Ratatan Review (PS5) – Ratatan is a game that is very clearly built on the development team’s past with PSP classic Patapon, and that continuity does a lot of heavy lifting for a game that is desperately trying to continue the legacy of the beloved rhythm-action series. In a lot of ways, outside of name, this is ostensibly a brand new game in the Patapon series over 15 years after the last one.
I say so at the risk of sounding slightly reductive, but when your main gameplay mechanic has you chanting “Rata-rata-ratatan!” instead of “Pata-pata-patapon!”, I think the comparison is nothing if not apt. That being said, Ratatan does a serviceable job at bringing this style of game into the modern landscape, but that isn’t without some unfortunate readability issues that serve as a barrier to what is ultimately a fun action game.
Ratatan Review (PS5) – Same Band, New Name
A Familiar Beat
Patapon is a series that has been largely neglected by PlayStation in recent years, outside of the remaster of the first two games last year, handled by Bandai Namco. Along with the rest of Sony’s IP that were left behind in the closure of Japan Studio, Patapon always felt like a series with a lot more to give. So here comes Ratatan; a rhythm-action game that stands as a spiritual successor to Patapon.
You’ll pick your squad leader, set out into the world, and command a small army of Cobun in order to journey to a place known as the “Everafter,” after journeying through a few worlds before that and defeating whatever enemies you come across. It rings similar again to the type of plot that Patapon games were partial to; journeys to far off lands with larger than life creatures that you never really quite understand before you get there.
If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. As a departure from that original property, I can’t blame them for putting story on the backburner while focusing on letting people know why Ratatan was so sought after for so long. Characters are charming and that’s about all I needed them to be, at the end of it. There is no way in hell that I’m playing Ratatan for anything other than the drumbeating craziness.
To Beat The Drum Again
Ratatan forgoes having the player be the leader of the pack, and instead has them actually controlling a Ratatan of their own. Before every mission you choose the leader that you want to use, who comes equipped with their own abilities and Cobun lineups to take into battle, as well as affinities for different situations. These were never totally necessary to follow, but were a fun way to diversify repeating runs.
Another core difference in Ratatan is the adoption of a roguelite structure in lieu of the traditional stage based structure of its source. The “roguelite” has become a cultural shorthand for “replayable” in recent times, and you can certainly feel it grind against the core mechanics of Ratatan a little bit.
Starting from the beginning of a run every time, you’ll be thrown into rooms of enemies to defeat, before choosing the reward for the next room. This might be currency to upgrade your army at your home base, or elemental powers to augment your army of Coburn. These are all temporary upgrades and reset at the beginning of the run, where you can make more permanent changes back on the docks.
It’s not a bad system, and encourages different buildmaking, but at no point did I ever feel like it truly complemented the core gameplay of Ratatan. Regardless of what upgrades I chose, the majority of my success came purely down to hitting my attack commands and the occasional special while avoiding clearly telegraphed attacks.
Noisy, In More Ways Than One
If Patapon was known for anything, it was its distinct and readable artstyle. Despite the chaos that goes on in the later stages of those games, the action is always incredibly easy to parse and you can quickly make adjustments on the fly. It’s the perfect balance of simplicity and style to make for a memorable aesthetic that serves the game well.
Ratatan is visually a far more intricate game, with far more emphasis being put on background details throughout every area and world you visit. The result is a far “prettier” game to look at, with the cost of it being incredibly hard to actually see what’s going on with your leader and their army. I often felt like I was getting totally lost in the screen, losing troops when I could have probably been playing more strategically.
At the very least, every environment does indeed look gorgeous. The hand drawn style of Ratatan is one to be admired, and I’m sure that the action could be made slightly more readable with just a few changes in how things are highlighted and indicated.
Dig A Little Deeper
I want to love Ratatan for everything it does; it brings back the beating heart of the PSP and brings it to a brand new audience across a variety of platforms while still being in lockstep with why people loved it in the first place. It’s a game full of heart from the minute you hit go.
The drumbeat at the heart of the game is familiar and welcoming, but I fear that the familiar core of Japan Studios’ lost great is itself lost in the mess of mechanics trying to push it to be something that it isn’t. The lack of defined stage structure means that runs can feel overly repetitive, with buildmaking being incredibly rudimentary at the best of times.
Much of what I was doing felt like busywork; and it wasn’t particularly focused as a result. I was bombarded with system after system that felt like it was purely getting in the way of what should have been an engaging rhythm game. The roguelite elements feel like they’re an attempt at a quick-fix for an issue that is fundamentally baked into the game.
Yeah, you can play as over half-a-dozen characters. Each of those characters are still going to be marching on the same rhythm inputs. This isn’t like Hades, where each weapon is a totally different style that encourages you to go for different builds, each leader of the army largely does the same thing.
I wish I could be a bit more positive about Ratatan, but I’m left feeling wanting in the wake of a foundationally solid successor. Yeah, it’s a follow-up to Patapon, but it can’t just run with modern trends and expect it to fit the mold. You need a bit more.
Code for review was provided kindly by the publisher.
Ratatan is available now for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.