At the Game Awards on Thursday night, Geoff Keighley, the show’s founder and host, surprised everyone with an emotional display that seemed like he might start crying. The reason? Capcom’s announcement of a sequel to its revered PlayStation 2 classic, Okami, with the original director, Hideki Kamiya, at the helm.
Seeing Keighley emotionally stirred was a moment that resonated deeply with me. I felt a similar wave of emotion as the teaser played out. The teaser was simple yet powerful, featuring soul-stirring music, a wolf bolting across the screen, the Capcom logo, and the mention of Kamiya’s name. I found myself tearing up alongside him.
Now, let’s delve into why this stirred such a reaction. Released in 2006, Okami is a standout game. It’s an action-adventure romp reminiscent of Zelda, featuring a celestial wolf deity battling spirits and solving problems for bewildered villagers. The game showcases breathtaking visuals, drawing inspiration from traditional Japanese art, with bold, inky black lines framing exquisite watercolor washes.
I initially reviewed Okami for Edge magazine, scoring it a solid 9 out of 10, and that rating still holds true. While it doesn’t rank among my absolute favorites, given its somewhat lengthy and awkward moments, I’d choose at least six top-tier Zelda games over it any day.
However, Okami symbolizes a pivotal era in gaming history—a time when major Japanese studios were pushing boundaries and redefining the artistic language of video games. Unfortunately, despite its creative ambition, Okami didn’t achieve commercial success and contributed to the downfall of Clover, the unique Capcom studio behind it. This studio’s closure led to Kamiya, along with Shinji Mikami and others, leaving Capcom to establish PlatinumGames.
Capcom’s decision to partner with Kamiya (who’s now started a new venture named Clovers) for an Okami sequel suggests that the spirit of that innovative era endures. It also indicates that despite the original game’s poor sales, its various reissues have performed sufficiently well to motivate Capcom, showing them the error of their past ways.
The announcement of the Okami sequel was stirring. The orchestral music elevated the moment, while the vibrant new visual style, moving away from the ink outlines to embrace warm, painterly colors, caught my eye. Watching Amaterasu, the wolf god, dart across the landscape in the animation was thrilling. Yet, like Keighley, my emotional response was primarily due to the significance of this announcement.
As the Game Awards livestream shifted from a glowing Keighley to Kamiya sitting in the audience, the contrast was stark. Behind his trademark red shades, Kamiya seemed unfazed, perhaps mentally preparing to block Geoff on Twitter for showing such emotion. And now, it seems, I might end up on that blocking list as well.
