One Piece, Dragon Ball, Naruto, and Bleach were at one point known as “the big four” in anime and manga circles. They earned this reputation not only due to their immense popularity but also their influence and ability to run for years, even decades. Now, only two of these four remain active, though Dragon Ball Super continues without its original creator. One Piece itself has just celebrated its 25th anniversary and is far and away the most successful anime and manga series in existence.
One Piece Odyssey will be the newest entry in the One Piece universe, as revealed in May and given a world premiere at Summer Game Fest 2022. This game looks to be the most faithful game to the series yet, with series creator Eiichiro Oda playing a major part in the game’s direction. If you’re a longtime crew member of the Straw Hat gang or looking to set sail for the first time into the vast world of super-human pirates, here’s everything we know about One Piece Odyssey.
Further reading
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Release date
The announcement of One Piece Odyssey came with a release window of 2022 for the game, meaning it won’t be too far off. As it turns out, however, the game won’t hit in 2022, but instead will arrive right at the start of the following year on January 12, 2023.
Platforms
One Piece Odyssey is coming to all current and most previous-generation consoles. That includes the PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. As of now, no Xbox One or Nintendo Switch versions are listed, which is somewhat strange in the case of Xbox, considering it is coming to PS4.
Trailers
The announcement trailer opens with a shot of the iconic Straw Hat ship half-sunk on the beach of an island. There are many odd, colorful, and dopey-looking creatures littering the beach, as well as some caves and temple-looking environments. We finally get a look at Luffy and crew in a series of quick shots around the island, climbing, finding treasure, and generally exploring. We also get a nice montage of each crew member unleashing some signature moves in combat. The trailer ends with a mysterious figure approaching Luffy’s abandoned hat in the sand.
While the plot wasn’t detailed at all, we do learn that the story and new characters will all be creations of the original creator, Oda.
The world premiere trailer debuted during Summer Game Fest and gives much more insight into what exactly One Piece Odyssey will be. It opens with the game’s setup, which is that Luffy and his crew were sailing along the Grand Line when he spots an island with a beam of light shooting into the sky. Luffy, intrigued, wants to go investigate, but the choice is made for them when the Knock Up Stream launches their ship into the sky and crashes down toward the island.
A montage of gameplay elements follows on the island, including some new characters. It ends with a mysterious line stating, “This is a world created from your memories.”
While not a traditional trailer, Bandai did release a dev diary with the games producer, composer, and current editor of the One Piece manga. They go over a lot, but the concept of the game was meant to mimic the sense of a massive adventure found in the source material and would accurately utilize what made this manga so unique. They specifically point to the phrase “let’s travel to the heart of memories” as being key to the game’s main concept.
Gameplay
We don’t see any direct footage of gameplay, only snippets, but we do know that One Piece Odyssey will be a JRPG, which is still quite vague. Enemies will be visible in the world, and players will be able to choose to either engage them by coming in contact or avoid them, which sounds very similar to recent Dragon Quest games. Battles play out in a mostly traditional-looking turn-based system. This system is based on what they call the “Scramble Area Battles.” This divides up battles into different areas where enemies and your party will be randomly split to face off.
Battles will also have a “Dramatic Scene” element that allows a random situation to influence the fight. An example given was that Sanji may be unable to fight because he finds himself surrounded by women. Overcoming these scenes rewards players with greater rewards.
We do know that you will be able to control all members of the Straw Hat crew to some degree, including Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper Robin, Frankie, and Brook. You can switch at any time, and each one will have unique abilities, such as Luffy having stretch arms and Zoro using his swords to cut through obstacles.
Otherwise, all we see is some exploration around some open environments, treasure hunting, and what looks like puzzle-solving.
Multiplayer
One Piece Odyssey will be a single-player-only game as detailed by the number of players supported on the game’s box. Sorry, but this is one pirate adventure you can’t bring your crew with you for.
Pre-order
Despite no official release date, One Piece Odyssey is still already offering pre-orders through the official website. Right now, they are only listing a Standard Edition for $60, but the option to select an edition might indicate that they plan on adding other editions later on. If they do, we will update this page to let you know all those details.
