Amateur Recommendation Hour: Okami

Today’s recommendation is a brilliant work that rises above its flaws to deliver a truly memorable experience. One that I can assure the team that brought it to life, I will not be forgetting any time soon. It is a wonderful marriage of unique gameplay ideas, gorgeous traditional score, and a narrative whose inspirations have endured for generations.

Okami, directed by Hideki Kamiya and developed by the defunct developer Clover Studios is a beautiful tale set in classical Japan. It combines Japanese mythology and folklore to tell the story of how the land of Nippon was saved from darkness by the Shinto sun goddess, named Amaterasu, who took the form of a white wolf and her wandering artist partner Issun. Admittedly this is an extremely subjective take but I found Issun to be the weakest part of the narrative portion of the game. An extremely grating and annoying character that rivals Navi from Ocarina of Time, but damn it if Kamiya didn't make him endearing in the final third. A massive credit to his artistic vision and ability to write characters as more than just walking archetypes. Traditional fantastical beasts, both small and large are encountered throughout the journey, circling around the behemoth antagonistic presence of the famed and storied Orochi.

Presented in a timeless and stunningly gorgeous watercolor art style meant to mimic Japanese ink-illustration, the gameplay is a mix of action, platforming, and puzzle game elements. The Legend Of Zelda was obviously a big inspiration to the team and in particular Mr. Kamiya who's been on record for his admiration of A Link To The Past in particular. As you would expect from a "honorary" Zelda title progress is gated through dungeons and various tasks to perform for characters, main and minor, on a sprawling overworked that spans the entire country of Nippon. The passion, attention to detail, and care put into this project is utterly unmistakable. The brush stroke mechanic is utilized to interact with your surroundings and in combat situations in some of the most engaging and memorable fashions. Changing the time of day, manipulating water and fire, and creating gusts of wind are just a few of the ways this still unparalleled and deep mechanic can be employed. While this mechanic is a bit more intuitive with pointer controls, I personally found the analog controls to work out well enough without much frustration.

My personal interpretations of this work are that while we may not be perfect, striving for perfection in something before we do anything worthwhile and good for ourselves and beyond with it is only self-destructive. The important part of life is being resilient, outcomes are secondary to the fact that we are able to not back down in the face of overwhelming adversity. The human spirit is as resilient of any among living beings. If we can use that to benefit ourselves and beyond, even in the smallest way possible, then that’s worth it. We do not have to be gods that can manipulate space and time in order to make a difference in our own lives and others, regardless of how intangible those differences may be. I find it to be a very smart subversion of the kind of message a "video game power fantasy" may give. Especially one in which you play as a reincarnated wolf goddess.

If you are a Zelda fan and have somehow missed out on this feat of the gaming medium. By all means this game is made for you. For everyone else, if you're interested in not only experiencing a visually arresting, tonally eccentric game full of charm and whimsy and grow tiresome of the miasma of modern action-adventure titles, I absolutely recommending picking this up if you can find it for a relatively low price.