The team behind PlayStation’s iconic rhythm RPG franchise Patapon will bring a spiritual successor to crowd-funding platform Kickstarter later this month. Ratatan – which was officially announced during Kyoto indie convention BitSummit overnight – is being helmed by Patapon creator Hiroyuki Kotani, with original composer Kemmei Adachi also on board.

While there are no platforms currently announced, it’s probably safe to assume it’ll be available on PS5 and PS4, assuming it meets its crowd funding targets. While the trailer embedded above teases very little, it’s clear from the audio and even art direction that this is shaping up to be a new Patapon in everything but name.

The original Patapon game launched in 2007 for the PSP, and marked a particularly imaginative period for Sony’s since-shuttered Japan Studio team. The game effectively requires you to rhythmically hammer out drum patterns in order to command an army of titular Patapons, with different beats leading to unique moves, like attacks and defence. It’d go on to receive a multitude of sequels and PS4 remasters.

According to VGC, the new game will feature roguelike elements. “The three main game concepts are over 100 cute characters fighting it out on screen, four-player simultaneous battles, and more adventure and roguelike elements than Patapon had,” producer Kazuto Sakajiri said.

But does all this mean the Patapon franchise is dead? Not according to creator Hiroyuki Kotani: “There’s a possibility of maybe doing a Patapon sequel in the future, but for this we really wanted to make our own game, in our own style, with specific types of gameplay that reflect what we want,” he told VGC. “After that, if there’s a chance to speak to Sony about doing a Patapon sequel then we’ll go from there.”

And despite Japan Studio’s closure, Kotani believes Sony’s still doing a lot of good work in its domestic region. “Even if Japan Studio itself doesn’t exist anymore, there’s still a lot of creative energy at Sony and I’m looking forward to the types of projects that are going to come from them,” he said.

[source videogameschronicle.com]