Five years ago, Omega Force and Bandai Namco Entertainment released One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 to just about every platform available at the time. It was a big hit, pleasing both One Piece fans and Musou fans alike, and the game had continued support over the following years with DLC that gave players extra characters and episodes. DLC is still coming out for the game, so Bandai Namco thought it would be best to re-release the title on the latest set of platforms — and with a few upgrades for good measure.

If you're not familiar with the Musou game formula, it can be best described as the realization of a power brawling fantasy. Your basic attack combo is enough to fell a bunch of foot soldiers with each swipe, and it doesn't take long before your knockout count goes into ridiculous numbers before you're even halfway through a level. The levels are quite sizable, and the objectives are always varied. One moment, you'll be asked to protect an outpost, and the next moment, you'll be chasing down officers that go after you or the leaders of your army. The formula hasn't changed much from the PS2 era of Musou games, and that's the formula the developers adapted for One Piece.

There are enough changes to make this more than just another game with a Luffy skin. Aside from normal and heavy attacks, you can pull off one of four special moves that aren't quite screen-clearing attacks, but they come close to briefly giving you more breathing room on the battlefield while upping your knockout count tremendously. You can cancel out of combos, and you can also initiate air combos that let you take a bunch of people airborne. That means you can juggle them without interruption from those who may want to occasionally take potshots at you.

Like the long-running anime and manga, there are a ton of characters to play as, and each one has a very distinct play style. You have a number of brawlers, tank-like characters, ones that are dependent on projectiles, and just about everything in between. Characters with transformation abilities are also available, so there's some variety since each transformation plays differently from the base character. Adding to the chaos is the fact that a number of buildings in the environment can be destroyed. Even though there's no penalty for creating rubble, it's cool to see the end result of the skirmishes.

As for the enemies, most can be considered cannon fodder since they crowd around you while barely making an effort to attack you. Some of them may try to take an occasional swipe at you, but for the most part, they exist to get hit. The commanders and other named characters take more effort to knock out because they all have shields that need to be whittled down. The big giant bosses follow that same principle, and more hits are needed to fell them. The result is a game where most of the levels are a cakewalk, and boss fights require more than button-mashing.

All of those changes and additions to the base formula prevent the game from feeling stale. Yes, the objectives end up being similar after a while, and you'll be surprised that you haven't developed finger fatigue or carpal tunnel from button-mashing, but the various playable characters keep the experience feeling fresh. With that said, one issue that the game has a difficult time with is the camera in relation to the environment. This happens more when you're fighting characters with actual names or titles, but you'll constantly get the camera stuck behind the environment or in a position where it can't keep track of an enemy's location despite initiating the lock-on mechanic. If you keep hitting the attack button, you'll hit your enemy, but you'll see yourself hitting something off-screen or you won't see anything at all because of a building, and that dampens the excitement of the constant combat.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 comes with several different modes, and while they play very similarly, their distinct features give you a reason to explore them all. Dramatic Log is the main campaign mode, and it takes you through several of the franchise's big story arcs. You're getting Alabasta all the way down to Whole Cake Island. You're also going to get the Wano arc, but not one with a canon ending since that arc is still ongoing. Each arc is presented in a truncated form, so those looking for anything other than the big story points like character development won't find it in this title. In the gameplay, you will be restricted to only playing as characters that have appeared in said arc. That's good because it forces you to explore each character and learn their fighting nuances.

The main issue with the mode is that loads of content is reused, and you'll only notice if you've played the previous Pirate Warriors games. Four of the six arcs in this mode have been done before, and even the cut scenes for the key story points are shown with the same camera angles. The arcs are presented with more fights, but the only new things for longtime players to experience are with the Whole Cake Island and Wano arcs. To be fair, this is a long-running problem with game adaptations of very long-running anime as seen with the various DragonBall Z tiles over the years, but it is still worth calling out.

Treasure Log is fascinating for several different reasons, and it might be the mode that excites those who are growing weary of seeing the same story arcs in games. The levels are mostly one-off affairs that are either "what if" scenarios or tangential to the main storyline. They work well for those who aren't well versed in the series' story, since nothing is too important to follow. The mode comes with its own challenges and its own character unlock system. There's also a leveling aspect that allows you to do some customization for each character specific to this mode, making it more varied than the main Dramatic Log. The mode also lasts a good while, since there are plenty of side-quests to complement the specific key quests that need to be completed before the next set of missions is available. It's a fun mode overall.

Free Log is the last mode for the base game, and it lets you play through any of the previously conquered stages from Dramatic Log. The main draw is that you can play through those missions using any character you've unlocked. Don't expect unusual story bits if you're using someone from a later story arc in an earlier one, but it is fun to see how overpowered or underpowered any fighter can be in the given scenario.

All of the game modes can be played in multiplayer, whether it's local split-screen or online. If you can deal with the loss of some screen real estate, split-screen for two players is super fun, since the basic mechanics are just a classic beat-'em-up with a new skin and perspective. There's an easy pick-up-and-play approach to the game that makes it good for all skill levels. Online play is also solid, as the mode comes with little to no lag. There is an option to play some missions with four players online, but it would've been nice to have this option for all levels instead of just a scant few.

When it comes to upgrades, it's fairly sparse. One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 doesn't take advantage of what the DualSense is capable of, so don't expect any fancy new tricks beyond what was available with the DualShock 4. The graphics have received an upgrade to 4K, but it isn't a full native resolution because you can still see some shimmering on things with finer details; this wasn't present on the PC version. The biggest change is perhaps the most significant one: the increased number of enemies simultaneously available on-screen at any one time. The screen looks absolutely crowded, and being able to end a stage with knockouts in the four-digit range is easier and accomplished faster compared to the PC and previous generation consoles. Even though the game cheats a little by making sure that every enemy is the same character model in these situations, the presence of more enemies at once goes a long way to making you feel more powerful — at least until you reach a boss fight.

While the number of upgrades is small, few players are going to mind since the upgrade is free for existing owners on all platforms. Those who don't already own the game can get the current-generation version at the same price as the previous-generation version, so there's no hidden cost for going with the version for modern platforms. All of the previously released DLC still works, and you can even port your old save to this version. The one knock is that the PC version never got the enemy count upgrade, so it feels like it's a step behind console versions. Unfortunately, this is something that Japanese developers still have a bad habit of doing after all of these years.

The graphical upgrade to an upscaled 4K version doesn't mean that the original graphical issues have been fixed. There are still some issues when it comes to the shadows flickering or not conforming to the shape of the source characters. There are also a few textures that don't have any resolution upscaling and a few other parts where anti-aliasing is missed. Still, the game's strength lies in being able to put a ton of enemies on-screen at one time and not faltering while doing so. This version handles that nicely with a solid 60fps. It looks fine compared to other anime-based titles and better than usual for a Musou title, Dynasty Warriors Origins notwithstanding.

The audio remains untouched from the game's original release on the PS4. The music leans more toward what's expected from a Musou title rather than something related to One Piece, so the songs are filled with loads of electric guitar riffs. It still works well for the game, but it is something to keep in mind if you were expecting a soundtrack closer to the anime. Another thing to note is that all of the voices are in Japanese. They're done by the anime's voice cast, so their authenticity and delivery are top-notch, but those who prefer dubs in their respective language are out of luck.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 remains one of the best Musou games out there, and that status is further solidified with the slight changes made by the free current-generation console patch. The core gameplay loop remains engaging in its simplicity, but the additions of an expanded move set and a wide variety of characters who play differently assuage any concerns of fatigue. The quests can start to feel too similar, but the various modes give fans plenty to do. The presence of multiplayer for a good chunk of the game also greatly extends the life of the game. If you're a fan of either Musou titles or One Piece, this title is well worth having.

Score: 8.5/10