SDCC: One Punch Man: World Gameplay Preview

Another game I was able to get some hands-on time with during San Diego Comic-Con this year was the upcoming PC and mobile gaming title One Punch World: Man, based on the manga and anime series created by One. The upcoming title comes from Crunchyroll games and is being developed by Perfect World, and it will offer players a multiplayer action experience.

The gameplay demo featured at SDCC offered a look at some of the different gameplay modes that will be available for the upcoming title, including a look at the combat and the city exploration. The first chunk of the demo adapts a sequence from the first episode, where Saitama experiences in his dream a fight with the Subterranean People and the Subterranean King.

Image Credit: Crunchyroll Games/Perfect World

The PC version uses keyboard controls for the combat and movement. Saitama has some basic attack moves he can use, and he eventually waits for his attacks to refresh to use some powerful attacks. Once he faces the dream version of the Subterranean King, he’s a large enemy that’s a little tougher and takes more time to defeat. Eventually, Saitama puts him down and awakens from his dream, and it’s a scene right out of the first episode.

Throughout One Punch Man: World, players will be able to unlock and control different heroes straight from the manga and anime series, including Genos, Mumen Rider, Speed-o-Sound Sonic, Puri Puri Prisoner, Atomic Samurai, Golden Ball, and Lightning Max. For the demo, Saitama was only playable for the combat segments. It looks like you will eventually be able to join other players and team up to fight bosses and raids in combat levels as you advance your gameplay experience.

Image Credit: Crunchyroll Games/Perfect World

The city exploration area featured Lightning Max. So the city area looked interesting. This mode looks to be a work in progress, but it looks to be a pretty large area, where you can explore, go into convenience stores and grocery shops and interact with NPCs. I imagine other players are also going to be occupying this space as well. You will also be able to go into the Hero Association office, but that area wasn’t open yet for the demo.

Thus far, the PC version looks decent and looks like it will have a fair amount of content to keep players and fans of the franchise busy. The graphics and animation look good for the most part, and the exploration of Z-City looks to be the most interesting aspect of the gameplay experience and what I’d like to see more of. While the Z-City exploration available in the demo was a bit rough and unfinished, it looks like it has a lot of potential once it’s finished and fully interactable.

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of online multiplayer games, but I do enjoy One Punch Man, and I am excited to see a new game that brings the world of the anime to life. And it looks like it will be a relatively faithful adaptation of the anime experience and characters. Not to mention, it will feature the actual heroes from the game as playable characters players can unlock rather than customizing a brand-new character. Playing as the story’s characters rather than creating a new one is much more appealing for the gameplay experience to me.

One Punch Man: World is due out later on for Windows PC, Android, and iOS. The release version will feature cross-platform play. Players can pre-register for the game now at its official website. The game does not yet have an official release date.