One Piece Odyssey Review (Switch)

A couple of years ago, it was notable when the Switch remakes of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were developed not in-house by Game Freak, but by a smaller Japanese support studio called ILCA. That remake project was actually ILCA’s first crack at being the lead developer on a game, and it soon followed this up early last year with One Piece Odyssey, an original JRPG based on the long-running franchise about wacky pirates. Now this release has finally made its way over to the Switch, and we’re happy to report that it’s made the jump almost entirely intact. Though it’s taken a bit of a visual hit, One Piece Odyssey still proves to be an enjoyable and accessible release that's a welcome addition to the Switch’s considerable RPG library.

The narrative in One Piece Odyssey is a sort of ‘bottle episode’ that follows the adventures of the Straw Hat Pirates crew after they shipwreck upon a mysterious island called Waford. Shortly after arriving, a mysterious figure takes away their power (cutely represented by everyone dropping from level 40 down to 1) and locks it away in various magical cubes scattered across the island. Even when they recover some of the cubes, the only way they can unlock the power contained within is through diving into illusory worlds crafted from their memories and reconquering trials they once faced, although events play out a little differently this time around because of how ‘fuzzy’ memory can be. The crew thus sets out through worlds based on the memories of some of their greatest struggles to reclaim their power and get to the bottom of what’s going on with this strange island.

Though the plot can feel a little inconsequential in places, we appreciated the ‘greatest hits’ approach to recapping various highlights from the Straw Hats’ lengthy legacy on the high seas. It's fun getting to visit locales such as Water 7 and Alabasta and experience the notable character moments that happened there, but this can also be a double-edged sword as it also tends to spoil many major story beats and twists from earlier in the manga and anime. Also, the changes that occur in some events for this revisit will be lost on those who never experienced it the first time around.

Suffice it to say, this is a great side story for One Piece fans, but if you’re new to the franchise or still working on getting caught up, the narrative may not work nearly as well for you, given how One Piece Odyssey relies heavily on asking "’member that?" while repeatedly elbowing you in the ribs.

Gameplay follows the typical RPG structure of exploring an interconnected overworld, visiting towns where you can pick up gear and side quests, and diving into various dungeons with treasure to find, enemies to fight, and puzzles to solve. One Piece Odyssey is a little vanilla in how it approaches this gameplay design, but all the expected genre trappings are here and things generally move along at a varied and brisk pace. We particularly appreciated how crew members each having a special skill — such as Chopper being able to sneak into tight spaces or Luffy using his rubbery arms to grab distant ledges — gives the map layouts a little more depth than you’d find in most RPG environments.

When you get pulled into fights, combat follows a relatively basic turn-based design, wherein up to four party members can attack or use various skills to overcome their foes. Things are made a little more interesting in that combatants are often segmented into adjacent ‘areas’ which determine who can face off with each other. Luffy and Nami may be in one area with two enemies while Usopp and Zoro are elsewhere with another, and party members from one area won’t be able to help their allies unless they use an action that specifically lets them move there.

It’s a relatively small wrinkle in the standard turn-based combat, but we enjoyed how this gave a little more strategic value to the decisions you make each turn. Couple that with factors like elemental weaknesses and a ‘speed-technique-power' vulnerability triangle, and the combat here feels just a little more interesting than the equivalent you may find in something strictly traditional like a Dragon Quest. All the same, it does still feel like a pretty bog-standard system — those of you who prefer something a little more involved like Press Turn from the Shin Megami Tensei games or the Boost and Break mechanic from Octopath Traveler may be a little disappointed.

We appreciated the various quality-of-life features here to speed things along. You can choose to boost the battle speed with a tap of the right trigger, which helps cut down on the occasionally lengthy animations for some attacks, and you can also set the AI to auto-battle for you when going up against trash mobs. Naturally, you’ll want to take the wheel when facing off against bosses and much stronger foes, but we found the AI competent enough to handle most typical foes in a dungeon without much trouble. Such features help keep combat from getting too cumbersome and keep the gameplay loop from growing stale too quickly.

Everyone gains experience after each fight, while character growth is given a little more nuance through the cube system. As you explore, you’ll periodically come across small power cubes squirreled away, and these can then be invested into skills for a character to broaden their arsenal and power it up. Though it is ultimately a very basic skill tree system, we appreciated how it still gives you something to chase beyond rote grinding to grow your characters and offers you a somewhat interesting means of making each one your own.

Still, it doesn’t take long before you realize that One Piece Odyssey doesn’t have a whole lot of new ideas to bring to the RPG table—not strictly a bad thing, but it feels like ILCA missed an opportunity to lean into the weirdness and distinct character of the IP. For example, this is an RPG about a crazy group of adventurous pirates, yet you can’t actually sail anywhere or really explore the world much beyond the relatively linear paths set before you. One Piece Odyssey is a game that’s got plenty of that manic charm the franchise is known for, but it often feels like a generic RPG was just given a One Piece coat of paint.

Visually, One Piece Odyssey is a bit rough around the edges, but not quite to the extent of significantly dragging down the experience. Especially in portable mode, you’re constantly reminded that this release was initially designed for much stronger hardware, as low texture quality, not much anti-aliasing, and a rather soft-looking presentation all combine to make for an ‘okay’ graphical experience.

Fortunately, One Piece Odyssey runs just fine in terms of frame rate, and the overall goofy aesthetic of the One Piece universe feels properly represented here. One Piece Odyssey is no system showcase, but it’s still a stable and portable version of what used to be exclusively a home console RPG—the visual cuts are expected and ultimately don’t hamper the gameplay.