One of the most renowned manga/anime franchises globally is One-Punch Man a creation by the artist known as One. Currently, a third season is in development, promising to deliver an action-packed storyline. To keep fans engaged during the anticipation, Crunchyroll Games and developer Perfect World have joined forces to develop an exciting new game titled "One-Punch Man: World." Recently, CBR had the opportunity to experience an early version of the game at San Diego Comic-Con 2023, courtesy of Crunchyroll. The demo showcased the game's potential to offer an immersive and captivating adaptation of the beloved world and narrative.
One-Punch Man: World adapts the events from the first two anime seasons, commencing with the story of Saitama, the titular hero capable of defeating any adversary with a single punch, which often leaves him unsatisfied as he yearns for a genuine challenge. Accompanying Saitama are numerous fellow crime fighters and monster hunters affiliated with the Hero Association, a private organization dedicated to safeguarding multiple cities in Japan from various imminent threats. From increasingly powerful monsters to invasions from the ocean depths, subterranean realms, and even cosmic expanses, these heroes find themselves confronting a wide array of challenges, despite their impressive array of powers and abilities.
One-Punch Man: World features an extensive and varied roster of playable characters, including different versions of the same hero to reflect changes in their abilities throughout the story, the most notable example being the cybernetic Genos. Though the broad strokes of the gameplay are similar, with a basic attack, dodge/dash, and special abilities that can be triggered with varying cooldown periods, these changes do keep the action fresh as players find the heroes that best suit their play style. And part of the fun is seeing how well different combinations of heroes work together in battle, especially given the similar variety exhibited by the types of enemies.
In terms of the combat itself, battles unfold in an enclosed arena, not unlike 2020's One-Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows but much larger and easier to navigate. One-Punch Man: World doesn't play like a 3D fighting game but rather like an action RPG, hewing closer to Guild Wars and World of Warcraft with its combat, likely to make it more mobile-friendly. The fighting is intuitive, including some timed combo features that keep the player engaged rather than just mindlessly spamming the basic attack and dash inputs.
One-Punch Man: World features several open-world maps, usually composed of various cities from the anime that players can fast-travel between, along with their corresponding neighborhoods. More than possessing different side-quests, these areas also have fun extras like convenience stores and game centers to visit and add to the immersive feel. This is supplemented by a trial mode for those looking to jump straight to fights against boss characters straight from the anime, either alone or with a party of allies to help out.
It'll be interesting to see what the final version of One-Punch Man: World will play like. The version provided feels pretty close to complete as it currently stands, and that's a compliment. The biggest questions are how the game will eventually handle on mobile platforms (The SDCC hands-on experience was played on PC) and with its planned cross-platform play, but these are questions to be answered at a later date. In the meantime, One-Punch Man: World is looking good, both for fans of the property and those just looking for a fun beat-em-up action RPG.
