ONE PIECE: PIRATE WARRIORS 4 Review Summary

Fun and enjoyable gameplay with a huge roster of unique movesets, perfect for One Piece fans, but excessive DLC pricing, an incomplete story mode, and repetitive gameplay hold it back.

Game is fun and enjoyable: Players consistently describe the game as fun, satisfying, and entertaining, often highlighting its value for playing with friends and its ability to provide hours of enjoyment. The feedback emphasizes the game's overall positive and engaging experience.

Large character roster with unique movesets: The game features a huge roster of playable characters, each with distinct mechanics, special attacks, and fighting styles. This variety keeps gameplay fresh and exciting, offering players a wide range of options and combinations.

Great for One Piece fans: The game is highly recommended for One Piece fans, delivering the power fantasy and faithfully depicting the story and characters. It offers fantastic fan service and is considered the best choice for enthusiasts of the series.

Faithful to source material: The game is faithful to the original One Piece story and source material, accurately recreating famous scenes and character differences. This fidelity is appreciated by fans.

Varied missions and high replayability: The game offers tons of missions, challenges, and collectibles, many of which can be played in co-op. This variety provides high replayability and keeps the gameplay engaging over time.

DLC pricing is excessive: Players consistently complain that DLC costs are too high, often exceeding the base game price. The total cost of all DLC is seen as unreasonable and greedy, with some packs priced at 30 euros.

Story mode is incomplete: The story mode is criticized for skipping or heavily condensing many arcs, leaving out important scenes and content. It feels rushed, short, and not faithful to the original anime or manga.

Gameplay becomes repetitive: A significant number of players find the gameplay repetitive over time, with missions and playable content feeling monotonous. The repetition leads to boredom and reduces long-term engagement.

Graphics are outdated: Players note that the graphics are poor and dated, resembling games from around 2011. The visuals are considered a major weakness, especially for a modern release.

Less content than predecessor: Compared to the third game, this title has less content, missing many arcs and having simpler skill descriptions. Character uniqueness and combat mechanics are also seen as downgraded.

Musou-style hack and slash gameplay: The game is repeatedly described as a Musou or Dynasty Warriors-style action game, featuring large hordes of enemies and button-mashing combat. This genre identification is the most frequent theme across reviews.

Diverse playable character roster: Players highlight the large number of playable characters, each with unique movesets and abilities, allowing for varied gameplay experiences. This is a major positive aspect mentioned frequently.

Co-op and multiplayer modes: The game supports local and online co-op, as well as multiplayer modes including PvP. This social aspect is appreciated by players who enjoy playing with friends or family.

Easy and accessible gameplay: The game is considered easy to learn and play, with low difficulty and casual appeal. This makes it accessible to a wide audience, though some may find it lacking in challenge.

Character types and classifications: Characters are categorized into types such as Power, Speed, Technique, and Sky, and further distinguished by abilities like Logia or haki. This adds depth and variety to character selection.

Game fails to launch: Multiple users report the game cannot be opened after installation or update, with crashes on startup and immediate force closes. This includes issues after Nvidia driver updates and specific error codes.

Runs well on high-end PCs: Users with powerful hardware report stable 60 FPS on max settings and smooth performance. This includes configurations like 5700x3d + 9060xt + 32GB RAM.

Intel graphics unsupported: The game is unplayable on Intel Arc and discrete Intel graphics, with crashes on startup and black screens. Users report the game does not support Intel hardware at all.

Optimization concerns: Some users report high system requirements and lack of optimization, while others note minor bugs and occasional freezes. Performance varies across configurations.

Black screen on launch: Several users encounter a black screen when entering the game, preventing access to the loading screen. This occurs on both PC and Steam Deck.

Buy on sale: Many reviewers advise waiting for a sale before purchasing, as the game and its DLCs are expensive at full price. Buying on discount is seen as the best value, with some suggesting waiting for a 10-dollar price point.

Recommended for One Piece fans: The game is highly recommended for fans of One Piece, with many reviewers stating it is a must-play or shouldn't be missed. It is particularly suited for those who have followed the series, especially through the Wano arc.

Recommended for Musou fans: Fans of Musou or Dynasty Warriors-style games will enjoy this title, as it delivers the typical 1v1000 gameplay. It is considered one of the best in the genre by some reviewers.

Not for non-fans: The game is not recommended for those unfamiliar with One Piece, as the story and characters may not resonate. Even some One Piece fans might not find it appealing if they are not into the Musou genre.

Better with prior knowledge: Reviewers suggest that watching the anime or reading the manga first enhances the experience. The game is more enjoyable when you already know the story and characters.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $20.00.

Game completion: 50.0h.

Story completion: 15.0h.

Endgame: 100.0h.

One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 is fun from the start with addictive musou combat, but repetitive missions and grinding cause enjoyment to drop after extended play. Co-op and character variety can extend the fun.

Friction: Tedious menu navigation to access Growth Map; Slow progression and grind; Controller support issues; Co-op locked behind story completion.

Unlock drivers: Playing with friends/co-op; Character variety; Using combos; Unlocking co-op.

One Piece Devotee: Plays through story mode, collects characters, and explores arcs, often grinding for character unlocks. Motivation: Reliving One Piece story and playing as beloved characters. Stance: sale.

Musou Masher: Focuses on combat mechanics, uses powerful moves and combos, and prioritizes efficiency in mowing down hordes. Motivation: Stress relief and power fantasy through overwhelming combat. Stance: sale.

Co-op Crewmate: Plays co-op missions with friends, coordinates attacks, and experiments with different characters in multiplayer. Motivation: Social fun and shared chaos with friends. Stance: sale.

Performance is generally smooth on sub-8GB VRAM systems, while mid-range VRAM systems show more frequent instability and crashes.

Windows <8GB VRAM: positive. Most reports indicate stable high-fps performance at max settings, with one isolated black screen issue.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: negative. Multiple reports of crashes and laggy cutscenes, though one user reports smooth gameplay.

Steam Deck: The game has mixed Steam Deck support. While some users report flawless performance, others encounter cutscene playback issues, controller problems, the need to switch to Proton Experimental, frame drops, and launch failures after updates. The game is not fully verified and requires tinkering.

Linux and Proton: The Linux/Proton experience for this game is workable but not seamless. Users report needing to apply DXVK patches to resolve Intel driver compatibility errors, add custom launch options to fix cutscenes, and switch to Proton Experimental or Proton GE. These tweaks are community-documented and effective, but the necessity of multiple workarounds places the game in the 'tinkering required' category rather than 'works well' or 'broken'.

Monetization: The reviews focus overwhelmingly on DLC pricing and the perception that content is locked behind paid expansions, with some calling the game a 'money grab.' However, there is no evidence of microtransactions, real-money gacha, loot boxes, battle passes, or pay-to-win mechanics. The game is a one-time purchase with traditional DLC expansions, and several reviews confirm that most characters are unlockable through gameplay without DLC. While DLC prices are widely criticized as high, this falls under standard expansion pricing complaints rather than predatory monetization.

Excessive paid DLC content: The game has a large amount of paid DLC, with many reviewers noting that the total cost of DLCs far exceeds the base game price. This includes multiple character packs, passes, and other content expansions.

Compared to Pirate Warriors 3: The game is frequently compared to Pirate Warriors 3, with some seeing it as a direct upgrade with more combos, characters, and costumes. Others feel the third game is better overall, noting differences in characters, story, and combat.

Compared to Dynasty Warriors series: The gameplay is often compared to Dynasty Warriors and Hyrule Warriors, with a similar feel and hack-and-slash mechanics. This comparison helps set expectations for the combat style.

DLC characters only, no story: The DLCs primarily add characters without introducing new story content or maps. Reviewers note that the additional content is limited to character packs, which some find lacking in value.

Steam Deck verified compatibility: The game is marked as fully compatible and runs well on the Steam Deck. One reviewer notes that cutscenes require a workaround, but overall performance is satisfactory.