Anime Expo 2019 has come with an amazing spread of news for gamers. Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition was announced for PC to an enormous amount of praise, followed by the announcement of our subject today: One Piece Pirate Warriors 4.
It’s been four years since the last entry into the One Piece Pirate Warriors series, with the third installment released back in 2015. Since then, the franchise has been quiet, save for an enhanced port for the Nintendo Switch being released in late 2017.
The highly anticipated title has been set for release in 2020, with no exact date given. Whether this means it can be expected at the turn of the new year or if gamers will have to wait until the holiday season remains unseen as of now.
Little to nothing has been revealed about the game. A cinematic trailer under a minute long showed silhouettes of familiar characters preparing for an epic one-on-one battle amidst the flaming ruins of a city. The same trailer showed that Bandai Namco would be utilizing the major platforms of PlayStation 4, Xbox 1, Nintendo Switch, and PC for the game.
Another factor that’s come to light is that the story of the game won’t be an original. Instead, the plot of the game will be covering some of the story arcs from One Piece. Considering there are nearly 900 episodes of the One Piece anime and 947 chapters in the manga, that doesn’t do anything to help predict the story of the game.
It also isn’t exactly a surprise, seeing as the same has been done in the series already. The first installment in the Pirate Warriors series spanned from the East Blue Saga all the way to the Return to Sabaody Arc. This stretch of stories was condensed a bit, seeing as this includes the first 600 chapters of the manga (and up to the 522nd episode of the anime).
Following up the first, Pirate Warriors 2 struck out on its own with an original storyline, titled the Dream Story. The third game then returned to following the manga, starting again with the East Blue Saga and mixing it up with an original ending.
With all of that on the table, it’s obvious that it isn’t a new occurrence for the franchise to create an original story. More details are sure to come out with the game as 2020 approaches, especially depending on where in the year the game is intended to be released. Otherwise, Straw Hat loyalists will need to keep their eyes peeled to catch any more rumors about Pirate Warriors 4.
