I’ve always appreciated, but never quite loved , Square Enix’s Octopath Traveler games. On paper, they’re tailor-made for me — glorious throwback turn-based RPGs from the company behind my all-time favourite series, Final Fantasy , that feature an absolutely stunning “HD-2D” retro-inspired pixellated visual style.

But they’ve often felt too bloated, with excessively lengthy campaigns that drag even more due to a bizarre structure that segmented characters and story threads. 2023’s Octopath Traveller 2 took some steps to improve these issues over its 2018 predecessor, but I still found myself failing to fully engage due to the persisting feelings of disjointedness and a ridiculously long playtime of 60-plus hours.

With Octopath Traveller 0 , however, the series has finally clicked for me.

See Full Page