Preview: Ratatan Is Promising but Difficult

It’s been a long time since Patapon graced the PSP with its mix of rhythm and platforming, and no game since has tried to do something similar. With Ratatan, some of its original developers have returned to make a spiritual sequel, adding roguelite and RPG elements to the mix. While I enjoy the concept, some of the added complexity when compared to Patapon’s simplistic premise clash in ways that make me wish the game was a bit simpler. Despite this, early access means some of my caveats could be solved in the future.

After a brief introduction to the world and a few characters, I was thrust into a very confusing tutorial. Dialogue is automatic and oddly fast. At first, I was fine, but when enemies got added to the mix, I had no time to read the messages and simply input the button combinations to survive. This made my very first run very short and frustrating. It took me a few runs and practice to know what I was doing. In Ratatan your playable character has a different unique passive ability, and different Cobun units associated to it. This means that the cat Nyandola can have spear and lance Cobuns, but Keroronpa will have sword and shield, and bomb Cobuns instead, for example.

Having to maneuver your own Ratatan in battle and avoiding enemy attack adds a layer of complexity. It is deceptively difficult having to order your units around, ensuring their survival, as well as your own. Being a roguelite, I was expecting failure in my early runs, but not as fast as I was experiencing. This is somewhat offset by how quickly you get upgrade materials and gear, even in a short-lived run. I was able to obtain various critical upgrades rather quickly. I think my main problem with difficulty is how frustrating actually landing hits feels in Ratatan. You have few and simple commands; you can make your Cobuns follow you, attack, defend, or jump. Each command has a right time to use it, and it will become obvious as you play.

However, the attack command feels very imprecise, and sometimes Cobun will do an attack animation far away enough from the enemy, exposing them to damage. Maybe this is because of my character choice, Nyandola, being a mostly ranged character. My solution was to approach the enemy and input my moves, but this opened me to enemy damage. It doesn’t feel very satisfying when you have to be very precise with your inputs, but enemies trample over you while doing so. Another issue I had was with visual clarity. Patapon has very stark, contrasting visuals that make it easy to look at. Ratatan has vibrant colors and varied environments. But when combat gets a bit frantic, the action is difficult to follow.

Despite my qualms with Ratatan its gameplay loop is solid. I believe that some of the issues I had with the game can be easily be solved in due time, and the developers are constantly rolling out updates. I still have to try many of its characters, and I’m hoping that one of them will fully click with my preferred playstyle. While I didn’t try it, the online multiplayer looks to be a hoot. All in all, I’m very curious and eager to see the direction of the game.

Ratatan is currently in early access for the PC via Steam.

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