Due to the ongoing manga, anime series, successful movies, interesting card game, and plenty of other merchandise, One Piece has seen a rise in international popularity over the last few years. This popularity has also helped lead to worldwide launches for several video games based on the series.
2019's One Piece World Seeker and 2023's One Piece Odyssey are two of these games, and both are single-player experiences that belong to different genres. You might be wondering which is better, but there are a handful of key differences to observe before deciding which one is the best of the two.
10 World Seeker: Action-Based Gameplay
World Seeker's gameplay is primarily action-based but not quite the same as that seen in the Pirate Warriors series. While you fight groups of enemies, there aren't endless hordes you can smash through. Combat can feel repetitive, though, since you play primarily as Luffy, and enemies never feel threatening since they don't attempt to make you switch up your combat strategy.
You can also upgrade Luffy's skills and gain new ones, but since the enemies don't become more complex as you progress, it just provides an easier way to sweep through them. There are also stealth options when you want to avoid fighting enemies, which can be helpful but feel out of place.
9 Odyssey: Turn-Based Gameplay
Odyssey isn't the first turn-based JRPG based on One Piece, but it is the biggest so far. ILCA, the game's developer, previously helped develop new entries in popular ongoing turn-based series such as Dragon Quest 11 and Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, but One Piece is more similar to the former, with fans comparing the two games as soon as gameplay footage was released.
While there are nine playable characters, battles can only have four of them at a time, but the characters in battle can be freely swapped with the reserved characters, so you can quickly adapt to different situations.
8 World Seeker: Fewer Playable Characters But More Action
In World Seeker, Luffy is the main playable character, and while other members of the Straw Hat Pirates do appear, Zoro is the only other playable crew member. All other playable characters were introduced through additional DLC and include Sabo and Trafalgar Law in addition to Zoro.
The latter two may not be members of the Straw Hat Pirates, but they are at least notable allies. Due to their abilities, all four characters play somewhat differently, and since the DLC stories are shorter than the main story, combat doesn't become quite as tedious even if it is still repetitive.
7 Odyssey: The Majority Of The Straw Hat Crew Is Playable
In Odyssey, all members of the Straw Hat Pirates are playable except for Jinbei, since he had yet to officially join the crew during the game's development. Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, and Robin are all playable early on, while Franky and Brook are unlocked later on.
As previously mentioned, there are several AI-controlled guest characters depending on which chapter you're in and where you are in said chapter. It's too bad these characters aren't at least temporarily playable to give us an idea of what they could play like, but it's understandable since they're limited to specific sections anyway.
6 World Seeker: Open World
World Seeker has a big open world to explore, but it's limited to a new setting rather than the entire world of One Piece, so you can't sail around and visit all the different islands from the series so far. While characters look great due to their cel-shaded style, environments look bland and lifeless compared to those in Odyssey.
World Seeker also has fun methods of traversal. Luffy can use rubber powers to swing through areas by stretching his arms and using them to launch himself, which is a faster traversal method than you may expect. DLC also introduced the Karoo mount for those who prefer to run and fly around on a giant duck.
5 Odyssey: Not Open But Separated Into Large Sections
Like a handful of JRPGs, Odyssey's world isn't open but is separated into sections based on what chapter you're in. Where to go next is usually straightforward, but if you're someone who likes to do a lot of side quests, then some backtracking is required.
Unfortunately, the sprinting isn't that fast even when auto-run is turned on, and there is no way to fast-travel through sections, despite how spread out save points are. While the lack of traversal options is ultimately a detriment to the game, the areas are vibrant and full of life, even when characters and enemies are more spread out.
4 Both: Have Original Stories
Both games feature original stories with new characters and new settings. World Seeker sees the Straw Hat Pirates exploring and trying to escape a prison island. Odyssey has the crew wash up on a mysterious island due to a storm and meet a pair of original characters with previously unseen devil fruit powers.
While the entire crew wasn't together again until after the Wano arc, at least in the manga and anime canon, World Seeker seems to take place sometime after the Whole Cake Island arc, while Odyssey takes place sometime during the Zou arc, which doesn't make sense, but these stories aren't canon anyway.
3 Odyssey: Revisits Key Arcs From The Series
Due to Lim's powers, Odyssey has the Straw Hat Pirates revisit key arcs from the series to regain their forgotten abilities through their memories while Lim joins them. These arcs include Alabasta, Water 7, Enies Lobby, Marineford, and Dressrosa.
While most of the crew was present for these arcs, it's interesting to see them react to events that took place in Marineford since Luffy was the only one involved in the battle there. Unfortunately, we don't see this happen more often, like if Franky and Brook reacted to the events of the Alabasta arc since they weren't there, and it seems like a missed opportunity.
2 Both: Require Some Knowledge Of The Series
Although they have original stories, unfortunately, because of when their stories take place in the series, both World Seeker and Odyssey aren't very newcomer friendly in terms of story to JRPG fans who weren't already fans of One Piece.
Odyssey may cover some integral arcs starting with the Alabasta arc, but that's already the 11th story arc of the series, so if you weren't a fan previously, you will be missing some critical details of the story and world that were explained in the arcs that led up to Alabasta. While characters do still reference some past events not recreated in the game, these events are still only briefly mentioned rather than seen.
1 Verdict: Which Game Is Better?
While World Seeker does manage to be better than some of its predecessors, Odyssey has a good balance of revisiting beloved and significant arcs while also containing an original story and characters. Odyssey's turn-based gameplay is also more accessible compared to World Seeker and has more variety due to more playable characters with larger move pools.
In case you need more convincing, both critics and fans seem to enjoy Odyssey more as well, having higher scores and more positive reviews than World Seeker. World Seeker still has its merits, but Odyssey is what you'll want to play for more playable characters, combat variety, and less tediously repetitive gameplay.