Octopath Traveler 0 was provided by Square Enix for review. Thank you!
Square Enix is a master of their craft, and it feels like it is continually making the JRPG genre more and more exciting. Years ago, they created the HD-2D art style, which is a wonderful way to showcase 2D games in a gorgeous way. Octopath Traveler showed just how great it can be, and Dragon Quest proved it would be amazing for remakes of very classic JRPGs. Now, we have Octopath Traveler 0, the next entry in the series that started the HD-2D trend, and I fell in love with it. It keeps the core formula of the previous games that worked, while adding some new ideas that ultimately make this entry a worthy successor.
I could go on and on about the visuals, but as I have said many times, I love the HD-2D art style. It finds a way to perfectly balance 3D environments and pixel art, with some gorgeous lighting and shadows that help make the world pop. If I had to be very critical, I do wish there was a little more vibrant color injected into the landscape, but I am still very happy with it.
One of the biggest changes here comes in its story structure. In the previous two games, we followed eight individuals and their stories, whereas in Octopath Traveler 0, it all revolves around our own customizable character. Our hometown of Wishvale is destroyed by evil forces, and we decide to avenge the town and go after the people who caused this, while also rebuilding the home we love.
Ultimately, that makes this a more personal tale, and one I was enjoying through and through. While our silent protagonist can feel a bit like a placeholder, the reasoning for them to go on this epic quest is felt. They watched their entire home fall apart, running away after watching their parents get struck down in front of them, countless friends be killed in cold blood, and essentially waking up to their entire life upended. It's nice to be able to customize our character, how they look, and their starting equipment, but it doesn't replace the character development that could come from a developed personality.
Instead of following eight individuals on their own journeys, we start off with three main questlines that are segmented by each villain we have to take down. These quests feature vile people who are extremely compelling to learn about. They also delve into some heavier topics like torture and murder, which both surprised and delighted me. I love this new take on the story and how heavy stakes can get, and as it continued to unfold even further after finishing those three quests, I only enjoyed it more and more. Octopath Traveler 0 feels like there's always something coming, or something new to discover, and I was hooked the whole time.
However, I did start to miss the character development of previous entries. The past two games focused on eight individuals, and we got to see how they developed from their own personal journeys. In this prequel, we take the reins of a silent protagonist, and while I do see their justifications, I missed the development of established personalities.
As we travel, we will find people to recruit to our party, and most of them are unique and engaging on their own, but none of them get that same spotlight that I was hoping for. This ultimately made me feel a little dissociated from the people we find, with my motivation to find them rooted solely in finding new companions to fight with me or tend to my town. I am glad the overall story and the characters involved in it are memorable and worth spending time with, but I didn't care much for my actual party.
Octopath Traveler 0's combat, on the other hand, is a great improvement over the previous games. We still have the same systems from the previous games, with each character having two weapons and skills/spells that cater to their jobs, and using them to discover enemies' weaknesses to "break" them to pile on damage. It feels just as strategic as ever, finding the best way to bring enemies into that "break" state so they can be stunned and take extra damage, and using Battle Points (BP) to deal extra attacks or increase skill damage.
Since Octopath doesn't revolve around eight characters like before, we instead have eight party members in each fight. There are four people in the front row and four in the back, which can be swapped out easily to utilize their skills and weapons. The people in the back row are protected and don't take damage, but gain BP just the same as those in the front row. It may seem like one simple change, but having a back row of fighters dramatically changes the fight and can increase the strategy we use in fights.
In a way, the way we get new characters and how we utilize and fight with them reminds me of Suikoden. In Suikoden, we find tons of allies throughout the game, bringing them in to fight with us and join our army. Octopath Traveler 0 is similar in that sense, as we can find characters throughout the world or through the mainline quests. Sometimes we will bring them in as part of the larger story, while others will be completely optional side quests. And if we don't put them in our fighting party, they can help manage the town we are rebuilding!
That brings us to town building, which feels a little restricted at first, but is something I ended up enjoying as more options opened up. We will gather resources around the world and use them to build new homes, resource buildings, and decorations on a grid system. It's a nice break from the constant grinding and combat that JRPGs like this are known for, and it does feed us with a steady stream of resources, money, and shops we can buy specialized items from. It's a great reprieve from the regular gameplay that can get a little tiring without taking a moment to catch your breath.
I enjoyed running around the world, filled with some familiar locations that I recognize from previous games, but I was a little disappointed with the simplified Path Actions. In previous games, depending on the character we are controlling, we can use specific actions on other people, whether it be challenging them to fights or buying items from them. Now, instead, each NPC has three Path Actions available to use on them, with one always being inquiring about who they are, and the other two could be different options like recruiting to our town, fighting them to become our helpers, or even asking for some free items.
Without any issue, Octopath Traveler 0 is perfect for the Steam Deck. It runs at a smooth 60 FPS on default settings, while draining under 14W for over 3.5 hours of battery life. It looks and feels great, and there really isn't much more I can say about its performance. It just runs extremely well. Some battles will spike the battery drain up a little more, but ultimately, it will stay at 60 FPS the whole time.
The game defaults to the High quality preset, and while it is possible to move to the Ultra preset and still get 60 FPS, the changes were minimal, and they do increase battery drain. So, I recommend just keeping it on the default High settings. The HD-2D visuals shine on the Steam Deck no matter what, so I didn’t find any reason to add extra stress on battery drain. However, it is possible to play at Ultra, and it will move the battery life to around 2.5-3 hours.
So, with all this in mind, I would just recommend playing right out of the box. We can increase battery life further by reducing the framerate to 30 FPS in-game or bringing down the settings, but it isn't really necessary. It looks and plays great as is, and I can't recommend it enough.
We can change around some settings like text and voice language, message speed, text display, hold time for building removal, vibrations, remembering cursor positions, minimap display, pausing game when inactive, how many party members are displayed when running around, volume sliders, and rebinding keys.
The game doesn't support 16:10 resolutions, but it does have cloud saves and controller support. There are no HDR settings.
Despite some smaller issues here and there, Octopath Traveler 0 is a fantastic JRPG that is a worthy entry in this series. It is missing some of the charm and character development that were present in the previous two games, but it's still a fantastic experience with great combat, a compelling story, a solid town-management system, and a continuation of the wonderful HD-2D visual style that I have fallen in love with. As a JRPG fan, this is going to be a wonderful addition to your ever-growing library.
And with how great the game runs on the Steam Deck, this is definitely a worthy title to add to your portable library as well. A solid 60 FPS on High settings with around 3.5-4 hours of battery is a treat, and I can't recommend this game enough.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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Octopath Traveler 0 is a worthy entry in the Octopath franchise with some great new features, a wonderful story, and great Steam Deck performance.
Thanks for the info on the game, although I wonder if it needed to be said that we're not following eight individuals like the previous game that many times xD
"and while it is possible to move to the Ultra preset and still get 60 FPS, the changes were minimal, and they do i
increase battery life." Also, was this supposed to say DECREASE and not increase?
Hah well I think it's worth saying since Octo is still in the name and that is a defining feature of the series. And thank you for catching that! It was supposed to say increase battery drain, I changed it now.