Octopath Traveler is a turn-based RPG like none before. Developed by Acquire in cooperation with Square Enix, OT takes the well-traveled routes of role-playing games genre and takes it in a new direction. The game features a unique graphic design, combining the characters sprites familiar to the fans of SNES console and beautifully rendered polygonal environments. In Octopath Traveler the player controls one of eight characters, each of them possessing their own unique skills and abilities.

Turn-based gameplay

Octopath Traveler features the typical elements of RPG genre, at the same time amplifying them with new mechanics. The core of the gameplay revolves around the eight playable characters. Each of them comes from a different land and works in a different profession or possesses different attributes. The characters each carry a Path Ability, a unique skill that influences how the character interacts with the NPCs. Depending on the type of the PA, Noble or Rogue, the player’s character might challenge other characters, seem out items, or summon NPC as guest party members.  

The combat of Octopath Traveler follows the turn-based style with characters able to use weapons, elemental attacks, skills, and items. Each turn awards the character with a boost point which can be spent on enhancing a command, allowing the character to attack again or raise the effect of an ability. Enemies are equipped with a shield counter, which depletes of the player attack with an element they are weak against. When the shield is fully depleted, the enemies become stunned and take more damage, making winning easier.

Story and characters

Ages ago, thirteen deities of Orsterra imprisoned one of their own, a fallen god Galdera. Sealed within the afterworld, Galdera awaits someone who will open the Gate of Finis, the only way his prison can be accessed. 

The story of Octopath Traveler features eight characters that make the player’s party. Each character hails from a different part of the world and has different goals, which they want to achieve during the quest. Ophilia Clement is a young cleric of the Order of the Sacred Flame, on a pilgrimage to renew the flames that symbolize the Order’s Faith. Cyrus Albright, a scholar, tracks the stolen ancient grimoire. Tressa Colzione is a merchant eager to see the world.  Olberic Eisenberg, a knight of the fallen kingdom of Hornburg, is on the quest to find out the truth about his kingdom’s destruction. Primrose Azelhart, the dancer, is after the Obsidian, a gang who had murdered her father. Alfyn Greengrass, an apothecary, wants to be of use to others after being saved from the plague. The hunter H’aanit seeks her master and Redeye, the monster she had sworn to slay.

Reception

Octopath Traveler for PC received high praise from critics, especially for the unique graphic design, blending the 2D sprites and 3D environments. Aside from the hybrid visuals, the reviews praised the game’s score, a robust non-linear world with a multitude of side-quests and collectibles, upgradeable and customizable characters, and many more. The game was hailed as a bridge between classic jRPGs and modern ones.