A new mission to Earthend has begun.
As one of the most unique rhythm games of all time, Sony's Patapon series, which started life on the PlayStation Portable, has since achieved cult status – partly because of its unique mix of genres and art style, but also because of its much-lamented dormancy.
Said dormancy may have finally come to an end, with the original designer announcing and recently releasing a spiritual successor – though if will manage to live up to its template remains to be seen.
Starting On A High Note
The titular Patapons, a species of small loveable eyeball monsters, were actually created long before the first game entered development, with French artist Rolito publishing their designs on his personal website in 2004. When game designer Hiroyuki Kotani of Sony's Japan Studio found them there, he quickly got to work recruiting the artist to make a game centered around the creatures, getting development studio Pyramid on board as well.
Originally simply wanting to have them "march into battle", for the final release of Patapon (2007), the team eventually landed on the idea of having players direct a tribe of Patapon with specific drum beats (each button on the PSP representing a type of drum), which are especially powerful when synched to the background music. They had effectively created a completely new genre mix of rhythm and strategy.
This distinct premise combined with an unique art style and interesting background lore quickly made the game a critical success, prompting multiple sequels to be released until Patapon 3 (2011). Sony had ordered Japan Studio to be restructured in a more profit-oriented way and given the declining mainstream interest in rhythm games around the time, the journey of the Patapon tribe came to a sudden end.
Continuing The Beat
However, the innovative gameplay loop and charming designs helped the franchise, which never quite got the chance to transition beyond its PSP era, to garner a kind of cult following. Fans regularly called for a revival or modern reimagining, but without a clear home for the IP, the franchise remained dormant outside of remastered releases on PS4 in 2017 and 2020.
In 2021, Sony would fully reorganize and merge Japan Studio with Team Asobi and other studios of theirs, not renewing contracts of multiple prominent figures of the studio. Shortly before this, Hiroyuki Kotani, realizing where things were heading, left the company to pursue his own projects where he would not have to adhere to established corporate structures.
Recognizing the popular demand for more Patapon, he – along with the original game's composer Kemmei Adachi – formed Ratata Arts to start development on a spiritual successor, eventually announcing a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, which quickly surpassed its ¥20,000,000 target tenfold and culminated in Ratatan being released as an Early Access title on September 19, 2025.
Entering A New Fever
Ratatan preserves the rhythmic command system of Patapon, but builds on it with new twists. Players still issue beats to guide their armies, but now also use card abilities, summons, and cooperative multiplayer options. There are also new multiplayer roguelike elements adding replayability, with randomized runs and progression systems to make sure .
The story as well echoes Patapon's structure: Players once more assume the role of a deity leading a quirky tribe through dangerous lands, fighting massive foes, and uncovering tribal mysteries. As a spiritual successor, the game is obviously not a direct continuation of Patapon 3, whose fairly ambigous ending has been the cause of a lot of fan speculation, but Ratatan carries the same mythological motives and minimalist tone.
After a very warm reception upon reveal, a June 2025 demo of Ratatan was seen by many as somewhat concerning, with players noting that the game still felt very unfinished in terms of presentation and gameplay. Taking this feedback into account, the developers moved its Early Access release date from July to September of the same year.
Hearing Familiar Tunes
While Ratatan has thus not been "entirely" released yet, the Steam Early Access version published by Game Source Entertainment is already considered by the developers to be in a fully playable state and has enjoyed very positive reviews from players. The final release, estimated by Ratata Arts to be ready in 6-12 months, will mostly incorporate all the stretch goals met during the Kickstarter campaign:
In the full version, we plan to introduce additional worlds, characters, weapons, skills, and more, further expanding the endgame content and variety of play. We are also working on improving overall stability and quality to deliver a more polished experience.
Given this Early Access status, it is difficult to estimate whether Ratatan will be a commercial success, with its current peak of roughly 6,600 concurrent players on Steam likely not being indicative of its long-term sales numbers. In any case, it is still way too early to speculate about the potential of a full-on Ratatan series.
The campaign has, however, seemingly caught the attention of Sony, who announced Patapon 1+2 Replay in March 2025, but surprisingly licensed it out to Bandai Namco for its July 2025 release. Even more surprising is the fact that the game was the second time a Sony-licensed intellectual property released on a Nintendo system (after Lego Horizon Adventures in 2024), showing that the company apparently assumed that PlayStation players were not interested in the franchise anymore.