Once Upon A Katamari: The First New Game in 14 Years, Explained
Once Upon A Katamari Is the First New Entry in Over a Decade
The Katamari series went quiet for a long time. Touch My Katamari came out in 2011, and then nothing on consoles or PC for over a decade. Once Upon A Katamari changed that on October 24, 2025, releasing for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. It is the first major new installment in fourteen years, and there is enough that is genuinely different to warrant a proper look.
Rolling Through Time
Instead of a single stylized world, Once Upon A Katamari takes the Prince through different historical eras. The Jurassic Period, the Ice Age, feudal Japan, and a Wild West saloon complete with cowboys and tumbleweeds all show up as playable stages. Each period brings its own set of objects to collect, which means the katamari grows in very different ways depending on where you land.
A new magnet tool lets you pull in nearby items. It adds a small strategic element to the otherwise chaotic rolling. Stage objectives vary as well: some ask you to collect only specific types of objects, others score by total weight. It keeps things from feeling like the same loop repeated across every level.
KatamariBall: Competitive Multiplayer Is New for the Series
This is the biggest structural addition. Previous Katamari games were almost entirely solo experiences. Once Upon A Katamari introduces KatamariBall, a four-player competitive mode where you race to grow your katamari larger than your opponents while avoiding anyone who has already outgrown you.
You can pick from 68 cousins (characters from across the series’ history) or build a custom character to use in online play. The concept clicks fast and matches are short. If you have friends who have never played Katamari before, this mode is probably the easiest way to get them into it.
A Series That Had Been on Hold Since 2011
The original Katamari Damacy was a PS2 game released in 2004. It was created by Keita Takahashi, who developed the core idea as a student project at Musashino Art University before joining Namco. The premise — a small prince rolling a magical adhesive ball until it is large enough to become a star — was unlike anything else at the time. The game is now part of MoMA’s permanent collection.
We Love Katamari followed on PS2 in 2005 and is still widely considered the high point of the franchise. Several more entries came through the late 2000s and into 2011, including Me & My Katamari for PSP and Katamari Forever on PS3. Takahashi eventually left Bandai Namco, and the series went quiet after Touch My Katamari.
Katamari Damacy Rolling Live appeared on Apple Arcade in April 2025, but Once Upon A Katamari is the first full console and PC release in the franchise since 2011.
Do New Fans Need to Play the Older Games First?
No. The story is light and the mechanics are introduced as you go. If you have played Katamari Damacy REROLL (the 2018 remaster of the original) or We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie (released in 2023), you are well prepared. But you do not need either as a prerequisite.
That said, We Love Katamari REROLL is short, available on modern platforms, and worth playing before or after. It set the template that Once Upon A Katamari is building on.
Nintendo Switch 2 Version
A Switch 2 version launches October 8, 2026, bundled with Rolling LIVE Highlights DLC, which includes five remix tracks from earlier games in the series. If you are on Switch 2 and have not picked up the original Switch version yet, that is probably the release to wait for.