July 31’s Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase may have been light on big, flashy announcements, but there was one major announcement that likely flew under some viewers’ radars. The 14-year-long hiatus for the mainline Katamari Damacy series is finally over.

The new installment, Once Upon A Katamari, is coming to consoles and PC on Oct. 24. It will be the first truly new Katamari game since 2011’s Touch My Katamari for the PlayStation Vita.

While the recent remakes of the first and second games were a welcome return to form for the series, they were ultimately 20-year-old games with a fresh coat of paint and the barest amount of new content. This new game looks like it will give the series just the shake-up it needs, sending the Prince of the Cosmos across time and space to roll things up in new and exciting locales.

The announcement trailer gave us some brief glimpses of gameplay, which appears to be largely unchanged from previous entries. The real stars of the show were the new levels. We see the Prince rolling in ancient Greece, an Old Western town, Edo-period Japan, and prehistoric times. The trailer also showed off various items that can be used to enhance the player’s mobility or make it easier to gather items.

The game will also feature a new soundtrack with many returning artists from previous games, along with an online competitive mode with up to four players. Sadly, it appears that couch multiplayer will not be an option, although players will be able to compete against CPUs offline.

What do you think? Are you excited for a new Katamari game? Do you think the series has nowhere else to go? Head on over to our Discord and join the conversation!

Featured Image: Bandai Namco

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