One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 is an excellent musou game that combines an abundance of content with ridiculously over-the-top gameplay that fits One Piece perfectly. A few story characters are notably missing, but the game-exclusive Wano story and clever Treasure Logs make Pirate Warriors 4 an exciting and worthwhile One Piece game.
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4
Developer: Koei Tecmo
Price: $60
Platforms: PS4 (reviewed), Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC
MonsterVine was provided with a PS4 code for review
If there was ever an anime that was well-suited for a series of Dynasty Warriors/musou games, it’s One Piece. The main characters often plow through huge groups of near-identical grunts that work for a major villain; frequently by using enormous, flashy attacks that take up the whole screen. With this in mind, it makes sense that Pirate Warriors 4 would turn out so well.
The story of Pirate Warriors 4 is a bit scattered, as it starts with the pre-timeskip Alabasta arc and jumps around until it reaches the current post-timeskip Wano arc. While beloved arcs like Enies Lobby and Whole Cake Island and covered, the large, seemingly random gaps in which arcs are covered leads to long explanatory cutscenes and entire crewmate introductions are completely skipped. The story arcs that are in Pirate Warriors 4 are done quite well, with the game’s exclusive version of the Wano arc standing out as an exciting interpretation that feels like a One Piece film. The performances from the voice cast go a long way in this regard, as they perform as expertly as ever.
If you’ve ever played a Dynasty Warriors game of any of the licensed spin-offs, you’ll likely be in familiar territory when playing Pirate Warriors 4. You’re dropped into a map that’s split into a number of “territories”, which can be taken by defeating the Leader of that area after defeating enough enemies in that territory. While you’ll occasionally have a couple allied characters, it’s often you against huge crowds of fairly fragile enemies. The feeling of mowing down hordes of foes with your one character is the definition of “power fantasy,” especially while playing as your favorite One Piece characters. Every now and then, you’ll be up against a boss that doesn’t go down after a few hits, leading to a huge battle that involves repeatedly breaking their guard and reducing their health.
“I’m excited to see if they add extra Treasure Logs in through DLC, as new playable characters could provide plenty of new opportunities for side-stories.“
I never found Pirate Warriors 4 to be overly hard, though that may come down to how you level up your character. Completing levels and Treasure Logs gives you Berries (the currency of One Piece) and themed medals, which are used to strengthen your characters. Though each character has their own experience “map,” there’s a general one that affects every character’s stats. I think this system is well-crafted overall, though more than a few perks and attacks are locked off until deep into the Story, or even after it through Treasure Logs, meaning you won’t have much opportunity to use them unless you replay levels. I wish more of the map was accessible earlier, but the movesets are already varied enough that this isn’t a huge complaint.
Pirate Warriors 4’s gameplay is primarily divided into two sections: the story mode and Treasure Log mode. Story mode has you play through the aforementioned story arcs in an episodic manner, each stage featuring different playable characters and objectives. These levels can be played with any character in Free Log mode after completing them in the story, but the Treasure Log is a far more fun way to get more out of Pirate Warriors 4.
Treasure Log consists of various extra episodes that allow you to play as any character that you’ve unlocked. These are often based around “what-if” scenarios, which let characters that would normally never meet interact with one another. This leads to some fun and fanservice-stuffed dialogues, which is a fun little addition to an already enjoyable mode. I’m excited to see if they add extra Treasure Logs in through DLC, as new playable characters could provide plenty of new opportunities for side-stories.
The Final Word
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 is a great musou game that captures the tone of One Piece’s action in its gameplay without dragging. The story is a bit jumpy and inconsistent with the source material, but the game-exclusive Wano arc and fanservice-filled Treasure Logs make up for these shortcomings.
MonsterVine Review Score: 4 out of 5 – Good
