One Piece Meets Restaurant Management in One Piece: Grand Gourmet
The One Piece franchise lends itself well to action video games and even the occasional fighting game. But that's not all One Piece has to offer in the video game space. So, what bold new adventures can the Straw Hat Pirates go on? Why not restaurant management with Bandai Namco's upcoming One Piece: Grand Gourmet—which I demoed at Tokyo Game Show 2026?
Taking place in a world where the seafaring restaurant Baratie was taken over by pirates, its reputation is ruined, and the ship is left a mess. After Luffy and company take back the ship, it's now up to the Straw Hat Pirates to rebuild, expand, and fix the reputation of the restaurant with the newly christened Baratie Number Two. It's a simple premise for a game that doesn't need much action.
So, how do you achieve the goal set out for you? You manage the restaurant by setting and creating menu items, installing seating and decor, and traveling the world of One Piece in search of customers and new ingredients. In essence, it's like a mini-city builder with One Piece: Grand Gourmet's décor, tables, and seating, menu items, and services acting as an equivalent to a city builder's buildings, taxes, and services.
What makes One Piece: Grand Gourmet special is the pixel art style and the colorful cast of One Piece characters appearing in the game. Addressing the former, had this game used high-resolution graphics comparable to City Skylines or modern Sim City games, the charm of One Piece: Grand Gourmet would be lost. Seeing the One Piece characters running around the Baratie Number Two in pixel art form is delightful. The abstraction of the characters brings out the personality of the individual characters through their actions and movement. It's fun and harkens back to the 1990s era of video game graphical fidelity.
As for the colorful cast of One Piece characters, the One Piece: Grand Gourmet website states there are over 400 characters you can encounter. While the TGS 2026 demo only features a handful of them, not all the characters who appeared were allies of Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates. This begs the question: did Luffy bury the hatchet with characters like Smoker, Arlong, and other One Piece villains? Ultimately, though, it's not important because the focus of One Piece: Grand Gourmet isn't combat. It's building and managing a successful restaurant. But seeing how all the One Piece characters interact in this relatively peaceful environment is entertaining and lends itself to comedy, something for which One Piece is known.
Management games, let alone restaurant management games, aren't everyone's cup of tea. They can be tedious and require a lot of planning to truly understand. One Piece: Grand Gourmet is similar in that there is some tedium to building and managing the Baratie Number Two. However, it's such a breath of fresh air that this is hardly an issue. If you want a novel take on One Piece, try out One Piece: Grand Gourmet.
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