When Square Enix first unveiled Octopath Traveler 0, the new prequel in its retro role-playing game series, it wasn’t immediately apparent that it was a remake of the 2022 mobile game Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent — unless you happened to have played that game, in which case it was pretty clear.
Square Enix subsequently confirmed that Octopath Traveler 0 was “inspired by story elements and gameplay ideas” from Champions of the Continent. Notably, it features a protagonist whose hometown has been destroyed, and who is created by the player in a character creator, as well as the ability to take a party of eight characters into battle (the previous games’ battle system topped out at four). Party members also looked to be recruited from a massive pool, just like in the free-to-play gacha mobile game, rather than from the eight travelers of the original game and its sequel. The main change appeared to be the addition of a town-building feature via which the protagonist’s hometown could be rebuilt.
But new details released by Square Enix show just how much further the changes go in Octopath Traveler 0. Crucially, the game features five all-new companion characters who are fully voiced and fleshed out with their own backstories and questlines, in the manner of the original game’s travelers. They are Celsus, a devout thief; Macy, an apothecary; Alexia, a scholar studying ancient magic; Viator, a genteel warrior; and Ludo, a youthful merchant. (You’ll notice that the series tradition of spelling out the word “Octopath” with the characters’ initials has sadly fallen by the wayside.)
The player character will be free to choose from the series’ traditional eight jobs: the five just mentioned, plus hunter, cleric, and dancer. An additional layer of customization comes from an all-new Action Skills system. Action Skills can be learned from Mastery items, trained in town, and equipped to other companions.
For anyone worried that Octopath Traveler 0 would be infected by Champions of the Continent’s mobile mechanics, Square Enix reassured Kotaku that “it is a new core entry in the series without gacha or other common mobile game mechanics. The game mechanics work for players to encounter allies in various ways throughout the story and the journey.” Indeed, the “more than 30” recruitable party members in Octopath Traveler 0 seems to have been slimmed down from over 100 in the gacha-focused Champions of the Continent.
The main storyline appears to follow Champions of the Continent’s pretty closely, however, with the player character hunting down the three villains who destroyed their hometown: Herminia the Covetous Witch, Tytos the Hero, and Auguste the Playwright. That’s no bad thing, according to fans who rate the mobile game’s story highly.
All told, it sounds like a pretty extensive rebuild by Square Enix and co-developer Doki Doki Groove Works of the Netease-developed Champions of the Continent — albeit one that will still play quite differently from the two games made by Acquire.
