One Piece is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, anime/manga properties out there. The adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, and his gang known as the Straw Hat Pirates already conquered the hearts of many loyal fans. It’s no surprise that One Piece is a popular subject to translate into a game. So far, we’ve seen some pretty decent One Piece games but World Seeker is shaping up to be the one we all have been waiting for.
A new adventure
One Piece: World Seeker is the biggest One Piece project to date, offering you an open world and new story to discover in the iconic world of the franchise. It’s clear that this is a product made with a lot of love and respect for its source material. It stays extremely true to the original and even the cast of the anime is here to narrate the entire game. World Seeker is an ambitious project and my short fifteen minutes of gameplay didn’t really do it justice. What I’ve played is just a fraction of what the final product will offer. It’s even less than the tip of the iceberg but I’m here to share it with you anyway.
My demo started at the base of a mountain, the goal was to reach the top and to defeat all enemies ran into. Even in this small part of the map, the game gave me all the freedom I could wish for. Nothing is set in stone here, no path to follow and no preferable plan of attack. I played as Luffy himself and battled my way to the top. What I liked the most while doing so was the freedom of the game. I could easily sneak up on enemies to take them down without alarming other guards or I could go in rubber fists first. It showcased the diversity of the gameplay in mere minutes. Since it’s all up to the gamer, I’m sure everybody will find his/her favorite way of playing in no time.
Familiar faces
During my short hands-on with the demo, I faced a lot of familiar One Piece characters, both good and evil. I really liked meeting them since they looked stunning visually and thanks to the original cast, they sounded great too! It’s fun to run into a lot of those iconic faces and I’m guessing this will be one of the game’s selling points. Giving fans an open world worthy to explore in a franchise they adore.
Although I really enjoyed the exploration, I’m a bit worried about the combat. Right now, it’s just too simplistic. With just a couple of attack buttons and a trigger for your special move, the game doesn’t really impress. I’ve played a lot of better third-person adventure games when I’m talking about the combat aspect. I hope this gets some needed attention during the development, otherwise, I’m a bit concerned a lot of gamers will get bored with this world too fast.
Early conclusion:
One Piece: World Seeker is shaping up to be the game the fans are hoping for. The amount of freedom is amazing and the iconic characters all make it even better. I’m a bit worried about the combat but I think the team might be able to fix this if they add some needed variation. I’m not completely convinced just yet but this might be a dream coming true for the One Piece fans!
