If you haven’t heard of One Piece, the global phenomenon and the most-watched show in 2022, remove yourself from under the rock you reside in, and let me tell you something. As someone who went from not liking anime to watching 1000+ episodes of this show over the course of the last year, it is excellent. From the mind of Eiichiro Oda, One Piece follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his pirate crew called the Straw Hat Pirates. As they travel the world in search of the titular One Piece, they fight bad guys and make new friends through various arcs in interesting places. In a show that is over 1000 episodes and is only 8% filler content, this gives plenty of time for depth and growth of the character arcs in many capacities, and we see both friends and foes going through radical developments and twists.

In a series this large and with such a world to explore, its no surprise this Weekly Shonen Jump manga has expanded into almost 15 movies and 20+ games in the last 25 years. The newest of these games, and the focus of this review, is One Piece Odyssey. A classic-styled JRPG from Bandai Namco, I was lucky enough to receive a copy shortly after I caught up to the anime, so my mind is still full of the context of the universe and the game’s content. While not canon, it includes plenty of canon content and rehashes some of the previous adventures of the Straw Hats in an interesting way. Read on to hear my thoughts on One Piece Odyssey.

Story

With guidance from the series creator Eiichiro Oda, One Piece Odyssey could realistically be called an arc of its own. While not canon, the game sees the crew grow and work together to overcome some difficult situations, and the mood of the show is captured fully here. After a storm washes up the Straw Hats on a mysterious island, they lose the memories of their abilities and have to rediscover them along with a strange new companion.

While I’ve not yet finished the game, I have been surprised at the depth of character development and unique feeling of each of the game’s areas. Part of the draw of the Odyssey is the revisiting of some of the most loved arcs in the show, with the already revealed locations being the desert country of Alabasta and the island city of Water Seven. While I’ll not spoil the other two arcs for those interested in playing, the heartstrings will be tugged, and revisiting these past events is not for the faint of heart. One Piece Odyssey is a love letter to One Piece, and people who do not like or care to watch the show will likely not think about picking up this game. While the story it tells is unique and very enjoyable for a fan of the series, the Memory mechanic of revisiting past adventures will not resonate with the average gamer.

However, as someone who is now caught up in the epic show, I can say this story has me hooked, and it displays all the heart of the source material. With the original Japanese voice actors playing their respective characters and plenty of interjections and conversations between these characters, it feels like an arc of the show that can be uniquely experienced through the power of video games.

Gameplay

One Piece Odyssey is a classic JRPG with turn-based battling and the party exploring between these battles, opening chests, and finding new routes with various abilities. However, a unique twist on that turn-based battling is the Dramatic Scene area system in each battle with the Straw Hats being put up against differing amounts and types of enemies in each of these areas, much like the show. Dynamic events occur in battle, such as one character being ganged up on or the captain deciding to take down a specific enemy, and reward the player with extra XP if the events can be accomplished successfully. As the game continues, you unlock new abilities for each of the Pirates and utilize them in battle and while exploring. For example, the sharpshooter Usopp can fire his slingshot at plants on walls, dropping special items, while the swordsman Zoro can slice iron doors, opening new areas. Each character having their own ability while exploring allows a sense of replayable exploration, as you want to go back and experience each area with the character’s abilities or use them interchangeably to discover secrets and treasures.

Returning to the battles, the crew can field up to 4 members fighting as a team with the ability to swap out characters that haven’t made a move yet. This is a free action, and switching a weak crewmember out for a fresh buffed character can sway the tide of battle. In the first few hours, these battles are ridiculously easy, but that swiftly changes upon entering the first Memory location. Outside of battle, creating items that can debuff enemies or cooking meals to give HP or TP (action points to use skills) becomes necessary to win fights, and successfully managing those items and the crew’s skills in battle allow some interesting combos and forces the player to think on their feet. While there is an auto-battle feature, I have never really used it as I don’t think it makes the best decisions.

As Odyssey continues, players will discover Fragmented Memories. The concept behind this is that memories are inherently hazy and will not always fit what actually happened, leading to these special rifts in the Memory that only certain crewmembers can enter. Going into these rifts and completing the challenges within award bond abilities, powerful skills that utilize multiple crewmembers in a single move. These are worth collecting, and very quickly added another dimension to the turn-based combat that felt quite unique. For what it’s worth, the gameplay feels great. As someone who never really enjoyed JRPG Turn-based combat and instead preferred the more modern real-time action battles, I have been having a great time with the fights and figuring out how to utilize the crew well. While early on it feels repetitive due to the small number of skills, that quickly expands as the crew relearns their abilities and becomes powerful once again.

Audio and Visuals

Playing on a PC with pretty powerful specs, I was consistently running on very high FPS with maxed-out graphics and it looked fantastic. The abilities were colorful and exciting, the character models looked great, and the different environments were all well made and exciting to explore. From what I’ve heard the next-gen consoles have a similar experience, while the last-gen PlayStation 4 is a little rougher. However, most of the out-of-engine cutscenes are noticeably lower quality and run at 30-40 FPS, which can pull players out of the game pretty quickly. Realistically though, these cutscenes are rare and in the grand scheme of the game are not a big deal, as the in-engine cutscenes look and run just as well as the game itself. In a time when players usually expect stuttering and graphical issues on day one, I experienced no issues running the game and no noticeable visual bugs.

The same praise can be given to the audio. With the aforementioned original voice actors playing their respective characters, the banter and conversations between the crew feels fun and organic, full of the heart and wit present in the show itself. The music perfectly balances with the mood onscreen, and each area feels like its own unique set of tracks. Overall, the visuals and audio only add to the story and gameplay without distracting from it, and are a balanced part Odyssey’s experience.

Replayability

While I have not yet finished Odyssey, I can already say this is a long game, potentially in the realm of 60 hours to complete the main story. Upon that, replayability will be based on the player’s experience in the game and love of the world. While a huge One Piece fan might play through it a few times, I didn’t see any options for a New Game Plus or difficulty settings to affect the experience of the game. With a game this long, I’m personally disinclined to say it has a lot of replayability, but if the developers decide to add a New Game Plus or additional DLC content then it may yet be a more replayable game in the future.

What It Could Have Done Better

Surprisingly, for a JRPG, I had very few complaints about One Piece Odyssey. I will go out on a limb and say this game has very few flaws for gamers familiar with the source material, with enough newness to entice those same fans. With that being said, the predictability of some of the comments from the characters made them feel a little one dimensional at times, with certain features of the characters being harped on repeatedly in the same way. While this is similar to the show, it would have been nice to see a little more growth in the conversations as opposed to needing to speak to each character at campsites and between missions to see their growth.

Realistically though, the only solid complaint I have is that I wish the camp system felt a bit more dynamic. As an area to craft and prepare for the coming battles, I wish there was more to the character interactions and differences in the “parties” that would occur to close camp out instead of the same animations and exclamations with new area scenery. With campsites in a variety of places, this feels like something that was overlooked by the devs and would allow more immersion and attachment to these characters.

Verdict

If you have never enjoyed JRPGs and opened this review not understanding what One Piece is, don’t buy this game. It’s not for you. If you are a One Piece fan in any capacity this is a great place to get into the games if you haven’t, and a wonderful foray with some of our favorite pirates. However, to be clear, THIS IS A LOVE LETTER TO ONE PIECE FANS. Revisiting some of my favorite locations, characters, and enemies from the series was so wonderful and enjoyable for me, and I’m sure any fan of the series would agree regardless of their opinion on the mechanics of the game. One Piece Odyssey is another intriguing adventure with the Straw Hats, and as someone who is now waiting for the weekly anime episodes, I feel blessed to be able to experience this new adventure with my favorite cast of miscreants. With fun battles and exploring as well as all the love and heart we know from Eiichiro Oda for his band of wildcards, One Piece Odyssey is proof that television and video games are not as far apart as we might think, and when it is done right it feels truly amazing.

One Piece Odyssey is available now on PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S now. Check out the release trailer below and let us know your thoughts in the comments!