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OKAMI (PS2)
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Publisher: Capcom.
Developer: Clover Studio. Released: February 2007 (Europe). Genre: Adventure. Posted 19th May 2025. By Tom Clare © 2025 |
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Clover Studio’s cel-shaded action game Viewtiful Joe provided a much-needed shot in the arm for the ageing 2D action genre, but impressive as it was, few could have foreseen the scale and realisation of what was to follow. The studio’s penultimate game would prove their opus, realising all the possibilities glimpsed in VJ. For a fleeting moment in 2007, next-generation formats were forgotten and cultural comfort barriers gently lowered, as the PlayStation 2 played centre stage to Ōkami, an adventure unlike any other.
To those who’ve neither seen nor played Ōkami, it’s difficult to convey how deeply its creative streak runs. A sense of the abstract is evident in almost every element of its make-up. Mixing elements of 3D platforming, role-playing and adventuring, the game sees you controlling a God reborn as a white wolf, known as Amaterasu (or ‘Ammy’, to her sprite companion Issun). In a nod to (and celebration of) Japanese mythology, she is given the unenviable task of defeating the serpent demon Orochi, whilst in the process reviving a land ravaged by darkness.
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Whether the land is healthy or mired in corruption, everything Okami dreams up looks outstanding
Firstly, a humble request. There is just one, solitary blemish to this outstanding video game and, improbable as it sounds, it hits you before you even take control of Ammy. The opening cut-scene has remained a major bone of contention over the years, and runs a significant risk of turning players away. The content of the scene, which gives a framework to the story, is fine. It’s just extremely lengthy. Twenty minutes long, and unskippable. All I well say on this point is: don’t give up on it. The payoff is immeasurable.
Along the way, Amaterasu will acquire 13 celestial brush stroke techniques that gift her powers befitting a God. At any time, players can freeze the gameplay, lay a sepia canvas over the action, and with the celestial brush, draw shapes that affect the world around you. For instance, painting a circle in the sky makes the sun appear and daylight resume, whilst sketching a circle on water creates a lily pad for Ammy to bridge across. The brush can also be used to heal the landscape, by returning leaves to the trees, or mending broken bridges and waterwheels, or in more aggressive pursuits, chopping down enemies in battle with a sword-like slash.
Along the way, Amaterasu will acquire 13 celestial brush stroke techniques that gift her powers befitting a God. At any time, players can freeze the gameplay, lay a sepia canvas over the action, and with the celestial brush, draw shapes that affect the world around you. For instance, painting a circle in the sky makes the sun appear and daylight resume, whilst sketching a circle on water creates a lily pad for Ammy to bridge across. The brush can also be used to heal the landscape, by returning leaves to the trees, or mending broken bridges and waterwheels, or in more aggressive pursuits, chopping down enemies in battle with a sword-like slash.
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Bit by bit, Amaterasu garners ‘praise points’ by helping villagers in their tasks, healing corruption-tarnished landscapes and feeding the wildlife that populates it. Even these smallest of tasks are a pleasure to perform, simply because the game world feels so perfect, and it’s wonderful to see each utopia restored to its full radiance. There’s an organic beauty to the soft, hazy visuals. An almost ethereal quality conveys contrasting moods with remarkable rates of success. The idyllic, healthy areas appear impossibly vibrant, saturated in an amazing array of colours, whilst the lands still tainted by evil are conversely dominated by a suffocating heaviness, with darkness sweeping and swirling around the player, and shadows of pure blackness. It’s like being part of a living watercolour.
It’s the most distinctive-looking PlayStation 2 game, and all the more amazing given how technically solid it seems despite its adventurous design. Its camera is about as good as you’ll find in any third-person adventure, whilst it carries an air of fluidity and grace, impressing even down to the finer details, like flowers sprouting from the ground upon which Amaterasu has been padding along. Ōkami’s presentation is outstanding, its animations consistently amusing and inventive, whilst its routinely huge landscapes border on the epic. Far from petering out, Ōkami’s artistic finesse ramps up to greater heights as you push on towards its conclusion. The giant, lush fields and rivers you encounter near the beginning are soon surpassed by a jaw-dropping, dreamy underwater Kingdom and an ice village amid a snowstorm.
It’s the most distinctive-looking PlayStation 2 game, and all the more amazing given how technically solid it seems despite its adventurous design. Its camera is about as good as you’ll find in any third-person adventure, whilst it carries an air of fluidity and grace, impressing even down to the finer details, like flowers sprouting from the ground upon which Amaterasu has been padding along. Ōkami’s presentation is outstanding, its animations consistently amusing and inventive, whilst its routinely huge landscapes border on the epic. Far from petering out, Ōkami’s artistic finesse ramps up to greater heights as you push on towards its conclusion. The giant, lush fields and rivers you encounter near the beginning are soon surpassed by a jaw-dropping, dreamy underwater Kingdom and an ice village amid a snowstorm.
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The unique visual style is matched by some first-rate (and equally distinctive) music. The songs exhibit a similarly impressive versatility: beautiful, tranquil melodies shift towards more ominous themes in quick time, and these disarming laments make for an ideal complement to the troubled paradise you’re journeying through. Spoken dialogue is passed over in favour of Zelda-esque mumblings. Whilst this can grate a little, I was left to reflect that Ōkami might in some way have been diminished by ordinary voice-acting. A jarring reality check that would not have fit with the rest of the game. When you’re in heaven, there’s no hurry to be brought back down to Earth. Between the music, the visuals and the speech, Clover erected a storybook veil. Buoyed by gameplay that never troubles itself with the mundane, Ōkami instead emphasises the outstanding beauty of its world, and its magical creativity.
Despite recurrent themes of demons and darkness, it’s quite a serene gaming experience as the difficulty and pacing prove fairly comfortable. The fact that Issun talks you through each new brush procedure means some sections may seem like glorified training sessions, yet so keen is the game to offer up innovative new strokes, that it’s always a fascinating journey of discovery. Challenges relating to Amaterasu’s abilities are skilfully interwoven into the fabric of the adventure, meaning that whilst a few parts of the game might stump seasoned gamers, you’re always motivated to find a solution. Even the mini-games are great, the pick of the bunch being a fishing game that allows you to attain a variety of colourful catches, catalogue them, and then sell them to merchants.
Despite recurrent themes of demons and darkness, it’s quite a serene gaming experience as the difficulty and pacing prove fairly comfortable. The fact that Issun talks you through each new brush procedure means some sections may seem like glorified training sessions, yet so keen is the game to offer up innovative new strokes, that it’s always a fascinating journey of discovery. Challenges relating to Amaterasu’s abilities are skilfully interwoven into the fabric of the adventure, meaning that whilst a few parts of the game might stump seasoned gamers, you’re always motivated to find a solution. Even the mini-games are great, the pick of the bunch being a fishing game that allows you to attain a variety of colourful catches, catalogue them, and then sell them to merchants.
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Ōkami employs a battle system more traditionally associated with RPGs. Fights begin when you come into contact with an enemy in the field of play, erecting a circular barrier within which Amaterasu must battle in real-time. This is one area that could easily have gone awry, but thankfully, it avoids any potential pitfalls thanks to a well-judged mix of simplicity and depth. Battles don’t outstay their welcome, and most enemies can be bested with a deft bit of timing, but there is the occasional foe that requires more advanced brushwork to defeat. Whilst the ordinary enemies are great, the bosses are undoubtedly the highlight. A giant spider-plant gets the ball rolling early on: externally invulnerable, you are tasked with attaching vines from different angles to open up the creature and expose its weakness. Defeating Orochi requires that you get each of the serpent’s heads drunk by feeding them sake, before attacking when they are disoriented. It’s refreshing to see a platform-oriented game maintaining the use of older abilities, not only throughout the adventure, but also during key fights.
Whilst the story feels like it’s approaching a conclusion faster than it actually does, this doesn’t render the game any less captivating, or dampen the impetus to continue exploring. Amazing gameplay is its own reward. I’ve seen the game criticised for its abundant supply of health replenishment items and generally gentle difficulty. I don’t dispute this, you’ll rarely find yourself in significant peril. However, this didn’t diminish the experience for me. Some games rely on a robust challenge to build intensity. Might Ōkami have been elevated further by an injection of stress and peril? It’s difficult to imagine harder bosses and checkpoint restarts adding to the enjoyment, it never feels like it needs it. It took me a whopping 41 hours to finish the game, which represents a truly remarkable degree of effort from Clover Studio. Consistently brilliant, almost blemish-free on a design level and huge to boot.
Whilst the story feels like it’s approaching a conclusion faster than it actually does, this doesn’t render the game any less captivating, or dampen the impetus to continue exploring. Amazing gameplay is its own reward. I’ve seen the game criticised for its abundant supply of health replenishment items and generally gentle difficulty. I don’t dispute this, you’ll rarely find yourself in significant peril. However, this didn’t diminish the experience for me. Some games rely on a robust challenge to build intensity. Might Ōkami have been elevated further by an injection of stress and peril? It’s difficult to imagine harder bosses and checkpoint restarts adding to the enjoyment, it never feels like it needs it. It took me a whopping 41 hours to finish the game, which represents a truly remarkable degree of effort from Clover Studio. Consistently brilliant, almost blemish-free on a design level and huge to boot.
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Swimming can prove as hazardous as combat to Ammy... unless you can help her out with a few lily pads!
Few games so successfully marry style and substance as Ōkami. A barrage of innovative gameplay touches, mind-blowing visuals, elegant design and a remarkably unusual (and wholly immersive) game world, the standard is almost impossibly high. Its unconventional, Japanese-centric theme might discourage some, but that’s their loss, as Ōkami is a profoundly wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime adventure.
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VERDICT"A remarkable fusion of innovative gameplay, world-beating visuals and cavernous longevity. Quirky and creative in all the right ways... Okami is like a magical storybook the player has the freedom to explore, affect, and lose themselves in. Profoundly wonderful." OVERALL: 10/10 |
OTHER GAMES WITH MYTHOLOGICAL ELEMENTS REVIEWED
God of War (2005, PlayStation 2)
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Hades (2021, PlayStation 4)
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