With the release of Patapon 1+2 Replay and now Ratatan two months later, it feels like we turned the gaming clock back to the late 2000s. Honestly, when it comes to rhythm games, I am still stuck back there. I have largely watched the most dedicated and impressive communities, such as those for Guitar Hero or osu!, from the sidelines, all the while engaging with relatively less intense series myself. If, like me, you have still not invested the time to get better at rhythm games, Ratatan has all the tools to get you hooked on the genre, even if its Early Access launch faces some familiar, worrying issues.
Launching Ratatan feels incredible. The menu sings and crescendos upon picking an option, and launching into the hub (following a quick tutorial run) is just wondrous. The style, the animations, the colors, the tunes sung by the lead characters—one of the eight titular Ratatan—on the press of a button put an enormous smile on my face every day I spent playing it. It is just such a pick-me-up game; nothing can take away from the fact that together, all those little dudes singing create a space I keep wanting to come back to… even if I am wiping out others by the hundreds.
The foundation of old is elevated during battles. It took me one or two runs to properly get the rhythm and begin engaging with the more tactical aspects of it: observing movesets, dodging thrown spears, and focusing my stronger Hustle Tech attacks on powerful enemies. It is a pleasant early difficulty curve, especially with a fantastic collection of bosses that will have you reaching for jumps, guards, and group-ups to avoid being knocked out.
Getting hit is not the end of the world either, at least for the Cobuns—the little minions you commandeer through song. Even if their health depletes, they will return after a while, so long as your Ratatan avoids enough damage, you can keep fighting. As long as you do not mind seeing your tiny friends perish with a pitiful “uguuuu” each time, that is. They are quite charming fellas to be fair, throwing cute quips in each zone and screaming “Murder!” during fights, all via text bubbles to not interrupt the incredible dynamic soundtrack, upgrading whenever you enter Fever by following a bunch of successful on-rhythm actions.
Currently, despite my love for this style of game, I come away a bit weary. Ratatan finds itself in an all-too-familiar roguelite trapping—insane enemy scaling spikes. First few worlds? Totally fine, can get through them no problem. World four and five? Every enemy takes what feels like years to take out. Seriously, I hate those penguins. Meta progression has been the bane of too many games like this.
Picking out cards and rewards after each battle is enjoyable! Sure, it is not the most inspiring collection of buffs (poison doing damage over time, or ice freezing enemies), but during a run these choices and builds are often satisfying and do not take much time. Real problems begin when you reach that damage wall where you know you need to go back to the hub and do a few more runs to grind out your Ratatan’s upgrades or craft and strengthen your Cobuns’ weapons. It has nothing to do with how well you play or how much you have learned and improved. It always felt cheap and unsatisfying.
Thankfully, unlike most other roguelites with the same problem, there is a workaround here: co-op! Jump into a random lobby and bring destruction to everyone and everything! Playing online is where I ultimately had the most fun, being able to reach the final boss and unlock certain upgrades much earlier than I was probably supposed to. Hard to say, really. This is a very jolly game that does not give you the names of the people you played with, avoiding any and all shame from jumping in underprepared. Maybe trying to find some pals to help you is just a natural progression that quickly and smoothly leads you into the most enjoyable, chaotic version of Ratatan.
The end goal here seems to be facing down these mega bosses with three fellow loudmouths, which does recontextualize Ratatan as a whole. Balance goes out of the window, and my grievances with its sudden spike in the middle disappear, but it figures itself out by the end to provide a very enjoyable and intense final boss in the fifth world. When more are added, with even more complex patterns and a bigger health pool, I can definitely see how a run or two a day can slot themselves into my routine for weeks at a time.
Right now, I recommend grabbing Ratatan, enjoying its charming presentation alone for a few good runs, and then jumping into multiplayer without any shame to watch complete annihilation unfold. In time, I want to see a smoother curve for solo play, crazier bosses, and a more involved story. I have seen Early Access roguelikes fail to address the arduous meta-progression balance one too many times, but for Ratatan—a game that manages to spark joy the moment you click play—I am willing to possibly get burned once more.
Mateusz reviewed Ratatan on PC with a provided review copy.
