One Piece Odyssey shows battles and overworld actions in new gameplay

A battle for every area

Bandai Namco Entertainment has put out a new gameplay showcase for One Piece Odyssey, where we get a good glimpse of how the Straw Hat Pirates fight their turn-based RPG battles.

Before the fighting starts, we do get a look at the locale for the new adventure. One Piece Odyssey follows Monkey D. Luffy and the crew in a journey after they’re shipwrecked at sea.

In the trailer today, we see the city of Alabasta and some of the locales the pirates will run through. Each character has an overworld ability, allowing them to access certain areas or take advantage of certain resources. From being stretchy or handy with a slingshot to just being small, everyone has their own talent for navigating the island.

All’s fair in turn-based battles

Once the fighting starts, the crew dukes it out in a traditional RPG style. It’s got a traditional vibe to it, with a little bit of One Piece style.

It looks like one of Odyssey‘s battle mechanics is the scramble area battle, where characters are placed in different zones to duke it out. Some characters are able to attack other areas from long-range, and it looks like fighters can also move from one area to another one their own is clear.

Basically, an all-out brawl. But with type effectiveness and other factors in play, it seems like an interesting battle system that could make for fun combat encounters. I dig the idea of the crew getting split and having to fight their way back together. Plus, there are some conditions called Dramatic Scenes that give extra rewards for clearing them.

I’m not a huge One Piece fan, but this look at the battle set-up has me intrigued. We’ll see how Luffy and the crew’s battles turn out in this new RPG when One Piece Odyssey launches for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on January 13, 2023.