One Piece Odyssey is thankfully not connected to any arc in the anime or manga. So, if fans are behind, they don’t need to worry about being spoiled by anything major except maybe some powers. The game begins with the Straw Hat gang washing ashore on the mysterious island of Waford.

RELATED: How Long is One Piece Odyssey?

Once Monkey D. Luffy assembles most of his crew, they wander around until they come across a fire giant who robs them of their powers. A mysterious stranger named Adio then pops to save them before they are destroyed. The lovable pirate crew has to figure out a way to defeat this guardian before they can leave. That’s a simple summary of the beginning plot, but how is One Piece Odyssey as an RPG?

Best: The Look Captures The Anime

A cutscene featuring characters in One Piece Odyssey

This game has a modern art style with cartoony 3D models set on an impressive island. It’s not pushing any graphical boundaries unlike God of War Ragnarok on PS5, for example, but it captures the magic well enough.

The characters look great in 3D with the best-looking models fans have seen yet. Granted, it’s not quite as artistic as some anime games that use cel-shading like the One Piece: Pirate Warriors games. However, everyone in the Straw Hat Pirate crew looks great, from Nico Robin to Usopp.

Worst: The Audio

A cutscene featuring characters in One Piece Odyssey

It took a long time for this anime series to catch on in the west. It was hugely popular in Japan with merchandise popping up everywhere like with video games. The west rarely got video game adaptations, but the last decade has been good in this regard.

RELATED: One Piece: Every Marine Admiral's Devil Fruit, Ranked

The trouble is, One Piece Odyssey does not have an English voice track which is a shame. A lot of anime games don’t feature an English cast even if there is one for the anime. It’s a shame because the English dub is good for the most part, with Zoro being one of the best. As one would expect, the Japanese dub is very good, but some players prefer dubs over subs.

Best: Simple But Satisfying Combat

Fighting a battle in One Piece Odyssey

This game gets as close to basics as a modern RPG can get. Players act on turns which are dictated by speed. There is a window showing if an enemy or a hero is up next in the upper left-hand corner. players choose a normal attack, item, or special from the menu and then act. The only wrench thrown into the mix is the weakness system which operates like the weapon wheel system from the Fire Emblem series.

Of the three types in One Piece Odyssey, Power is strong against Speed as one example. That’s as complex as things get, making the whole experience easy to grasp for fans of the anime, especially if they want to see a bunch of wild moves like most of Usopp’s.

Worst: Too Many Characters To Balance

Fighting a battle in One Piece Odyssey

There is another thing about the battle system that makes things more complex than they need to be. There are nine members in the Straw Hat Pirates in the game and all except one of them will be playable after the first hour. Four characters can be on the battlefield at once while the rest wait in the wings.

That’s far too many characters to begin an RPG with. It would have made more sense to perhaps split the group up with the gang working toward each other at two different points on the island. The developers could have also focused on a set group of four characters to eliminate the tedium. Brook is a great example of this, with the character being absent for a good portion of the story anyway.

Best: One Piece Goes Kingdom Hearts

A cutscene featuring characters in One Piece Odyssey

At first, it seems like this game will be set on the island of Waford completely but then things take a turn in chapter two. There are mysterious cubes that transport the Straw Hat Pirates into their past adventures as a nice bit of nostalgia with Alabasta being the first.

The goal is to defeat Crocodile and other familiar faces will pop up from this arc. Not all arcs in the manga will be visited in One Piece Odyssey, so the ones that are won’t be spoiled. Overall it’s a lot like the plot of Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, which also features digital cubes that transport the heroes to past adventures.

Worst: The Constant Interruptions

Exploring the world in One Piece Odyssey

The Kingdom Hearts series is a good one to bring up because, like those games, One Piece Odyssey gets bogged down by constant interruptions. Red exclamation points will dot the map, showing players where they should go.

RELATED: Top Strongest Swords In One Piece

It feels like a story beat will pop up every couple of minutes because there are so many. These pop-ups rarely add value to the task at hand either and are unnecessary filler. Thankfully, dialogue can be skipped but the constant barrage of fades to black can get annoying for players who are in it for the gameplay.

Best: Save Points

The save menu in One Piece Odyssey

One of the coolest additions to the game is the save points. It would have been nice if One Piece Odyssey kept up with many other modern RPGs and allowed for manual saving anywhere, but the access in this game is still pretty decent.

Save points can also heal the party, which is a feature that seems to come and go with RPGs. Final Fantasy 10 was one of the first big examples and that was over twenty years ago. It’s also great that there are twenty save files for players to do with as they want.

One Piece Odyssey was released on January 13, 2023, and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

MORE: One Piece: The Most Disappointing Worst Generation Members