Summary
- Hidkei Kamiya is directing an Okami sequel with Capcom.
- Kamiya is making the game with a revived Clover Studio.
- The game will retain the cel-shaded art style and feature the Celestial Brush.
Capcom has announced that an Okami sequel is in development with Hideki Kamiya as the director. The original Okami is considered by many to be one of the best PS2 games ever made, with subsequent ports to the Wii and modern platforms earning a great deal of praise as well. But with Okami developer Clover Studio shuttered nearly 20 years ago and no new game since 2010’s Okamiden, many assumed that the franchise was dead.
After Clover Studio shut down, some of its developers, including Hideki Kamiya, went on to form PlatinumGames. PlatinumGames has remained one of the industry’s most popular studios, delivering all kinds of beloved new IP over the years, including Bayonetta, The Wonderful 101, and more. PlatinumGames leader Hideki Kamiya leff the studio in late 2023 in what came as a rather shocking move, and what’s even more shocking is what he’s doing now.
Related
Ex-Capcom Dev Wants to Make Okami 2 and Viewtiful Joe 3
A former developer with Capcom is interested in heading development on sequels to both the Okami and Viewtiful Joe franchises.
At The Game Awards 2024, it was announced that Hideki Kamiya and a revived Clover Studio are working on an Okami sequel with Capcom. The game was announced with a stylish trailer that, despite being brief and not showing any actual gameplay, did seemingly confirm some details about the Okami sequel. It looks as though Okami 2, or whatever it ends up being called, will retain the cel-shaded art style of the original, bring back the white wolf Amaterasu as the protagonist, and it will once again feature the Celestial Brush.
Okami Sequel Trailer
The Celestial Brush, for those unfamiliar with the Okami games, lets players draw on the screen to perform various actions, like fixing broken structures, moving objects, and fighting enemies. It was a defining feature of Okami‘s exploration, puzzle solving, and combat, and so it’s no surprise to see it return for the sequel. Notably, the Wii version of Okami used motion controls for the Celestial Brush, but it’s likely that the sequel will go back to the analog stick controls used by most versions of the game.
The original Clover Studio made the Viewtiful Joe games, Okami, and God Hand.
Celestial Brush aside, Okami is known for being similar to Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda franchise. It’s likely that the Okami sequel will also be quite similar to Zelda, but in the years since it was made, Nintendo has made some huge changes to the franchise. Perhaps the Okami sequel will take some notes from newer Zelda games like Breath of the Wild and embrace an open world design. Alternatively, it may continue taking inspiration from more traditional 3D Zelda games. It will also be interesting to see if it addresses the one big complaint fans had about the original, which was the excessive talking. Time will tell, but regardless, it’s incredibly exciting that a new Okami game is in development.