I don’t quite understand why we’re in a sudden Patapon revival, but I can’t complain about it. The cult rhythm game, in which players control an army of weird little dudes to the beat of music, will return this year with Patapon 1+2 Replay. That would be exciting enough for fans, but the bigger development is that the series is getting a full-on spiritual successor. Ratatan picks up where Patapon left off, bringing back that series’ colorful visuals and musical action.
Ahead of its early access release on July 25, I went hands-on with the upcoming indie at Summer Game Fest to see how developer Ratata Arts is reimagining a nearly 20-year-old game for modern audiences. Though it took me a few tries to fully understand how it all worked, I walked away charmed by Ratatan’s playful spin on the roguelite genre once I found my groove.
From a distance, Ratatan is a spitting image for Patapon 4. In it, I control a cute little guy who is a sort of conductor for an army of weapon-wielding critters. Bubbly music plays as we walk through 2D levels fighting enemies, but my crew won’t do anything unless I tell them to in song form. As a music bar moves on the bottom of the screen, I need to hit buttons on certain beats to carry out actions. Hitting X three times will get my crew to gather around me and march, while pressing B three times gets them to attack.
As someone who doesn’t have much history with Patapon, it takes me a while to fully grasp how it works. Part of the early confusion comes from the fact that I can actually freely move my character around during levels, but my characters won’t follow me unless I’m near them. I also need to learn a few extra inputs, skipping the middle beat to set my guys into a defensive stance or to trigger a special attack. There’s also a song that launches everyone up in the air, and it takes me a few tries to realize how effective that is as an evasive maneuver in boss fights. All of this becomes second nature to me by the end of my demo as I start tapping out songs from memory.
What makes Ratatan very different, though, is the fact that it’s a roguelite. My demo has me setting out on runs where I clear a screen full of enemies, get upgrades, and move to the next challenge. Rewards include health boosts, more troops, and passive buffs that alter my actions. I grabbed a bunch of upgrades during my demo, some of which added effects like stun damage to my army’s attacks. It’s very much cut from the same cloth as games like Hades, which seems to be the studio’s intent. I spoke to a developer after my demo, who noted that the team wanted to find a way to modernize Patapon rather than simply doing it again. That’s certainly evidenced by the fact that the game is getting an early access release.
I only got to try a few runs, eventually besting a big boss in a battle. I was only able to pull that off thanks to several meta progression hooks. By earning candy and donuts during runs, I can go back to a hub and get plenty of permanent upgrades. That includes upping the starting size of my army as well as grabbing perks like resurrection. That layer helps the formula quite a bit, as simply tapping out the same few songs is only so effective after a while.
I want to see how much deeper it all gets in the late game. I only had around six songs I could use during play and I’m curious to see if there are a few more hidden in the progression. I don’t think it needs them since the roguelite upgrades are what really change a run, but I’d love to commit some more complex actions to memory and really test my rhythm skills.
Even if that’s not in the cards, I think I’ll be happy enough soaking in the joyful visuals and exuberant music of it all. By the end of my demo, I was very much tapping my toe and swaying side to side on beat. That’s about all you can ask for from a Patapon successor.
Ratatan launches into PC early access on July 25.
