We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie from Bandai Namco Entertainment released last week for PS5, PS4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam worldwide. Having adored Katamari Damacy Reroll enough to buy it on all platforms, I was very excited to finally play what I had been told was the best entry in the series. While We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie is an enhanced remaster, I have no experience with the original game, so I cannot comment on what changed compared to the original. For me, this is a brand new game, and one I’ve enjoyed playing all weekend across current systems. For my We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie review, I’m going to cover the game itself, what platform you should buy it on, whether the DLC is worth it, and more.
While this review focuses on the PC version including how it feels on Steam Deck, I will also be covering every current platform version of the game in case you’re curious about any platform-specific features and how it feels on each system. We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie feels like a massive step forward from the first game in its scope, level design, and also in its ports to modern systems. It makes things feel fresh even for someone who played the original Reroll multiple times across platforms.
We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie PC graphics and control options
On PC, We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie lets you adjust resolution (720p to 4k), toggle v-sync, anti-aliasing quality, toggle depth of field, and adjust shadow quality. You can also adjust window mode across fullscreen, windowed, and fullscreen windowed. There is no option to force any specific button prompts. You can map controller inputs to specific keys as the only form of button assignment in game.
As an enhanced remaster, We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie also includes new content in the form of levels, the ability to take selfies, and use a “Gorgeous” (default) or “Usual” display mode. The modes let you opt for a modern visual style with reflections or a style that aims to feel like the PS2 game played on modern displays. The new levels weren’t anything to write home about, but the core game levels are a massive step up over the first game. Even the requirements and challenges make things fresh almost all the way with only one specific stage feeling like a grind to some degree.
We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie on Steam Deck – the best portable version
Out of the box, We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie runs at 60fps without any issues. The only thing I changed was the resolution because the game defaulted to 720p despite including native 800p support with full 16:10 gameplay. The Steam Deck even has symmetrical analog sticks and Katamari was designed for those. I have no hesitation in calling We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie on Steam Deck my favorite way to play it on the portable side. Just make sure to toggle rumble on because it was off by default for some reason.
I also tried it over the official Steam Deck Docking Station on my 1440p monitor over the DisplayPort cable. When running at 720p, expect 100fps or more during most levels. I forced it to run at 1440p and turned everything to high and saw the frame rate finally dip into the 50s during gameplay. If you do play it through the Steam Deck Docking Station or over HDMI, I’d recommend capping it to 60fps and playing with better visuals unless you’re ok with an uncapped frame rate hovering in the 100s.
We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie on Nintendo Switch – some performance issues
We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie on Nintendo Switch targets 30fps which is half of all other platforms, but this wasn’t a dealbreaker after how Katamari Damacy Reroll ran at 30fps on everything. The one issue is the “Gorgeous” visual option results in slowdown in specific levels. I’d recommend playing with the “Usual” graphics which try and look closer to the PS2 game for better performance. The biggest issue I have with the Switch version is the load times. While other platforms have a short loading animation, everything is longer on Switch. This is from the game installed on my OLED Model on the internal storage.
We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie on PS5 – haptic feedback and Activity Cards
We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie on PS5 supports the DualSense haptic feedback and PS5 Activity Cards. You can use the latter to jump into a level directly without wasting time sitting through menus and selecting a level. It works brilliantly. The game also runs without issues in my testing at 60fps and much crisper visuals than Switch as expected. The symmetric analog sticks on the controller also help with how Katamari has been designed. If you don’t care about portability, I’d recommend getting We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie on PS5 for sure on the console side.
We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie on Xbox Series X – Quick Resume support
I spent more time with We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie on the Xbox Series X when it comes to home consoles because I took full advantage of Quick Resume jumping in between Company of Heroes 3, We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie, Age of Wonders 4, and Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 with We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie pinned to Quick Resume. While the feature is lacking in online games or server-dependent games, it worked as it should here. Performance was also great like the PS5 version and I have no complaints about the Xbox Series X version barring the ones that apply to all platforms.
We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie on PC – uncapped frame rates
While Katamari Damacy Reroll had 30fps gameplay, We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie has uncapped frame rate support. This includes above 60fps as well. Barring that, the PC version has support for PlayStation button prompts if you use a DualSense controller, but it doesn’t seem to have haptic feedback. I tested this wired and wirelessly with Steam Input enabled and disabled. If someone figures out a way of getting the same PS5 haptic feedback on PC, I’ll update this. If you don’t care about haptics, the PC version is the way to go for sure.
We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie Series Music Bundle – is it worth buying?
The We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie Series Music Bundle is included in the We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie Special Edition that is priced at $10 more than the $29.99 price point for the base game. At $10 more through this bundled edition, getting 25 songs and some cosmetics isn’t a bad deal given the quality of the music. I don’t think the bundle is worth the $20 on its own for those who want to upgrade from the base game. Since the DLC pack for Klonoa has been discounted, I’d recommend waiting for a similar discount for the We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie Series Music Bundle if you didn’t or don’t plan to buy the Special Edition from the start.
In its current state, We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie is an essential if you enjoyed the first game and pure joy, but I hope potential updates can address the draw distance issue on all platforms. Barring that, I hope the Nintendo Switch version can see optimization for the “Gorgeous” visual option because it has slowdown in a few levels despite the frame rate target being half of other platforms. These are the main issues I have with the remaster. Some minor issues are with how the skip cut-scene button is visible at all times when a cut-scene can be skipped and also the loading interruption when you unlock a new area in a level.
After enjoying Katamari Damacy Reroll a lot, I was hoping we’d get a new remaster soon, but it took nearly half a decade for We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie to release. Thankfully the wait has been worth it because We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie is pure joy despite a few technical issues. As someone who only experienced and got into the Katamari Damacy franchise through the 2018-released remaster for Switch and PC, We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie is everything I wanted from a sequel. Just like the original, I’m going to leave this installed on all platforms to play when I want to take a break from other games.
Hopefully my We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie review helped you decide whether this new remaster is worth your time, and also what platform you should grab it on if you have access to multiple systems.
We Love Katamari Reroll + Royale Reverie is out now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.
