One Piece: Unlimited World Red Deluxe Edition Review – A Faithful Spinoff

One Piece: Unlimited World Red Deluxe Edition Review

One Piece: Unlimited World Red Deluxe Edition has finally released on the Nintendo Switch, bringing along with it all the previously released DLC. For fans of the series which spans manga, anime, feature films, and much more, the game provides a new original story that also touches on the series’ past as well. For those unfamiliar with the story, Unlimited World Red acts as a good first taste of the series, though it may feature some spoilers for those who are good at piecing together various plot points.

The game’s story features an original storyline that revolves around the franchises’ main cast, as well as two new original characters designed by series creator Eiichiro Oda. Essentially, the Straw Hats reach a new island and are promptly involved in kidnappings of their members, a mystery involving the island, and confrontations with former villains. The story also features the classic humor and tropes that fans have come to expect. While the story itself may seem a bit shallow, throwbacks to various characters serve as a reminder of the huge original story behind the game.

The game’s main portions involve an exploration and town rebuilding process, along with the main combat portion. The exploration and town portions of the game are fun, but are not the meat of the game. The combat allows the player to freely select between three party members, chosen at the start of the mission, that have different skills and abilities that influence what players can access in the level. Players can select any of the main party members and the missions involve a relatively linear level followed by the level’s boss. The game’s battle system is relatively simple, though the boss fights involve a bit more complexity.

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“Overall, One Piece: Unlimited World Red Deluxe Edition is a well-made game that does the series justice.”

Relatively speaking, One Piece: Unlimited World Red Deluxe Edition looks true to form as the characters look exactly as their counterparts. In addition, the graphic style of the game works extremely well when compared to the source material. In terms of character designs, the NPCs that were not designed by Oda himself look like characters that could have come directly from the series as well. While the inclusion of various costumes in the Deluxe Edition is appreciated, there are some iconic looks that I feel should have been included. Also, while the aesthetics were well done, the camera did have issues when it came to controlling where to look.

Along with the graphics, Unlimited World Red features a strong audio soundtrack and voice acting that is reminiscent of the source material. With upbeat music and great voice acting, fans and newcomers alike will be treated to the series’ atmosphere. However, the lack of any English voice acting could detract some, though the game is fully subtitled.

Overall, One Piece: Unlimited World Red Deluxe Edition is a well-made game that does the series justice. In addition to the story mode, there is also a separate Battle Coliseum mode that is exactly as it sounds, though it does allow players to play as characters other than the main cast. Being the franchise’s first foray onto the Nintendo Switch, it should also be noted that the game is a joy to play on the go. One Piece: Unlimited World Red Deluxe Edition is a fun yet simple title with strong graphical and audio style, making it one of the stronger Japanese multimedia adaptations to date.

*** Switch code provided by the publisher ***