One Piece: Unlimited World Red – Deluxe Edition Review (Switch)

One Piece is a series with a large following and a huge legacy so even though there are plenty of interesting stories to pick for a game, Bandai Namco has instead decided to craft their own story with collaboration from series creator Eiichiro Oda featuring the One Piece characters. The result is One Piece: Unlimited World Red for the Nintendo Switch which is basically a re-release of the original game with the additional DLC content included with it. Since the original game was never released for the current generation consoles, the release of the Deluxe Edition also acts as an enhanced port for the PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch.

One Piece: Unlimited World Red – Deluxe Edition offers more than 50 DLCs from the original game along with enhanced visuals and features specific to the Nintendo Switch. Since the game offers co-op multiplayer mode, the developers have made sure to implement it properly by letting the players control each character with the Joy Cons. The co-op experience is improved thanks to the Nintendo Switch hardware but the game also offers full support for the portable and docked mode features of Nintendo Switch letting you enjoy it either on the big screen or on a handheld. Since I have played the original game on the PS Vita, the visual leap here is quite obvious for a portable console and if you have missed out on the experience, now is the best time to jump into it.

One Piece Unlimited World Red is strictly not an action RPG despite what the initial impressions might imply. The game also offers a town building mechanic that is unlocked once you progress a little further in the story. You will be able to use the items that you obtain during the main story missions to create new areas or expand existing ones in the town. This part is also tricky because the items that you collect can often end up being random so if you need a specific item for town building, it will be hard to locate them.

The action RPG aspect has fairly standard combat with the ability to jump, perform a normal or special attack. The combat is not limited to just Luffy but other One Piece cast members will also join your party as you make your way through the story. The slow buildup of the character roster works well here although the combat system doesn’t really offer many innovative combos so this can lead to the same lackluster repeating combos for defeating enemies.

You will be able to pick a party of three members that can be switched at any point in the battle. The inclusion of co-op means you can also play the game in offline multiplayer with a friend. Picking a party member depends on what type of skills you prefer to have in combat and this can be done at the start of each mission. The level structure here is mostly linear with usually a boss fight at the end of it, so you won’t really have much freedom in the level design.

Combat is not the only thing offered in the game as you accept quests around the town, you can also attempt to play mini games in the form of either fishing or catching creatures. These mini games are honestly not that fun and feel like a chore to play as they rely on a musical mini game type of timing with buttons.

The Nintendo Switch version of the game manages to hold up really well against the other consoles. It is made even better by its portable nature while this being the first One Piece game means if you are waiting for it on the Nintendo Switch, this can’t be considered a bad deal here. Aside from the main story campaign, you can also participate in a Battle Coliseum letting you play with multiple characters through a set of challenges.

Visually, it is easily one of the better looking One Piece game with an art style that closely resembles the anime. This results in the cutscenes appearing to look like an episode from the anime but in reality, it is all being rendered in real-time making it much more impressive. The environments are perhaps the only weak point for the visuals with some low resolution texture in place.