I’m a recent One Piece convert and have been enamored with the series in the short time I’ve been reading it, so I obviously had to go check out the latest game, One Piece Odyssey. My demo put me in a short slice of a level that was mostly just a tutorial, but it gave a decent idea of what to expect from the game and its Dragon Quest inspired gameplay. Luffy and crew end up on a mysterious new island and that’s the extent of the plot that my demo gave me. Turning One Piece into a turn-based RPG is an inspired choice and it works shockingly well here. Featuring a rock, paper, scissors system you’ll have to smartly use the right crewmember to maximize your damage against enemies.
In an interesting twist, during battles you’ll have party members separated at times. During my boss battle Sanji and Luffy were fighting a giant ape in one part of the arena, while the other crew members were off fighting some goons and had to clear those out before they could join the boss fight. Another moment saw Usopp getting ambushed by some enemies and the game giving bonus rewards if I got to him in time before he was defeated. It adds an interesting narrative and strategic wrinkle to battles that I wasn’t expecting. I wish the demo showed off a bit more of what to expect in the full game, but the core battle system has my attention despite a few clunky quirks here and there and it fueled my motivation to catch up on the manga before the game comes out.
