In addition to revealing the first trailer for One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 at Gamescom 2019, Bandai Namco also had a special demo area for the game for visitors to try the game at Gamescom.
▍Gamescom Demo
Despite all the exciting new information revealed on the game, the Gamescom demo only featured a small tutorial showcasing some of the main features of the game, from the basic light attacks and heavy attacks to the special skills, form changes and most excitingly the first look at the new Titan mode.
As the 4th title of the series, Pirate Warriors 4’s main gameplay is similar to the previous titles. In addition to the normal light/heavy attack combos, holding down R1 and pressing triangle, square, circle, or X will unleash a special move. Each special move will have their own special move gauge allowing players to choose whether or not they want to spend it all to deal massive damage in a short burst or to use them one at a time to clear hoards of enemies more efficiently.
The new special move system frees up a lot of button combos for new features like the air juggling. In the new game, players will be able to unleash attacks that lift enemies to midair by simply pressing jump mid-combo. Follow up attacks can be made midair to keep the hit combo running.
The demo ends with a look into the new Titan mode, allowing players to take on Big Mom as Luffy in his Gear 4 form. Titan mode is a new system added to the series where players will have to take down boss characters that are significantly stronger than normal enemies. These enemies will be almost impervious to attacks when they are not attacking, to take down these enemies, players will have to avoid their attacks and maneuver to the titan’s blind spot to attack them.
▍Review
The first thing that strikes in the demo is the graphics improvement. The art style still inherits the series’ anime game look, but the animations and details in the stages are a lot more refined in the new game. The animation in the new game also runs smoother than the old games.
The various changes made to the actual combat of the game makes it feel more intuitive, players no longer have to worry about remembering different skill inputs and can easily use skills on command. As a Dynasty Warrior-like game, there really isn’t much you can add to the gameplay. The game continues to throw hoards of enemies at you, and you get the impact and powerful feeling you get typical of games of the same genre.
As for the new Titan mode, personally, I feel like it adds a unique touch to the game. Removing the mindless button smashing element from the combat, players are actually encouraged to pay attention to the titan’s attack patterns and find blind spots to take down the titan. Whilst it is an interesting concept to the game, it could be the “make-or-break” part of the game. Due to the titan being almost impervious to attacks when their guard is up, it makes fight appear a little dragged out which could grow tiring for players after a long time. It would really depend on the variety of different titans in the game and how they differentiate from one another in the final launch version of the game.