Naruto and Dragon Ball are well known for their fast-paced fighting games, with Dragon Ball FighterZ currently standing at the top. One Piece fans have been craving a similar game for years, as the series has countless characters with tons of unique fighting abilities, which would undoubtedly make for a great game. While One Piece’s fights are great, the true focus of the story is on its sense of adventure in a world that is still full of mysteries 25 years into publication. The most recent game to encapsulate this feeling is the three-year-old One Piece: World Seeker, so fans are due for another.
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One Piece’s Recent Video Games
One Piece has many video games under its belt, ranging from the 3D fighting game One Piece: Burning Blood, to the One Piece Grand Cruise VR experience. Undoubtedly the most popular of these games is the One Piece: Pirate Warriors series. The Pirate Warriors games are part of the Dynasty Warriors series with a One Piece coat of paint. This results in players choosing one of many characters to wreak havoc on hundreds of enemies across a large map. These games are a treat for One Piece fans, as each character has a unique moveset that is filled with tons of references to the manga. These games are not perfect though, even for the most die-hard One Piece fans, and their problems lie with story.
Out of the four Pirate Warriors games, three of them stick to the manga’s original story. The first game did it best because it contained linear platforming levels on top of the large-scale battles, but 3 and 4 only had battle stages. As great as One Piece’s story is, the Pirate Warriors series’ gameplay is not strong enough to make sitting through a rushed version of that narrative three times worthwhile. Pirate Warriors 2 did things differently.
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 did not follow the manga’s original story, instead opting to create its own. While this story did not include any new characters and took place in some well-known locations, it was at least novel to see these characters in new situations. The world of One Piece almost feels alive, so it’d be a shame if the games did not try to expand on it. Luckily, there are a few games that do just that.
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Original One Piece Games
Throughout the years, there have been a handful of games to expand One Piece’s world through the use of original stories. The two most recent ones, One Piece: Unlimited World Red and One Piece: World Seeker, do so exceptionally well. Both games’ stories feel like filler arcs for the One Piece anime: they’re non-essential in understanding the series, but serve as fun, bite-sized adventures for the Straw Hat crew.
One Piece: Unlimited World Red is an ambitious game. Through the main story, players can control any of the (at the time) nine Straw Hat pirates and explore vast levels filled with enemies to fight, items to collect, and some fishing mini-games. The game also sports a large hub town rife with shops and side quests. The setting of Unlimited World Red feels like something straight out of the One Piece’s sprawling world, and that feeling is amplified by the game’s original villain Patrick Redfield. There is no need to condense One Piece’s massive story into every video game, and the developers of Unlimited World Red knew this. This story is contained, and the game is better for it.
The Ups and Downs of One Piece: World Seeker
One Piece: World Seeker is more of a mixed bag. Starting with the negatives, World Seeker’s map is a large open world filled with nothing to do; at least nothing that has not been done in countless other games. On top of this, fans were upset to learn series protagonist Luffy would be the only playable character. That being said, World Seeker has an entertaining story along the lines of Unlimited World Red, and Luffy has never felt more detailed and better to control.
One Piece: World Seeker’s iteration of Luffy is incredibly accurate. Players can utilize his gear-based fighting styles and haki. While not to the level of something like Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man, Luffy can stretch and fling himself atop tall buildings and across the landscape. World Seeker received three smaller DLC campaigns in which players can select fan-favorite characters Zoro, Law, and Sabo, who have all been crafted with the same attention to detail.
While One Piece: World Seeker is not a game for everyone, it is most certainly a love letter to One Piece fans. Luffy’s great controls and the game’s standalone story make players feel like a part of One Piece more than ever. Future One Piece games should learn from the successes of Unlimited World Red and World Seeker, developing new places and stories as opposed to truncating the original manga. It has been three years since World Seeker’s release, so fans will hopefully hear about a new original game sometime in the near future.
One Piece: World Seeker is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
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