Once upon a time, Sony was one of gaming’s most eclectic publishers. That might be hard to imagine considering that it is hyper-focused on a specific brand of cinematic storytelling these days, but platforms like the PlayStation Portable were once home to a bevy of inventive first-party games that were hard to replicate. There’s no better example of that than Patapon, a unique rhythm action series about marching eyeball critters.
It was a one-of-a-kind idea, the type of special game you’d be hard-pressed to find from a major publisher in 2026. While you won’t find the creative spirit of Patapon alive at PlayStation Studios, you can still find it in Ratatan, a musical roguelike which exits early access on Oct. 15 for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. A spiritual successor to Patapon spearheaded by its former developers, Ratatan looks to pick up the dropped torch and march the rhythm game into a new era.
That’s not exactly an easy task, as developer Ratata Arts discovers in a lacking roguelike that struggles to fully modernize a classic game. As flawed as it is on a structural level, though, Ratatan is still loaded with a nostalgic charm that will make you pine for a lost era. At a glance, Ratatan is Patapon in everything but name — and even then, it’s still pretty close.
You take on the role of a pint-sized critter, a titular Ratatan, who becomes a conductor for an army of Coburn, a breed of one-eyed fuzzballs. Your goal is to lead the Coburn through 2D worlds filled with monsters, barking out orders in order to take out foes en route to meeting a Goddess. All the fundamentals of Patapon are there, right down to a very similar soundtrack of bouncy music.
On an aesthetic level, Ratatan nails the assignment. It's a vibrant little cartoon with a feel-good nature that’s so infectious that it’s hard to resist tapping your foot along to the bright music. It’s positively endearing; you can really feel that it’s coming from developers who deeply loved creating Patapon and are just happy to make something like it again.
The rhythm gameplay still feels fresh nearly two decades after 2007’s Patapon, even if it’s a little shallow. You issue commands to your Coburns by nailing two or three button combos in time with the music. Hit the Y button three times and they’ll start marching.
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