One Piece Odyssey - Review

Shacknews has reviewed the upcoming J-RPG One Piece Odyssey:

One Piece Odyssey review: It's One Piece Dragon Quest!

Hands down, One Piece Odyssey is the JRPG that fans have wanted for an excruciatingly long time.

Video games based on Japanese anime tend to be fan service at best and a cash grab at worst. Unless it’s a fighting game or an Omega Force musou game with characters from Dragon Ball, Naruto, Demon Slayer, or other Shonen Jump animes (or if you want to go really back, the Initial D Arcade Stage racing game in arcades), there aren’t many examples of anime games that are critically successful. As a matter of fact, out of the dozens of One Piece video games on console and mobile platforms, not one has averaged higher than an 80 on Metacritic. One Piece Odyssey seeks to change all that, with Bandai Namco opting to have developer ILCA create a full-fledged JRPG out of the long-running franchise. And while it stumbles a bit trying to mimic Square Enix’s Dragon Quest series, One Piece Odyssey comes surprisingly close to the real deal.

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One Piece Odyssey is a wonderful trip down memory lane for fans of the series. The game’s original story is earnest and the endearing bond between the Straw Hat Pirates comes through loud and clear. The engaging combat system and a decent number of side quests don’t hurt either. Sure, new players might get overwhelmed by some of the rushed chapters in the midgame and the flow between chapters could be better, but it’s hard not to notice the amount of heart and soul that was poured into the game. More than just a fantastic anime-based video game, One Piece Odyssey is an impressive JRPG and already one of the best surprises this year.

Score: 9/10