The previous One Piece game, One Piece World Seeker, is an ok open-world game that was surprisingly short for its genre. The latest video game offering the franchise, One Piece Odyssey, is likewise short for its genre, but at least it has comparatively more meat on its bones than World Seeker.
While not every gamer has gotten their hands on One Piece Odyssey just yet, those that have are currently reporting that it’s a pretty short game compared to other RPGs. While our own Matthew Byrd hasn’t finished the game just yet, at the rate he is going, he believes he will complete the main part of his anime pirate journey around the 35-hour mark. Sites such as Screenrant have listed identical completion estimates, while Inverse reported that many critics have finished the game between 30 and 40 hours.
Granted, those estimates are based almost exclusively on the main story campaign. One Piece Odyssey offers plenty of side content to keep players busy and pad out its length, including treasure hunts and bounty missions. These extra missions also ensure players are topped up with bonus items and XP, but given the game’s difficulty (or lack thereof) that might not be necessary.
According to reviews from outlets such as Siliconera, One Piece Odyssey is a fairly easy RPG. Again, our own Matthew Byrd was “surprised” by the game’s generous difficulty curve. Enemies, and even bosses, pose little threat since playable characters level up faster than you can “haki.” This lack of difficulty cuts down on the amount of grinding players need to progress. Ergo, One Piece Odyssey is shorter than many other RPGs. Moreover, reviewers such as Noisy Pixel found they could just put the game on autopilot via its auto-battle system.
On one hand, One Piece Odyssey’s lack of difficulty makes it approachable to One Piece fans everywhere, including those with little gaming experience. But on the other hand, this absence of challenge can leave many gamers, especially those who aren’t die-hard One Piece fans, wanting more. To add salt to that wound, players can’t even change the game’s difficulty. As of writing, One Piece Odyssey doesn’t offer optional difficulty modes, but that could change with a future update. ILCA could hypothetically add some difficulty options to give hardcore gamers the challenge they crave, which would likely add quite a few hours to the game. Again, nothing pads out an RPG quite like grinding.
While 35-40 hours isn’t long for an RPG’s story, it is still more than enough time to give players a fun adventure with the Straw Hat crew. What One Piece Odyssey lacks in traditional JRPG challenge, it makes up for with a lovable cast of characters and a story that will intrigue even longtime One Piece fans.