One Punch Man World Review (Android & PC)

Corrected: With no shortage of anime and manga video game adaptations out there, if you're searching for the latest addition to the bunch, you may want to turn your attention to One Punch Man World. Now, to decide whether to pour your precious time into the gameplay and potentially chuck money out of your wallet to buy the game, you’ll want to know whether it's truly worth the trouble. While the game does have its fair share of mishaps, plenty more elements shine in its favor. 

One Punch Man World also uses a gacha system that may be of concern to some, or more so, whether the gacha system is implemented reasonably. Above all, does One Punch Man World stay faithful to its source material? How authentic is the game? Is it enough for newcomers to feel at home, perhaps? Come along as we explore these lingering queries and more in our One Punch Man World review.

City A to Z Reborn

Millionaire Agoni, hailing from a supercontinent version of Earth, creates the Hero Association. He enrolls superheroes to fight evil, including the famous ‘hero for fun’ Saitama. Fun fact: Saitama turns bald. In exchange, he gains superhuman strength, uhm, via strenuous workouts, though. Anyway, Saitama and a bunch of superhero characters you’ll unlock further ahead strive to save City A once again from evil.  

See, a wave of monster attacks has left the people of City A under duress. At the start, you’ll take charge of Lightning Max, an A-Class Rank 19 professional hero of the Hero Association and a martial artist. After the string of attacks on the city, the people have lost faith in the Hero Association. Vaccine Man, the antagonist, has squeezed every ounce of hope from the civilians. So Max and the other heroes will unlock the band together to try to regain the trust of the people and restore the city's thriving status.

Sucker Punch Out

You’ll soon embark on dangerous missions, fighting the monsters that crawl the streets and completing quests to unlock more hero characters. You also spend time patrolling the streets, spotting trouble from a mile away and coming to the aid of the civilians in time. Some quests are grand and, thus, more challenging. Others are easier, like side quests. However, all quests do add up to more EXP that you’ll use to unlock more heroes to experiment with. 

The story mode often unravels in a captivating linear format, interacting with NPCs and unlocking a diverse cast of characters along the way. Upon unlocking characters, your job is to level them up by completing quests and teaming up for raids. You’ll return to the Hero Association’s headquarters to pick up new jobs. Then, go out into a mini-sandbox open-world to wreak havoc on foes with other players.

Typical Action RPG

In that sense, One Punch Man World plays like a typical action RPG. It’s perfect for fans of the genre. Your main goal is to master each character’s distinct mechanics and skills. By distinct, One Punch Man World really does strive to carve out unique learning curves for each character. You do feel motivated to unlock more powerful heroes, if only to experiment with them and push your own skills to their limits.

Saitama himself soon becomes a playable character. And while his M.O. is taking down enemies in one punch, which is beyond boring in an action RPG, the developing team has finessed that little mishap. They’ve made it so you’ll spend time dodging and blocking to build up power for that slick final blow. Alternatively, you’ll explore other sections where Saitama ‘picks on enemies his own size.’

Faithful and True

One Punch Man World pens down its own story in a way. For the most part, the game draws heavy inspiration from the One Punch Man universe. You’ll spot plenty of familiar locations, including battlefields seemingly lifted directly from the anime and manga. Many iconic battle and story moments from the anime feature here, and in the most authentic ways possible. The story, which includes One Punch Man’s humor for good measure, feels captivating. It explores the tension between heroes and citizens, pushing you to explore the city and interact with people on the ground. 

You even enjoy some direct quotes and content that further captures One Punch Man in a vibrant light. One Punch Man World feels like a true tribute to the anime and manga series. Die-hard fans will definitely have the time of their lives pointing out environments and characters they remember from the source material. But newcomers will also enjoy the immersive world the developing team has designed. The environments are incredibly well rendered in 3D, not to mention meticulously detailed. The visuals may be the best part of the game. It's the perfect example of transitioning manga and anime into video games that breathe new life into the stories and characters you already know. 

Fresh and Fun

Don't worry, you won’t just be stuck playing Max all the time. You can switch between avatars you’ve unlocked when exploring the lore-rich world. Exploration is as easy as jumping into a teleporting phone booth and fast-traveling between subsections of the game. Day fades into night. NPCs go about their daily activities. The weather changes regularly. 

You can explore stores, restaurants, vending machines, manga shops, and even play arcade mini-games. With stunning visuals to boot, One Punch Man World feels incredibly immersive. It looks and feels authentic and embodies a sense of realism no other One Punch Man adaptation has managed to capture.

In the Thick Of It

For many gamers, the combat section is the most important. I’m happy to say One Punch Man World nails that, too. Besides exploration, you’ll spend time battling iconic foes from the anime and manga. Some battles stream in as part of the story. However, others are a means to earn rewards and level up. With enemies having weaknesses in one of the four combat types, you want to build a strong roster of heroes to counter them. For now, though, you can only control one hero in the first slot. You cannot switch out your chosen hero when the battle starts. However, battles tend to wrap up quickly. 

Combat is easy to learn but hard to master. It challenges you with an infinite number of combinations of unique skills. ‘Infinite’ because, despite seemingly few combat types, the fast-paced action can get pretty in-depth. You can mix and match regular attacks and dashes, skills, the order of your skills, how long to use certain skills, or whether to use specific skills for dodging and parrying. Meanwhile, you also have energy, specific skills, and buff gauges to keep track of.

One Punch Man World doesn't break new ground in the genre. However, it uses systems that are proven to work and implements them fluidly and responsively. Plus, it feels incredibly satisfying to put down the iconic bosses of One Punch Man using different strategies and attack patterns. Short and sweet is the perfect way to describe the battle commissions. 

Money Makes the World Go Round

On matters of gacha, One Punch Man World does have a decent free-to-play system. You can get your hands on some pretty powerful heroes and impression arms by putting the work in. To get the best of the best, though, you do have to use the gacha system. Some complaints have come in about bans after rerolls. Others have complained about earning silver being spread too thin. Overall, luck plays a massive role in the characters and impressions you get. The bottom line, though, is that the free SR characters you get are pretty solid and fun, too. 

Verdict

I can hardly exhaust all the gameplay mechanics and features One Punch Man World implements. The character progression system is one I haven’t touched on that’s also incredibly varied and in-depth. It keeps you interested in pouring more hours into the game as your characters gain more strength and become more effective in combat. But bringing it all together, the story is pretty captivating, mainly owing to its heavy inspiration from the iconic One Punch Man franchise. It stays true and faithful to the source material and even takes a step further to elevate your experience in an intensely detailed and immersive world. You always find things to do, even as you stroll the stunning streets of cities A to Z. 

Interacting with characters induces charming humor and knits a closer bond to One Punch Man’s lore-rich world. Combat also shines through. It's deeply satisfying, with fluid and responsive controls. You don’t experience bugs, and if there are any, they’d hardly detract from an overall thrilling game. Now, if you’ve read or watched One Punch Man, you may get bored with the story that’s primarily the same or skip it altogether. Additionally, complaints have been aired about the gacha system. Rerolls apparently led to your original account being banned. The silver in-game currency may also feel spread too thin. There’s no denying, though, that One Punch Man World has a lot to offer. So, hurry on and check it out.