I will admit that I was incredibly wary when I learned that this newest entry of the Octopath Traveler franchise was born from a free-to-play mobile game fueled by micro-transactions and gacha mechanics. I am perfectly aware that plenty of great and ludicrously popular titles have been forged in the merciless fires of the modern mobile games marketplace, but I will always be wary of any product that relies on what are essentially the age-old tricks of casino parlors and gambling dens to make its profit. Plus, while I have only ever played a dozen or so hours of the first Octopath Traveler, I know enough of the franchise to recognize that a big part of its appeal is how its meaty RPG mechanics and lush HD-2D aesthetic marry the best of old-school nostalgia with modern gaming refinements. The biggest concern I had diving into Octopath Traveler 0 was the fear that its origins as a mobile gacha-game would dilute those robust and refined qualities that make this modern JRPG renaissance so vital.

Right up front, I think the best thing I can say about Octopath Traveler 0 is that, if one didn't know better, there would be almost no way to tell that this wasn't built from the ground up as a fully-featured mainline entry in what is becoming a flagship new franchise for Square Enix. Don't let the two-dimensional sprites or the hand-crafted-diorama look of the game's many fields and dungeons fool you: Octopath Traveler 0 is an absolute beast of a game that is competing with its big-budget RPG cousins and punching above its weight class in every criterion. This game features an absurdly epic campaign featuring several intertwined and non-linear quest lines and dozens of distinct playable characters. The player's journey is bolstered by a meticulously crafted and legitimately engaging turn-based battle system that sees our protagonist teaming up with up to seven other party members whose bountiful weapon choices and skillsets run the gamut across eight distinct classes. Osterra, as a setting, is a surprisingly vast and varied world filled with dungeons, side-quests, bonus boss monsters, and all sorts of other secrets to hunt down. I haven't even gotten to the robust town-building mechanics that could serve as anything from a minor diversion to a completely independent campaign of quests, character stories, and bonus missions on top of everything else going down in Osterra.

All of this, and not only is the game completely devoid of gacha mechanics or intrusive micro-transactions, but it is even being sold as a budget title. Yes, a lot of that is probably to do with the assets being reused or updated from the mobile game, which I have not played. But I still cannot stress enough that Octopath Traveler 0 is a complete package, practically full to bursting with stories to experience and battles to fight.

Of course, that would matter very little if the stories and battles that are set to take up so many hours of your time weren't any good. When it comes to the narrative, I was very pleasantly surprised with how invested I got into the grandiose tales that our customizable protagonist got wrapped up in throughout my time with Octopath Traveler 0. There is very little that is particularly original about the different quests that The Hero of Wishvale gets involved in as they travel through Osterra and encounter their allies and enemies, but the stories are all told with a confidence and charm that I found infectious.

The villains of the first three arcs are especially diabolical. In the “Master of Wealth” quest-line, you confront the wicked “witch” of hedonism and austerity, Hermania, who is the kind of woman who would cut the throat of the nearest whimpering slave just to see if they bleed the right color. In the “Master of Power” story, we see how the vicious “hero” Tytos wields his strength and renown to fill the town of Emberglow with fear and despair. Then there is Auguste, the delightfully ludicrous playwright whose psychotic pursuit of his ultimate, blood-soaked muse makes the “Master of Fame” path so dramatically intriguing. Despite featuring a single protagonist that is no longer defined by the short-story format of the previous Octopath Traveler games, this prequel carries on their spirit by allowing the player to jump back and forth between the different quests while seeking out side-quests and new characters to recruit. As the game progresses, further developments create connections and contrasts between the different heroes and villains that make for a complex and compelling story, indeed.

To be clear, this isn't an epic with as much thematic or creative meat on its bones as, say, Final Fantasy Tactics. The script values function over form. The cast is composed of fairly straightforward good-guys and bad-guys, and the plot prioritizes satisfyingly familiar dramatic beats over shocking the player with anything subversive or truly outside of the box. Still, a classical story told well can be just as enjoyable as anything else, especially when it is buoyed by solid voice acting, a great soundtrack, and the Octopath Traveler franchise's signature visual flair. While 0 maybe doesn't have quite the same level of polish and panache that made the Dragon Quest 1 + 2 HD-2D Remake such a standout, it still looks pretty good on my Switch 2 in either docked or handheld mode.

Though I'm usually the kind of player who values the story and characters above all else in a JRPG, Octopath Traveler 0's mechanics were what really got the game's hooks into me. Expanding the party roster from 4 to 8 is a move that risks overcomplicating an already complex battle system, but I ended up falling in love with the extra rhythms and tactical choices that came from constantly swapping my four front-row party-members with their support units in the back row, since each of them wielded unique weapon-type, skill, and spell combinations that need to be matched up with the various weaknesses of the different enemies on the field. Your protagonist can unlock every single class and their associated skills, too, which adds even opportunity to tweak and customize the party's combat style. When you combine that with the need to carefully store and deploy bonus attack charges that each character builds up with every passing turn, you have a formula for consistently challenging and rewarding fights that I was still having great fun with after fifty-plus hours of questing.

Finally, there is one of Octopath Traveler 0's key new features that really sets it apart from the original Champions of the Continent mobile release: Wishvale. I have always found that town-building mechanics in JRPGs end up being very hit-or-miss; you either end up being forced to spend way too much time fiddling with unintuitive systems and grinding materials to unlock upgrades, or the whole system ends up feeling completely vestigial and underbaked. The most successful aspect of the incorporation of Wishvale is that it strikes a very solid balance of being compelling without becoming compulsory. Essentially functioning as a new, fourth “Path” to progress alongside the foundational three, the rebuilding of Wishvale sees the protagonist and their friends recruiting new villagers, discovering new objects to add to the townscape, and unlocking new core buildings that provide permanent upgrades for the entire party, such as passive XP bonuses and the ability to access the different shops from around the map in one convenient location.

My only real complaint about the Wishvale side of the game is that it takes a very long time for the town to unlock enough space and features to feel truly essential to the Octopath Traveler 0 experience. On the Nintendo Switch 2, the town will eventually cap at a limit of 400 additions. After over 40 hours, I have only been given about half that total limit to take advantage of, and I'm still unlocking key features that expand the town's utility and customizability. On the one hand, I really appreciate that Wishvale is not some throwaway feature to be completed in a couple of hours as a single side quest. On the other hand, it's unfortunate that getting to play around with Wishvale's best toys takes such an intense commitment of time and effort.

Still, Octopath Traveler 0 has proven to be one of the best gaming surprises of the year. 2025 has been absolutely overrun with incredible, standard-setting RPG releases, from the industry-shaking supernova of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to the pitch-perfect classicism of Dragon Quest 1 + 2 HD Remake, you can't throw a stone around without hitting a Game of the Year contender that revels in turn-based combat, fantastical world-building, and epic adventures. Fans of the other Octopath Traveler games should be overjoyed with this new entry, and I can see it making zealous converts out of new fans, too. While I don't know if Octopath Traveler 0 is the absolute best of the best amongst such stellar competition, the fact that this humble little remake of a mobile game can hold its own so well is a major achievement in its own right.