Octopath Traveler 0 Is a Full Remake — Meet 5 New Voiced Companions, 8‑Member Parties and No Gacha
Square Enix’s Octopath Traveler 0 draws heavily from the 2022 mobile title Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent, but the new prequel adds several *concrete* changes to characters and systems that make it play differently from the original Acquire-made games.
- Where Octopath Traveler 0 came from
- Five new, fully voiced companion characters
- Gameplay changes: party size, creator, Action Skills and town building
- Story beats and returning villains
Where Octopath Traveler 0 came from
Square Enix has said Octopath Traveler 0 was “inspired by story elements and gameplay ideas” from the mobile game Champions of the Continent, and the new title is a rebuild of that Netease-developed game by Square Enix and co-developer Doki Doki Groove Works. For the company’s official confirmation, see this page.
Five new, fully voiced companion characters
Unlike the earlier console entries that centered on eight named travelers, Octopath Traveler 0 introduces five brand-new companions who have full voice work and their own backstories and questlines. The five are:
- Celsus — a devout thief
- Macy — an apothecary
- Alexia — a scholar studying ancient magic
- Viator — a genteel warrior
- Ludo — a youthful merchant
Also, while the original Octopath naming motif spelled out “Octopath” with character initials, that pattern does not apply here.
Gameplay changes: party size, creator, Action Skills and town building
Octopath Traveler 0 adds several mechanical changes compared with the Acquire entries. First, the player creates the protagonist in a character creator, and that protagonist’s hometown has been destroyed — a plot point carried over from Champions of the Continent.
Second, the game supports parties of up to eight characters in battle, rather than the four-character cap used in previous console games. Moreover, the player may recruit from a larger pool of allies: the game features more than 30 recruitable party members, which appears to be pared down from Champions of the Continent’s roster of over 100 characters.
There is also an all-new Action Skills system. Action Skills can be learned from Mastery items, trained in town, and equipped to other companions. Additionally, the player can choose from eight jobs for their protagonist: the five roles above plus hunter, cleric, and dancer.
Octopath Traveler 0 includes a town-building feature that lets you rebuild the protagonist’s hometown as the story progresses. And importantly, Square Enix told Kotaku that “it is a new core entry in the series without gacha or other common mobile game mechanics. The game mechanics work for players to encounter allies in various ways throughout the story and the journey.” See the Kotaku report here.
Story beats and returning villains
The main storyline in Octopath Traveler 0 follows Champions of the Continent fairly closely. In it, the player-character hunts the three villains who destroyed their hometown: Herminia the Covetous Witch, Tytos the Hero, and Auguste the Playwright.
Fans of the mobile game have praised its story; for community impressions see this Reddit thread.
Quick recap
In short, Octopath Traveler 0 adapts material from Champions of the Continent while adding five new voiced companions, an eight-person party system, a character creator, Action Skills, and a town-building feature. Square Enix and Doki Doki Groove Works rebuilt the mobile game’s content for this new core-series entry, and the publisher has said the title does not include gacha or similar mobile monetization mechanics.
