The Patapon games are among the most brilliant innovations of the rhythm genre ever made, giving you little armies of adorable one-eyed creatures to command in musical combat. It felt like one of Sony’s best apps for many years, which is why it seems like such a mistake that we haven’t seen a new one in 14 years. But if Sony won’t make one, the original creators of Patapon will, with the spiritual successor Ratatan. But after going hands-on with the game, it’s clear Ratatan is much more than inspired by those classic rhythm games, it’s a genuine evolution of the formula that takes it into the territory of roguelites — creating a challenging but ambitious rhythm experience that holds a ton of potential.
“One of the main reasons we decided to go with a roguelite was because of the multiplayer aspect of the game. With Patapon, you could choose different quests and things, but that wouldn’t work very well with a multiplayer game,” producer Saisu Sakijiri Kazuto tells Inverse, “We thought a roguelite would seamlessly allow players to play the game together at the same time, and it’s also a more modern genre.”
