to a T

I will admiT I haven’T kepT ThaT close aTTention to Keita Takahashi’s career since The original Katamari Damacy, so I hadn’T heard much abouT his oTher non-Katamari projecTs aside from Noby Noby Boy and Wattam. His mosT recenT game, to a T, was someThing I had noT heard anyThing abouT unTil The YouTube channel Mega64 released a sponsored video promoTing iT, aT which poinT I boughT and played The PS5 version as soon as iT was made available. While The game is an unconvenTional experience by The sTandards of Takahashi’s past work ThaT I had played, I still ThoughT he delivered while keeping his whimsical Touch.

Stray (PS5)

Those who have seen the initial PS5 reveal may remember an announcement for a game called Stray, in which you play as a stray cat. Of the announcements at the reveal, this was one that instantly caught my attention, though I opted not to look at anything else related to it until it came out, and even then, I patiently waited for a physical release first. Although I didn’t have any expectations going in, my patience paid off and I found the short experience worth it.

The Pathless (PS5)

Having played Giant Squid’s first game, Abzû, the announcement of their follow-up game The Pathless instantly grabbed my attention, as they had proven themselves to me that they could retain the spirit of thatgamecompany’s output. As for playing the game, I opted for a physical edition of the PS5 version through iam8bit as a way to get some early mileage out of the system. While I did find it an overall worthy successor to Abzû, it did feel a little repetitive at times.

Wattam (PS4)

When Wattam was first announced, the initial teaser trailer was enough to make me curious about it, especially since it was a product of Keita Takahashi, the creator of Katamari Damacy and Noby Noby Boy, the former of which is one of my favorite game series. When it initially launched in 2019, I will admit I didn’t pick it up right away since I still wasn’t sure what exactly the game was about. I did, however, become more interested when I stumbled upon a physical copy of the game through iam8bit, which featured three different covers (Sun, Apple and Sushi; I picked up the Sun cover from Best Buy). After finally getting a chance to play this game, I thought it held up with Takahashi’s previous work, despite some frustrations.

Donut County (Switch)

As with many games I had played I was intrigued by the premise of Donut County from a teaser trailer, due in part to its art style and interesting gameplay involving controlling a hole. Though the game had been on my radar, I got more serious about playing it once physical copies for PS4 and Switch began to be distributed via iam8bit. I missed my chance to snag a copy through them, however a local Best Buy in my area still had copies for the Switch, so I obtained a copy in the interest of having some form of entertainment during the COVID-19 pandemic. After finally getting to play it, the game met my expectations, though there was a bit more to it than I initially thought.