It’s hard to believe but the manga One Piece is now 25 years old. With the series nearing 100 volumes and the anime literally housing a thousand episodes, and counting, the series has seen its fair share of video game adaptations. Bandai Namco has announced the newest entry in this long-running franchise, and it’s something brand new. Dubbed One Piece Odyssey, the company is describing this as a “One Piece RPG” and will feature an original story by series creator Eiichiro Oda.
The title will be developed by ILCA, who just recently brought us the Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl remakes for the Nintendo Switch. We also got a reveal trailer for the title, complete with some gameplay to boot. The clip shows series protagonist Luffy running around the islands, climbing mountainsides, unlocking treasure chests, and fighting in what looks like a special turn-based combat. Other members of the Straw Hat Pirates will be playable in the game, including Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Frankie, and Brook. The game’s producer, Katsuaki Tsuzuki, states that the project’s concept came from the idea that they wanted players to be on “an epic adventure to experience the OP world.”
As we already mentioned, the One Piece franchise has delved into the video game industry several times. The most notable One Piece licensed series is arguably One Piece Pirate Warriors, which is yet another spin-off of the Musou type game genre that came from Dynasty Warriors. The series has seen four entries now with the most recent being in 2020 with One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4. Judging from the initial presentation of One Piece Odyssey, it looks like Bandai Namco and company are going to do everything they can to make this one of the largest JRPGs in recent memory.
One Piece Odyssey will launch sometime this year for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC through Steam.