Gaming

A super JRPG casual’s review of One Piece Odyssey

Vast world, a great cast, and insanely easy to follow combat

Published

April 25, 2023

Gab Orlina

When I got to try this game out in the Thailand Game Show last October, I had high hopes for it. Even though it’s under a genre I’m fully accustomed with, One Piece Odyssey was a promising JRPG to play for hours on end. From the gameplay to some glimpses of the storyline, all was well with another One Piece title in the pipeline.

Fortunately, I got a copy of the full game to dive deeper into what it has to offer beyond a 15-minute introductory playthrough. With greater worlds to explore and combat to test out, let’s see if this game still holds up to its promising start a few months back.

Guidance through the island of Waford

Our story begins with the Straw Hat Pirates finding themselves stranded somewhere in the middle of the ocean. The opening cutscene also gives you a glimpse as to how they ended up there, so I honestly found it helpful. Eventually, you assemble the crew and come face to face with some interesting habitants, Adio and Lim.

Upon encountering Lim, she literally takes all your powers and you will need to scour the entirety of Waford and all neighboring islands/areas. It’s not that much of a daunting task, especially for a crew as great as the Straw Hat Pirates. Along the way, however, you encounter a slew of entities and factions that hope to seize your power.

Personally, the story was straightforward enough to follow along. There weren’t any twists and turns that would throw me off, and the characters themselves were dynamic in every way. Also, it didn’t get in the way of enjoying the game’s mechanics, which is already a plus in my book.

Simple and well-integrated mechanics to master

One Piece Odyssey’s core mechanics are easy to grasp and master, especially given the amount of opportunities to do that in the beginning. As this is an open-world game, movement within the areas is quite loose except for the instances of not being able to swim in deep waters. Also, you’re in a team-based structure with multiple characters to utilize when traversing through the land.

This, in my opinion, made the gameplay experience so much better than when I first tried the game. The fact that you can easily swap between characters to move through certain areas for more items made completing stages easier. Also, this bodes well with the amount of exploration you’ll be doing within the overworlds.

Turn-based and active combat

As I discovered, like every other JRPG out there, One Piece Odyssey also incorporates a turn-based style combat mechanic. With a party of six members per battle, everyone gets a turn to attack either a single enemy or a horde of them depending on the characters themselves. Also, each character comes with Technical Points which allow you to use those abilities you’re trying to recover everywhere.

Honestly, this is pretty standard stuff and easy to follow along once you know how each character’s abilities work. Also, there’s this mechanic that works like a strength and weakness indicator, providing greater opportunities to set up specific characters against certain enemies. It feels well done and comprehensible enough for all players.

Enemy encounters are also voluntary and skippable if you’re rushing through stages. Although, I warn you not to skip too many enemies because every battle gives you XP that helps level up your team. As you progress through more treacherous worlds, the difficulty curve ith enemy encounters scales up slowly but surely. So, best to just take them all out every chance you get!

Teeming with life and backdrops to awe

As an open-world enthusiast, I can definitely say that One Piece Odyssey offered an expansive experience of Waford and its surrounding areas. Every nook and cranny within each overworld required your attention and exploration itch to come alive with all the items youll obtain. Plus, thesre are even specific points in the map that integrate character dialogue, which is a bonus for me.

What I also love about the game and its environment is how well-integrated the characters are through their innate abilities and characteristics. It was a blast using Luffy to get to more elevated platforms, or with Chopper’s miniature size exploring tiny entrance ways to unexplored territory.

This is the type of balance you like to see in most open-world games, so I’m glad One Piece Odyssey handled this aspect well. Everything feels interesting to explore, especially if youre trying to get back all your lost abilities too.

Where this game misses

Admittedly, I didn’t find that many things that went wrong with this game every time I got to play it. At this point, these will be some pain points that I feel most people will also experience when they play this game for the first time. First off is actually coming from the overall design of the levels in this game, especially the ones in caves or tombs. One of the initial worlds in this game takes you to a rather dark cave with minimal lighting inside as you go around.

From my end, I really couldn’t see much in the overworld as I was going around it, and turning up the brightness on my PC didn’t help. Either this was completely intended for you to rely on character outlines, or it’s a bit too dark and just needs a bit more lighting in there.

Secondly, I felt that this game had little save points, and the ones that are available require so much backtracking through stages. Honestly, this is more for the later stages and they’re quite useful since you can restore your team’s health with each encounter of one. Also, based from my playthrough, enemies don’t reset so there’s honestly no point in it being a hassle to come back to.

One Piece remastered

Overall, One Piece Odyssey came out as a great JRPG, all things considered. For the majority of my playthrough, there was something new to discover and new challenges to overcome while setting foot on new levels. Of course, with a deep cast of characters to work with, combat felt so fun to commence.

This game felt a blast to play through for a considerable amount of main story progression. Also, the turn-based yet dynamic combat system was easy to master and adapt to every set of enemies you encounter along the way.With open worlds to explore, you’ll be spending hours on this game and not get bored of it.

It’s a treat to both new and casual JRPG players, and to One Piece fans out there who were asking for a new game all this time. This is definitely a title worth considering for your leisure, with a bit of challenging elements here and there. However, it’s a challenge that anyone can easily get over.

Related Topics:Bandai Namco One Piece One Piece Odyssey

Gaming

Valve unveils price of the Steam Frame

The VR headset starts at US$ 1,059.

Published

September 15, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

The trifecta is complete. Almost a year after announcing their new hardware, Valve has finally unveiled the price tag of the Steam Frame, complementing the Steam Machine and Steam Controller revealed a few months ago.

Whereas the Steam Machine is a console of its own, the Steam Frame is a traditional VR headset with a pair of controllers for both hands. Unfortunately, despite being in a different segment, the headset is not immune to the rising prices of technology. The Steam Frame will start at US$ 1,059 for a 256GB model and can go up to US$ 1,299 for the 1TB model. On the plus side, each box will come Half-Life: Alyx packaged along with the headset.

Here’s a more detailed rundown of what you’re getting. The Steam Frame will ship with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, paired with 16GB of RAM. Each eye comes with a 2160 x 2160 LCD screen, putting out images at up t0 a 144Hz experimental refresh rate. As mentioned above, the headset will start with 256GB of storage but can go up to 2TB. It will come packaged with SteamOS 3 and a rechargeable 21.6Wh battery.

This might be a hard buy for some. The industry currently has more affordable options, for one. Also, virtual reality isn’t the most thriving segment of gaming today.

If you’re still decided on buying one, however, Valve is using its lottery system. Interested customers can sign up from now until September 17. The company will then randomize the purchasing order. Those who draw the first ones in the lottery can get a purchase email as soon as September 18. Meanwhile, anyone who registers after September 17 will automatically be put at the back of the queue.

Gaming

BlizzCon 2026 announces World of Warcraft: Forever and Diablo V

StarCraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and more also get news

Published

September 14, 2026

GadgetMatch

Blizzard Entertainment kicked off BlizzCon 2026 with a packed Opening Ceremony featuring new games, major expansions, updates, and other announcements across its biggest franchises.

Blizzard Entertainment President Johanna Faries opened the event at the Anaheim Convention Center, celebrating the community behind the company’s games and the teams that bring its worlds to life.

World of Warcraft: Forever and Diablo V

The biggest announcement was World of Warcraft: Forever, a new World of Warcraft experience launching November 5 AEDT, with its beta beginning September 18 AEST. The new experience will feature three zones, more than 1,000 quests, nine dungeons, two raids, and a new Skyborne race.

Blizzard also officially announced Diablo V, marking the next era of the franchise. The game is set to launch in North America in Spring 2029, with Sanctuary having fallen and Diablo having won.

StarCraft is also returning with a new story-driven, open-world shooter. The game is currently planned for a Spring 2030 release in North America.

Beyond games, Blizzard revealed that an animated series set in the Diablo universe is in development with Netflix. The company says this is only the beginning of its plans to expand its universes beyond gaming.

For Warcraft III Reforged, the new Forsaken Kingdom campaign is available today. It marks the Warcraft RTS series’ first new storyline in more than 23 years and explores the fall of Lordaeron and the origins of the Undercity. The accompanying 3.0 update also brings graphical improvements and a revamped World Editor.

Heroes of the Storm is adding Xal’atath as its newest Hero. She arrives in the Nexus on September 29 AEST, with her PTR release scheduled for September 15 AEST.

Existing games updates

Meanwhile, Diablo IV is preparing for its next major content drop. Season of Hell’s Legacy begins September 16 AEST and celebrates the franchise’s 30-year history with the return of the Prime Evils and Deckard Cain, alongside themed rewards and gear.

The legendary Amazon class will also arrive in the first half of 2027 as part of Diablo IV’s first class pack. The Diablo IV: Age of Hatred Collection is additionally coming to Nintendo Switch 2 on September 16 AEST with cross-platform play and cross-progression.

For World of Warcraft, Blizzard teased the next major update for Midnight. Eclipse (12.2) will see Xal’atath move closer to her goal of claiming Azeroth’s Worldsoul. Blizzard also offered another look at The Last Titan, the next expansion in the Worldsoul Saga and a major culmination of more than two decades of Warcraft storytelling. More information is coming early next year.

Overwatch is getting a major update with Season 5. The season introduces new Support Hero Doctrine, reworks for Sombra and Roadhog, and the new Watchpoint: Grimsvötn map. It will also conclude The Reign of Talon, Overwatch’s first year-long narrative arc.

LE SSERAFIM & YOASABI

BlizzCon also featured performances from YOASOBI and LE SSERAFIM. YOASOBI will perform during the first-ever esports halftime show at BlizzCon, while LE SSERAFIM will return to the Main Stage to close the weekend. A new LE SSERAFIM in-game collaboration is available now, with another Overwatch Spotlight scheduled for February 2027.

Finally, Hearthstone is getting its first new class in more than six years. The Monk arrives in 2027, while the upcoming Reign of the Black Empire expansion takes players back to the earliest age of Azeroth. It introduces the Assemble keyword, which combines two cards into a new one. Battlegrounds is also adding Aberrations as a new minion type.

BlizzCon 2026 is now underway, with Blizzard promising more announcements and details throughout the weekend.

Gaming

Xbox saves Kojima’s PHYSINT after PlayStation drops support

PlayStation says the separation was mutual, but Kojima hints otherwise.

Published

September 11, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Things aren’t going well in the PlayStation camp. After two months of frankly questionable decisions, the company adds another to the pile by dropping support for Hideo Kojima’s PHYSINT.

For a while now, Kojima and PlayStation were in a very productive relationship with the Death Stranding duology, a critically acclaimed collection of titles for the platform. When things looked like they were going well, Kojima announced PHYSINT, an espionage-themed game which reminded fans way too much of Metal Gear Solid.

If you were investing in a PlayStation 5 to play Kojima’s latest thriller, you might want to move your chips elsewhere now. PlayStation has just dropped support for the espionage game, meaning PHYSINT will no longer be a first-party title for the platform.

Though PlayStation claims that the decision came after “careful consideration,” Kojima himself has said that the move was “unexpected,” going against PlayStation’s assurance of a mutual separation.

Very quickly, Xbox has announced that their platform will support PHYSINT instead. It’s a big get for the competing brand because Xbox Game Studios is already supporting OD, Kojima’s other upcoming horror project starring Sophia Lillis.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to say more. As is tradition, Kojima will not explain much more about his upcoming titles. In fact, OD’s trailer barely says anything. One thing’s for sure, though: we’re all in for quite a ride.