Okami Sequel! Amaterasu Is About to Be Reborn Once Again
by Simon Larocca·January 27, 2025
I had heard about it in 2006 when it came out, in those feverish months
of nights in Berlin and the chaos of football celebrations, but then I
forgot about it, guiltily, until I played it the following year on my
PlayStation2, forgive me if I’m going from
memory.
E it was immediately love, blossoming
in the shadow of cherry trees, oh my Amaterasu:
Okami is one of those titles that
breaks the chains of the video game genre and leaps nimbly, just like the
white wolf in which the Shinto sun goddess incarnates, from platform to puzzle game, to finally arrive at something new and
exciting.
Dopo having made us dream with PlayStation first and on Wii after, some years later, Capcom and the game designer Hideki Kamiya at the helm of his studio Clover announced the arrival of a
official sequel!
And what could they call the
follow-up to Okami, if not Okami Sequel?
Whether this is the final or temporary name of the title in question (I hope for
something more epic in the future), what really matters is that it exists; it is no longer
a daydream among the branches of the Nara forests or the final wish
of an Oni repentant for his destructive actions, but a solid reality in
the making.
The teaser released by Capcom
shows a gloomy forest shrouded in shadows coming to life thanks to splashes
of color thrown by an invisible brush, immediately after the trampling of
restless paws, pure animal power for a deity that comes back to life, and
color, showing itself running across a valley kissed by the rising sun:
Amaterasu thus makes her appearance, spectacularly, in a return that feels
like legend.
The basic principle of the series’ progenitor is that life is reborn, always, in an endless cycle of life, destruction, death, and rebirth.
Drawing on the tenets of Taoism, from which Clover in practice drew almost all of the lore and the key elements of Okami, we will accompany the goddess Amaterasu, in her white wolf form, on an unmatched quest for balance and divine justice (literally!). Even in this sequel we will deal with demons and mystical places in decline, in which we will have to restore order and peace
The incredible peculiarity of the first game was the iconic Celestial Brush: with this tool, the player could paint on a sheet of rice paper and thus interact with environments and enemies, building bridges and clearing the way in the first case, creating spectacular elemental attacks to defeat the oni in the second.
The question that has
tormented all video game players since the day of the announcement is just one (no, not
really, there are many, but this is certainly the most important): will the Celestial Brush
also make an appearance in the sequel? The truth is that at the moment
there are no official updates on the matter, just as the presumed release date is still very far
from being announced.
This is because, as Kamiya himself has repeatedly stated since the game's development was announced, he and Clover are only now practically beginning work on the title, so we should not expect to see Okami Sequel on our gaming platforms anytime soon.
But… it’s already something. Knowing that
the project has officially begun, that Amaterasu and her odyssey on Earth are far from over, that legions of fans have never stopped believing in a revival of the Capcom franchise, just as the parent company itself has, and that what is said of legends also applies to those who, in video game terms, have become legends, as Okami shows.
Whether you
have sold little or a lot, whether decades have passed since your last
appearance in the world of human beings, all of that is of no
importance, if in the meantime you have won the heart of someone who, in your company,
has spent hours painting worlds and daydreaming a Japan never so evocative.
Simon Larocca
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.
Simon Larocca
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.
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