Not Quite the King: ‘One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4’ Review

If you are familiar with the Dynasty Warriors franchise, you know it’s basic gameplay is to either capture the map or defeat certain enemies with flashy over the top button mash gameplay. One would think that this type of gameplay would mesh perfectly with the One Piece franchise and four games lately seems to prove this notion correct. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed entries 1-3, but how does this latest one stack up? We found out in One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4.

I hope you are familiar with One Piece and its 900+ chapters of characters and lore because this game is definitely for the fans. Previous games have gone more into depth with the earlier story beats, but this game opts to only touch on 3 major arcs pre-time skip. Not surprisingly in the least, but I was a bit disappointed, that a lot the post-time skip story was glossed over. What we get is the re-introduction on Sabaody Archipelago, Dressrosa, Whole Cake Island, and Wano. Like the previous games since the current arc in Wano is still currently going, the game does its own version and story of it. If all the words and names don’t mean squat to you well this may not be the game for you. It heavily relies on its audience already knowing the story so it doesn’t have to go too in depth. The crux of the game is its gameplay… which can be hit and miss. Pirate Warriors is an exercise in mindless fun in a good way, you’ll go through scores and scores of enemy fodder easily pulling off some of your favorite character’s most powerf…