Best Games Like Katamari Damacy

Created by Keita Takahashi, the Katamari series is known for its weird imagery, even stranger story and characters, and unique puzzle–action gameplay that sees players rolling up household objects.

Considering how niche and unconventional the first game’s premise was, there simply aren’t many games like Katamari Damacy, which can make it tough to find something similar.

In this list, we’ll highlight the best games like Katamari Damacy to play in 2023, including the best games similar to Katamari Damacy and the best weird games like Katamari Damacy.

Lastly, we’ll be updating this list with new titles in the future, so make sure to check back and let us know if we missed any games!

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The first game we’ll be recommending is heavily inspired by the Katamari games and comes from solo game designer Ben Esposito.

Donut County is an indie puzzle game played from the perspective of a mischievous raccoon with a sinkhole-creating device that he uses to wreak havoc on a small town.

Instead of rolling up random household objects, players slide a sinkhole around the map, growing in size with each item consumed until they become big enough to swallow cars, trailers, and entire buildings.

While its imagery and writing are not as ridiculous as Katamari Damacy’s, the story is cleverly written and packed with funny dialogue.

If you’re a longtime Katamari fan, then there’s a good chance you’ve already heard of Wattam, Keita Takahashi’s most recent project that was released in 2019.

Like Katamari, the game features a whole host of unconventional gameplay mechanics but is best described as an action game centered on befriending an eccentric cast of characters.

This is done by holding hands with various trees, rocks, toilets, poop, etc., you encounter throughout the world; it also features minigames, puzzle-solving, and secrets to discovers.

Even though it doesn’t hit as many high notes as the Katamari games, Wattam’s sense of humor is just as ‘out there,’ and the same can be said for its gameplay.

Anarcute is an adorable indie game about a group of animals that decide to fight back against the evil corporations that have taken control over their cities. 

Instead of playing as a singular character, you control a mob of rioters as they rush the streets freeing their fellow animals, battling mind-controlled authorities, and leveling buildings.

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As the crowd grows in size, it also becomes stronger, allowing you to take down more powerful defenses such as lasers, turrets, spider robots, and more.

The game has a cute aesthetic, especially when it comes to the design of the animal mob, as each one has a distinct look, similar to the Prince’s many cousins.

Easily one of the weirdest games we’ve ever played, Everything is basically a world simulator that sees you possessing various lifeforms and inanimate objects in order to unlock bigger targets.

You start off with relatively small-scale stuff: animals, plants, trees, etc., before moving on to large landmasses and eventually planets and entire star systems.

Its gameplay is a lot more open-ended than Katamari Damacy, which tends to follow a mission-based structure, and focuses more on randomness and exploration.

You technically can’t even lose Everything since it doesn’t have a game over screen or any fail state, so really, you’re just playing this to see how far you can take things.

Pikuniku is an odd and marvelous problem-platformer about a crimson creature that embarks on a mission to assist eccentric individuals in conquering challenges and discover a secret government plot.

What makes it feel similar to Katamari is that every character gives you completely different tasks that often introduce new gameplay mechanics you wouldn’t expect.

Its story also has some suspiciously sinister undertones that contrast nicely with an assortment of cute creature designs and colorful environments.

Like Katamari, there’s also a bit of a learning curve to Pikuniku’s controls and the platforming, in particular, may take some getting used to.  

Although Drink More Glurp’s gameplay may not be that similar to Katamari Damacy’s, the two share a similar control scheme that sees players rotating both joysticks to move their character around.

Presented as a sports-inspired party game with whacky physics, it tasks you with running, jumping, and throwing your way through ridiculous contests that serve as a collection of minigames.

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Having you control your character’s movement using separate joysticks works surprisingly well and lends itself to competitive showdowns, especially in the game’s local multiplayer modes for 2-20 players.

While there isn’t as much depth to its gameplay design, Drink More Glurp benefits from vibrant visuals and is an excellent Katamari-like party game to play with friends.

The majority of Katamari Damacy’s levels see you trying to roll up as many objects as you can before the clock runs out.

I Am Bread flips this idea on its head by casting you as a simple slice of bread that leaves the comfort of the kitchen to become toast.

See, the more surfaces the bread comes in contact with, the less edible it becomes, requiring you to employ a bit of strategy and avoid certain obstacles.

The game’s household environments also feel very similar to Katamari’s in terms of scale and the number of secrets you can discover. 

Another game that plays off Katamari’s “acquire more stuff” gameplay philosophy is Stacking, an adorable puzzle-adventure game from the revered Double Fine Productions.

Set in a vintage world inhabited by Russian stacking dolls that have come to life, you play as Charlie, the world’s tiniest doll, as he sets out to save his family from the evil Baron.

To accomplish this, he needs to enter restricted zones, outsmart the security, and solve challenges by entering over 100 dolls that possess special abilities to alter the game.

It’s a delightfully earnest game brimming with charm and satisfying yet straightforward puzzle designs that are sure to keep you hooked.

What really grabbed our attention about Spinch was how mind-bending its visuals are, with nonstop rainbows and a large group of strange creatures.

In it, you play as “Spinch,” a hyper-agile white ball-shaped creature who sets out to rescue their litter of children after they’re kidnapped by a terrifying rainbow monster that intends to eat them.

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Your adventure sees you exploring a series of psychedelic side-scrolling platformer levels filled with various monsters, hazards, and secrets.

The game is very much a throwback to retro platformers that emphasizes timing and reflexes but thankfully includes a pretty forgiving checkpoint system.

Last but not least, Superliminal is a first-person puzzle game that, like Katamari Damacy, sees you manipulating objects in your environment to access new areas.

Admittingly, it’s much more involved than Katamari’s gameplay, requiring you to rotate and adjust the position of different objects to increase or reduce their size and reveal new functions.

Most of its puzzles are physics-based and use a mix of forced perspective and optical illusions that will have you thinking outside of the box, sometimes quite literally.

It also has a pretty interesting and, at times, confusing plot that revolves around the player character participating in some weird therapy program, though there’s definitely more beneath the surface.