One method of distinguishing between someone who merely owned a PSP and someone who truly cherished it is by inquiring about their opinion on Patapon. In my perspective, Patapon 2 continues to be the greatest game Sony has ever released. Without a doubt, I’ve been eagerly anticipating Ratata Arts’ creation, Ratatan. Admittedly, the outcome of crowdfunded spiritual successors can sometimes be unpredictable. However, after experiencing it at Summer Game Fest and a few additional trials at home following the event, the game appears to be in capable hands.
In simpler terms, the game called Patapon is a mix of a rhythm game and a roguelike, with plenty of RPG elements added for players to advance and enjoy. While Patapon itself wasn’t a typical roguelike, the entire series has always been influenced by other popular games. Particularly, Patapon 3 resembles PSP games like Monster Hunter in some ways. Given that roguelikes gained popularity in the mid to late 2010s, it’s not surprising that a genuine Patapon 4 might have been inspired by this trend.
If you’re familiar with Patapon, you’d grasp the mechanics of Ratatan better – especially after adjusting the settings to ‘Advanced’. This setting aligns the rhythm indicator and song combinations closer to their original functionality on the PSP, which I suggest if you’re an experienced player. It enhances the responsiveness of your inputs both in terms of timing and overall engagement with the songs. A notable difference is that players now have an MP meter that depletes when commanding Cobun units to use skills; you can replenish MP by playing songs correctly, with more MP being restored for ‘Just inputs’ as well.
In each room, progress is similar to games like Hades, where you decide to pass through a door to receive one of several possible rewards. These may include power-ups for yourself and your Cobun troops, additional Cobun units, a shop, resources for permanent upgrades, and much more. Occasionally, players encounter mini-boss battles against the enemy Ratatan, who drop special materials that can be used later at base to create powerful equipment for your Cobun.
After completing or failing a mission, players are free to return to base camp. Money earned during the mission is forfeited, but items like Candy, Chocolate Bars, Donuts, and enemy loot remain. These items can be utilized to boost your Ratatan permanently, create specific zone buffs such as a healing fountain that will always appear when certain thresholds are reached, and craft new weapons for Cobun. Weapons offer the most reliable means of enhancing your chances of success in a mission. Enemies may drop weapons of varying rarities and levels; even identical weapons can have randomized perks. Additional weapons of the same class can be sacrificed to enhance chosen weapons, raising a unit’s basic stats.
From the beginning, it’s clear that the gameplay loop is captivating and could be particularly appealing for players who may struggle with rhythm. The game’s focus on stats, combined with its user-friendly input settings and metronome feature, makes it more accessible for those individuals. Unfortunately, we haven’t had a chance to explore multiplayer yet, but based on what we’ve seen thus far, we’re eagerly anticipating the game’s release in Early Access on July 24 for PC (Steam).
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2025-06-16 23:25