I don’t know about you, but I adore a good RPG. To me, there’s nothing better than escaping into some fantasy world full of fun characters, discovering secrets, and following along with whatever the slightly over-dramatic, world-saving plot is. The only problem is that most of them tend to be incredibly long - you really do have to dedicate weeks of your time to finishing these things sometimes.
Now, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that this newly announced One Piece RPG will be much the same. Developed by ILCA (the team behind Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl) and published by Bandai Namco, One Piece Odyssey is releasing this year in celebration of the series’ 25th anniversary, and it genuinely looks great - although fans will know why I expect it’ll be very chunky.
Check out the trailer for One Piece Odyssey right here.
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One Piece is a notoriously massive series - the manga began back in 1997 (hence the 25th anniversary), and 101 volumes in, it’s still not over. The anime is predictably no more concise - it’s amassed 1,013 episodes since its premiere in 1999, and obviously is also nowhere near done yet. The thought of Odyssey attempting to match this level of content in any way is a slightly terrifying thought.
“This project has been in the works for many years so that fans can truly touch the world of One Piece[,] and now is ready to be unveiled! Join this brand-new RPG featuring new character and monster designs produced by Eiichiro Oda, the author of One Piece,” Bandai Namco wrote on their website. “The game is also complemented by the beautiful music of Motoi Sakuraba, a composer well known for his various contributions to video games such as the Dark Souls and Tales series.”
If you’re not caught up with the series (and let’s face it, it’d be quite an effort to start now if you hadn’t already), fear not - in an interview, the game’s producer, Katsuaki Tsuzuki, said that he hopes “to deliver an epic drama adventure of the Straw Hats which both One Piece fans and JRPG fans can experience and enjoy”. So, as long as you’re a fan of the genre, it should be a good time.
One Piece Odyssey will be releasing sometime this year for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Topics: Bandai Namco, Anime