Octopath Traveler 0

A step forward and a step back: that, in essence, is Octopath Traveler 0, a work by Acquire and Square Enix that presents itself as a sweeping tribute to the medieval fantasy tradition and that—miraculously—manages to turn what was once a mobile gacha title into a fully fledged JRPG. With an extraordinary wealth of content—over seventy hours of story campaigns and more than thirty playable characters—it opens a window onto the series’ past while offering an ideal point of entry for absolute newcomers. Yet it continues to suffer—partly for reasons of age alone—from several of the very issues that affected the original instalment. This is a colossal adventure that excels in many of the genre’s essential elements, particularly on the artistic front, and yet there is no facet of the experience that does not cast a faint shadow, from the narrative presentation to the ensemble cast, all the way to certain anachronistic systems. In short, it is Octopath Traveler in its near-purest form—but rather than looking ahead, it opts to keep its roots firmly planted in the past.