. But the goal is a variation of the same rolling under time constraints principle. It’s a truly original concept. Most would probably consider Once Upon a Katamari to be a puzzle game, but it’s a puzzle game in the same sense that Super Monkey Ball is. It’s a completely original concept that involves some action control.

To roll the katamari, the player has to hold both joysticks in the same direction. They can go in multiple directions, but the katamari controls like a tank. To change directions, the player has to change the direction of the joysticks. To move the Prince who pushes the katamari to the left, the player has to push the left joystick up and the right joystick down. Then move both joysticks in the direction they want to move the ball. Pressing L3 or R3 makes the Prince do a quick 180-degree jump. L1 and R1 change the camera view. R2 uses a collected power-up like an item magnet or speed burst.

Precise Physics

The player has to be more precise than they’d think when rolling over items to collect them. Although the katamari itself has the physics of a sphere, every collected item makes it lopsided. The player has to be careful when collecting odd-shaped objects, as it can make the katamari unwieldy to control. But because the player is under constant time constraints, there’s little time to pick and choose what to roll over. The end result is truly unique, fun, and challenging gameplay.

Of all Once Upon a Katamari’s features, the most welcome, by far, is the choice between Normal and Simple controls. Simple controls allow the player to steer the Katamari with the left joystick, and change the Prince’s direction with the right joystick. This makes the game a bit easier, but more importantly, it feels quite different. I felt the change was drastic enough that it almost felt like new game mode. It was like playing Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, or trying Street Fighter 6’s modern controls for the first time. I wanted to keep the old, but equally loved the new. I really enjoyed playing with both of Once Upon a Katamari’s control styles and switching between them.

The Same Old Story

The story of Once Upon a Katamari is that the king of the Cosmos is still a blowhard asshole, causing trouble. His son, The Prince, has to clean up after him. The King casually throws away a scroll that destroys the Earth, so he gives The Prince a time machine to roll his Katamari through Earth’s past. Somehow that will restore the Planet. It’s barely a story, and so unimportant that Once Upon a Katamari is a fine starting point for anyone new wanting to try the series.

Once Upon a Katamari’s story is really just an excuse to have its levels set in a larger variety of environments. Each area has a small world map that The Prince can explore. They have an ugly appearance that perfectly emulates the graphics style of the PS2 Katamari games. Each level shows The Prince’s goals. His time machine acts as a small hub menu. The different era maps range from modern day, to Edo period Japan, to Wild West America, to prehistoric dinosaur, etc. It’s a great variety, and advancing to a new era is always a treat.

Multiple Level Goals

Every level has a few subgoals that add a ton of replay value. There are hidden crowns to collect in every level. Certain amounts of crowns are needed to remove barriers that block new parts of each era. There are hidden presents, that have collectables inside. Cousins can be found, which are new character skins for The Prince. Every level also keeps a record of the player’s top score, so they can always go for a better high score.

A lot of Once Upon a Katamari’s advertised features are about customization. There are well over 50 Cousins to collect. The game has a Customize Cousin section that I thought would be a create-an-avatar feature, but it’s really not. There are only a handful of different faces, and other customizable body parts. And none of them are unlocked from the beginning. I love the idea of collecting cosmetics, but the level of customization is so shallow that the developer shouldn’t have even bothered. There needs to be some ability to customize the avatar at first, and unlockables should be bonuses.

Musical Emphasis

Once Upon a Katamari also puts a strong emphasis on customizing music. There are lots of songs to unlock, and many available to purchase as DLC. But the music from the Katamari series isn’t very listenable. It’s wacky and strange, and fits the tone of the games incredibly well. But I can’t imagine anyone just putting on the OST. It’s largely elevator music mixed with circus-like beeps and boops. I definitely wasn’t compelled to change the level music to something else, because I didn’t have favorite songs. For some reason Once Upon a Katamari is confidently pretending that one of the main reasons people play these games is for the music, and I just can’t imagine that’s the case.

Once Upon a Katamari has an online multiplayer mode for up to four players called KatamariBall. Players compete to roll the largest katamari, and can even roll up their opponents. It’s a fun addition, but not very deep. And that’s the theme of almost all Once Upon a Katamari’s additions. They are welcome, and fun, but they’re all too shallow. Once Upon a Katamari doesn’t evolve the series in any meaningful way. It’s more Katamari levels, but it feels more like an expansion pack than a sequel. This is a real shame when the Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari remasters feel so robust.

Humor Doesn’t Connect

There’s not much voice acting in Once Upon a Katamari, but the English language narrator sounds like he was told to voice a gentle cartoon for preschoolers. Someone didn’t get the memo that the game is a wacky Japanese comedy. The voice acting is awful, and completely ruins the tone of the scenes it’s used for. Thankfully the voice acting isn’t common. But, for whatever reason, the humor in Once Upon a Katamari always missed for me. There wasn’t ever a moment where I laughed out loud. I know the gameplay is the main draw of the series, but the second draw is its bizarre humor. It was disappointing to feel like the cutscenes were a slog instead of a treat.

Once Upon a Katamari has an excellent concept, and excellent gameplay. The problem is that there are lots of Katamari games with the same excellent concept and gameplay. The new online modes and customization options are great ideas, but are very shallow in execution. There just isn’t enough evolution in any of the series’ core ideas. If you’re a player who wants more Katamari levels, then Once Upon a Katamari has that. But if you were excited to create your own Prince character and get lost in endless online battle modes, then I’m sorry to have to share that those aspects are afterthoughts, despite being advertised as key features. As a fan of the series, I can tell there wasn’t the same amount of care and effort in Once Upon a Katamari that went into the series’ classic titles.

***PS5 code provided by the publisher***