Ratatan is a rhythm roguelike that has you build a small army of cute musical creatures that react to your lead in a musical adventure to take down hordes of enemies, room by room, on the journey to find their goddess.
You can either take this journey on alone with your own personal army of musical monsters or engage in Ratatan‘s crazy four player co-op mayhem with up to 100 creatures fighting at any one time. If you ever wanted a screen filled with chaos and fighting, all with a nice beat playing to keep everything in check, then look no further.
When I first jumped into Ratatan I didn’t really know how this was going to play out, my experience with any sort of rhythm game is pretty minimal, so I was pleasantly surprised that they have a lot of accessible modes for someone just like me. At the beginning of your save you’re given the options to have complex strings or simple ones controlling your Ratatan, as well as the little Cobuns, into battle.
Ratatan does a great job of showing you the ropes with a simple tutorial to help guide you into place as the leader of a small Cobun force which slowly with various attacking abilities, jumping and defending all tied into the different musical commands you shout out with the Cobun mimicking you back and following the command.
There is also a fever meter that allows the music to really kick in once you have strung together a number of successful commands allowing you to really start grooving as you bash the baddies. It also activates fever mode which powers up your army and makes them more effective in combat.
The music in Ratatan is great and very catchy. I’m particularly fond of how the music always incorporates your commands and even with the Cobun reacting to your musical commands it generally fits right into the music as it’s going which is great to listen to.
The only issue I have with the music, however, is that it can get very repetitive, very quickly. With there only really being one song per stage. With you needing to die and repeat those stages over and over (minus the boss fights which seem to have their own songs) it can get very dull very quickly if you play Ratatan for a prolonged amount of time.
I think, with the nature of it being rogue-like and the music being this way, it is best enjoyed in short bursts. When playing singleplayer I seem to have died a lot more than with the multiplayer and would often find myself sitting there hearing the Pirates theme over and over again — as the levels are in the same order.
Multiplayer in Ratatan is a whole different kind of game, with it being an amalgamation of chaotic combat, explosions and effects all over your screen. In addition to this you have to try to time actions with the various input commands. It can be a lot to take in at first but it is definitely the best way to enjoy Ratatan. With up to three other players joining you for the adventure some of the more difficult bosses solo become a breeze.
The art style is lovely, I’m a big fan of the handdrawn aesthetic and it works perfectly for this style of game — as well as with all of the different animations jumping and jiving at every note played. I almost want to compare it to something like Cuphead where everything is constantly bouncing to the tune, but it’s not quite as refined.
If you are looking to fine tune your musical experience and play the Ratatan soundtrack loud and proud, maybe check out our review of the Edifier QR65 speakers and get your march on as you lead your Cobun to victory.
The hub world is quite basic, with various upgrades for both yourself and the Cobun being available. This includes new weapons and named Cobun to add to your ranks, or various upgrades to the many levels you traipse on through over and over again.
Overall my experience with Ratatan has been a fun one with a vibrant — albeit musically repetitive — world. I genuinely am looking forward to the new areas that I’ll uncover in future, as I plan to come back again and again to push further through it..
Ratatan is available now for PC, Switch, PS5 and Xbox.
