Wattam (PS4) Review

Developer: Funomena

Publisher: Annapurna Interactive

Release Date: December 17, 2019

Platforms: PS4, PC

Overview: Designed by Katamari Damacy series creator Keita Takahashi, Wattam is as obscure as a game can get. There's no real objective in Wattam, maybe there is. There are missions that need to be completed, but maybe there aren't. It's really hard to tell just what the experience of Wattam should be, and what it shouldn't be.

This world populated by random everyday objects sort of just becomes a playground with all your little buddies. Nothing in the playground makes any sense, but it just is. This is the definition of a turn your brain off type of game because any semblance of questioning the game will melt your brain cells.

Story: Wattam doesn't really have much going for it in terms of a narrative. The world used to be full of objects, but now it's empty due to reasons. The game gives a bit of backstory to give some sort of context for why the world is empty, but it barely holds up as a kickstarter.

There are record-keeping objects that the player finds to uncover more and more about why the world became empty in the first place. Wattam is a fluid experience that felt more like I was filling in the blanks myself, than the game giving me anything to work with.

Gameplay: The player can control any buddy object that they manage to find. A lot of the time, that buddy serves as a mini-game mechanic, such as playing as a mouth and eating fruits to create little chocolatey joys of poop. Afterward, it starts to get really stinky, so we switch to a toilet and polish up our poop babies into golden swirls. Pretty much every buddy serves to progress an area in way of another.

Wattam does give the player objectives they must complete to progress the game thankfully. The tricky part is figuring out which character to use, and how to accomplish said task. After finishing a certain amount of tasks, a new area based on the seasons comes swimming through the sky. While at the new area, the player must complete a new set of tasks to unlock the next area.

Presentation: Wattam isn't the prettiest game, but the art design really helps keep it from looking like it had a tight budget. I was very impressed with the character physics and AI. It really felt like there was a living, breathing community on each island.

A wildly inconsistent aspect of Wattam's presentation was definitely the soundtrack. The unfortunate thing was that the music changed depending on the objective that needed to be completed. This led to multiple minutes of annoying song loops after vibing for the past hour. It's also a shame that the intro area had the best music by far compared to the other areas.

Final Verdict: 6/10

Wattam was extremely ambitious and should've been a feel-good, empty thoughts type of game. Instead, the game gets worse the longer you play. The formula gets extremely repetitive. Finish a set amount of objectives, unlock the next area, and repeat for 4 hours until the game is finished.

Not only does the game become stale and repetitive, but the soundtrack does not help make it any more bearable. Luckily, the charm of the buddies was able to power me through this journey. Wattam had very solid ideas, but perhaps needed more attention paid to player progression and keeping a high-quality soundtrack to amplify the inherent charm of the game.