One Piece: Dawn of Liberation Brings the Wano Arc to Your Tabletop

Wano Country spans 16 volumes, encompassing 149 chapters and a staggering 191 episodes. This arc of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece volition soon beryllium playable connected your tabletop courtesy of steadfast KessCo with its upcoming One Piece: Dawn of Liberation committee game, which conscionable launched implicit connected Kickstarter.

Designed by Alex Kessler, this cooperative escapade committee crippled volition enactment you and your friends successful the hats of the Straw Hat unit themselves arsenic you conflict against the forces of the Beast Pirates to liberate the onshore of Wano, culminating successful a last raid connected Onigashima and the fearsome Kaido. I had the accidental to cheque retired a prototype transcript of Dawn of Liberation successful mentation for the campaign’s launch. As idiosyncratic who has played erstwhile KessCo committee games, I tin attest that this latest treasure looks to present the deepest and astir intricate crippled successful their catalog yet.

Taking spot crossed 3 acts that travel the storyline from the root material, the crippled has each subordinate physique a squad of their favourite One Piece characters, composed of a designated skipper and supporting crew. You past enactment to implicit missions, enlistee allies, and bash what they tin to hole for the last battle connected Kaido. The halfway of Liberation is to negociate the increasing menace of Kaido and his pirates portion gathering your resources and taking retired bosses earlier the last raid connected the Beast Pirate's fortress. Rounds are composed of a beauteous modular 3 signifier setup: The force phase, subordinate phase, and the extremity phase.

Starting the circular disconnected are Kaido and the pirates arsenic you rotation dice to spawn caller pirates crossed the regions of Wano. Some brag effects volition trigger, and you'll rotation a peculiar Kaido dice that determines what enactment the large atrocious volition take, which tin scope from adding different brag to the committee to nary enactment astatine all. Its a spot of chaos that keeps you connected your toes, recquiring you to accommodate arsenic you go.

Player turns are reasonably straightforward and casual to learn. You spot each skipper and unit subordinate of your squad connected an enactment space, execute said action, and past (if you wish) determination your captains a space. The actions themselves are arsenic straightforward arsenic the plank those evil Beast Pirates privation you to locomotion on, including dealing harm to a brag oregon force pirates, pulling caller items oregon allies (or a unsafe Smile Fruit that volition wounded you) from the included unsighted bag, gaining nutrient and limb resources, recruiting affable samurai units, oregon completing that region's circumstantial mission. Players tin instrumentality turns successful immoderate order, which gives Liberation a coagulated boost successful the strategy department, allowing for setups with perchance large plaything payoffs that tin crook the tide. Some aspects punctual maine of Z-Man’s Pandemic bid of games, which I hap to adore.

Dropping successful immoderate added One Piece flair to the mix, each quality you are capable to enlistee to your merry set of Straw Hats features peculiar abilities, stats, and adjacent upgraded forms that truly assistance merchantability the One Piece goodness. Zoro, maestro of Santoryu, for instance, whenever helium is carrying 3 weapons successful his inventory, tin reroll up to 3 dice erstwhile taking your captain’s action. Usopp and his trusty slingshot tin instrumentality retired pirates and harm bosses from a distance. Between the 12 starting characters you tin prime from, on with the other characters that tin beryllium recruited during the game, and the bonus characters unlocked aft completing the crippled for the archetypal time, overmuch of Liberation’s replayability comes from this mixing and matching of captains and unit and figuring retired however to win.

Alongside the playable characters, the bosses of the Tobi Roppo are arsenic arsenic chiseled and fearsome. Each of the 25 imaginable bosses (some of which are locked for consequent playthroughs and done peculiar summoning means) airs unsafe risks to players whenever they get connected the field. Some, specified arsenic Basil Hawkins, necessitate peculiar conditions to beryllium fulfiled successful bid to combat and bash harm to them, portion others, including Perospero, use a planetary effect requiring players to walk a nutrient assets to move.

For each crook that these bosses stay connected the field, the radical of Wano suffer Joy, a unsocial assets that bestows boons oregon debuffs to the players depending connected the value. Should this worth scope zero, a genuinely terrifying brag volition appear. This Joy worth volition besides alteration for each undealt-with pirate portion connected the committee astatine the extremity of a circular that isn't blocked by a recruited samurai unit. Balancing this Joy way on with preparing for the last raid and extremity crippled gauntlet is simply a existent challenge.

And speaking of the raid... Where Dawn of Liberation has truly acceptable itself isolated for maine is successful the large last 3rd act, the Onigashima Raid. Everything the players person done up until this constituent goes toward improving your likelihood of occurrence successful this 1 assault. The committee flips to uncover the Beast Pirates’ base, Onigashima, with not lone Kaido himself looming ample astatine the top, but besides 4 incredibly pugnacious bosses that you tin opt to effort and instrumentality down, greatly weakening the menacing brag astatine the end. Each of the bosses you negociate to instrumentality retired successful the erstwhile acts earns you further turns to effort and clinch the fight. Managing to support the radical of Wano harmless capable adjacent grants Luffy the hype-inducing Gear 5 signifier for this last fight. Even for folks who haven’t watched One Piece, this benignant of culmination and payoff of your plans is hype af.

The mentation I played of Dawn of Liberation was a prototype, truthful immoderate concerns I person whitethorn beryllium addressed by the clip the last merchandise arrives. That said, my 1 mild disapproval lies successful conscionable however replayable this container volition beryllium erstwhile the last mentation sails to backers. The quests, the cardinal to progressing done the game, are ever the same, with the lone alteration being successful what portion immoderate of them look (a mates are ever successful the aforesaid place). I would emotion to spot further communicative missions and quests being thrown into the chum bucket to fto you prime from randomly, to assistance marque each playthrough consciousness much unique. To KessCo’s credit, though, Dawn of Liberation does see a much challenging Emperor+ mode and further tweaks to alteration things up, specified arsenic drafting your characters and different gameplay adjustments to support things exciting.

Now, admittedly, my One Piece cognition is beauteous basal astatine best. I cognize my Luffys from my Aces, and that Devil Fruits springiness the eater unsocial abilities based connected the assortment the idiosyncratic eats, but earlier playing Liberation, I had nary notation to who oregon what the Red Scabbards were. This is each to accidental that I americium viewing this adaptation done the lens of however it is from a committee crippled perspective, truthful I can’t remark overmuch connected however good it follows the Wano Country Arc, but I volition accidental that, from the spot I’ve played, it has acceptable Dawn of Liberation up arsenic a coagulated assets and menace absorption puzzle.

The Kickstarter run is acceptable to past from March 3 until April 2, 2026. Unlike campaigns that spell to crowdfunding to unafraid backing to make the game, One Piece: Dawn of Liberation is already complete, and the squad is alternatively utilizing this much arsenic a pre-order system, with the games presently planned to get connected doorsteps successful Q4 of 2026.

For fans of One Piece who whitethorn not beryllium heavy into the committee gaming hobby, contempt One Piece: Dawn of Liberation being the astir analyzable offering by KessCo truthful far, it inactive manages to support the wide bundle astatine what I deliberation is an approachable level if you person acquisition with games arsenic analyzable as, say, Pandemic oregon Betrayal astatine House connected the Hill.

One Piece: Dawn of Liberation marks a marque caller mode to acquisition the biggest arc of 1 of the astir palmy anime and manga of each time, and careless of if you are a instrumentality of the Straw Hats oregon conscionable looking for a amusive caller crippled to adhd to your committee crippled shelf, you should cheque retired the Kickstarter and instrumentality a wound retired of this committee gomu-gomu fruit.

Scott White is simply a freelance contributor to IGN, assisting with tabletop games and usher coverage. Follow him connected X/Twitter oregon Bluesky.