Okami HD (for PC) - Review 2022

Pros
Timeless, stylized visuals. Solid activeness and unique brushstroke mechanics make for satisfying gainsay and exploration. The richly detailed world is rife with side quests and subconscious secrets.
Cons
The game is very text-heavy, which bloats result scenes. Brush controls can be choosy when finesse is needed.
Bottom Line
If you never played Okami, or are looking to replay this classic, this Hard disk rerelease offers a grand feel for the PC.

Okami Hard disk drive is a loftier-definition port of the honey PlayStation 2 activeness-risk game in which y'all play as the wolf-goddess Amaterasu. In it, you guide the deity across Nippon to defeat the demonic presence that threatens nature and mankind. On a basic level, Okami has a similar gameplay construction to The Fable of Zelda series, in that players must explore expansive zones to unlock power ups and clues that lead to new areas to explore. Fifty-fifty amend, the game'due south visuals are unashamedly Japanese, utilizing a watercolor-like graphical style to create a unique aesthetic. If yous enjoyed romping through mythical Japan as William Adams in Nioh: Complete Edition, you might savor Okami's take on the subject, also as its lighter tone and colorful visuals.

Wolf God

Amaterasu is the sun goddess and maternal deity in wolf form. She presides over Nippon, the Japanese-inspired realm where Okami takes place. Afterward suffering defeat against the demons that plague the realm, Amaterasu'south spirit is sealed away. She is reincarnated ane hundred years later to consummate her task, merely has lost most of her powers over the century. Amaterasu must venture across Nippon to recover these abilities: sacred brushstroke techniques that let her manipulate the world effectually her. With these abilities in hand, Amaterasu can cut through boulders, summon the elements, tedious time, and regenerate flora.

Brushstrokes are your primary means of interacting with the globe, aside from basic motion. Think of them every bit the sub-weapons in the Zelda serial, as they share many of the same functions. For instance, Power Slash lets yous cut through rocks, foliage, and enemies alike, and is useful throughout the game. Ruby Bomb drops a massive, ornate flop onto the field that blows enemies into the air and destroys weak walls.

Okami HD's brush skills are unique in that they must be drawn into being. By belongings downwardly a controller button, a paper scroll unfurls over the screen and stops time, letting y'all depict the power y'all want over your target. Every skill has a respective brushstroke associated with it: Power Slash is a horizontal line, for example, while Ruddy Bomb is represented by a circle intersected with a line. This style of gameplay is similar to the set on morphing ability seen in The Wonderful 101, Platinum Games' action-strategy Wii U title. It takes some fourth dimension to properly implement brushstrokes into combat routines, especially when gauging the distance between Amaterasu and enemies, but the overall the organisation works well. There are a handful of side quests that crave highly precise brushstrokes to complete, and getting the line work correct tin can be slightly frustrating. But they're few and far in between, and largely optional.

A Painted World

Amaterasu is fleet-footed and can travel beyond environments at swell speed, as one might expect from a iv-legged canid. She can too jump great heights, double jump off walls, and nuance through the air, giving her fantabulous mobility in nigh all situations. This base of operations agility comes in handy throughout the game, as many puzzles incorporate platforming elements that test your mastery with the controls. It's also very satisfying to run effectually every bit Amaterasu: air current trails off her back impressively, and she leaves a wake of flowers and leaf as she moves. You lot tin easily get carried away and just run effectually aimlessly in search of NPCs to interact with or secrets to notice.

That said, Okami HD is non an open-globe game. It features several hub areas that connect expansive cities, fields, and dungeons. However, at that place is an inherent structure to the game that prevents yous from going wherever you desire. In gild to make progress, you must restore nature and defeat the demons that have cursed Nippon'south many regions, which oft involves helping NPCs or itch through monster-infested dungeons to defeat the source of the scourge. Doing and so nets you new brush powers and weapons, which permit you lot movement to the next hub area where you can exercise more than divine intervening. This formula keeps Okami Hd engaging throughout most of the hazard, as you earn new powers—and upgrades to existing powers—often enough to experience similar you lot're making progress.

What bogs down the momentum is Okami Hard disk's odd story pacing. The game is broken into iii story arcs, each of which take relatively irksome starts. During my first play through, I assumed the game would cease at the 2nd arc, and was shocked to learn that there was an entirely new region to explore and fight through immediately afterwards. But the idea of slowly unraveling the happenings within an all-new region felt much less interesting a third time around. The excessive text certainly doesn't aid any, every bit result scenes drag on for quite a while. In that location is no real voice interim in the game: NPCs speak in a deadened gibberish to signify speech, and all data is delivered through text boxes. Okami HD is much more than forgiving than the original game and gives you an pick to skip text and event scenes. Still, the pacing is off.

Sword and Fang

Amaterasu battles with three unique regalia: a reflector, a glaive, and magatama beads. The reflector is your base weapon, which Amaterasu whirls in front end of her during combat. Glaives are hefty swords that can be charged to deal extra damage. Beads are fast weapons that let y'all pelt enemies with damage from range. In addition to basic attacks, Amaterasu can use a secondary weapon when she has multiple weapons bachelor to her. Reflectors, when used in this manner, can cake and counter incoming blows. Glaives tin can be used to launch enemies into the air when used as a secondary weapon. Beads unleash a basic projectile attack.

I lean towards using the glaive as the chief weapon and the reflector as the secondary weapon, because the hard-striking melee and defense suit my style of play. But all combinations accept their uses, and its fun to experiment with them to see what works all-time in a given fight.

Castor techniques play a major function in combat, too. Every bit yous explore Nippon, you come up across a wide variety of monsters, each of which is weak to specific brush skills. Experimenting with techniques to run into what works all-time is an of import part of combat, as many of the later enemies can be highly difficult if fought without exploiting their weaknesses. Enemies that block aggressively tin be guard-broken with a ability slash, for example. Advanced monsters are much more complex: The blueish Cyclops becomes enraged if his smoking pipe goes out, so you lot must be careful not to do anything that snuffs the flame, and quickly use a fire-based brush technique on the piping if y'all mistakenly exercise so.

Art and Aesthetic

Okami uses Japanese ink-launder styled borders and highlights to emulate Sumi-e ink art, and the results are visually stunning. The unique graphical style gives Okami a timeless expect that is pleasing to encounter even now, more than than 10 years after the game's initial release. Okami Hard disk drive is sharper than the original game, thank you to the new 4K resolution, so information technology looks better than ever. There aren't many improvements to the visuals beyond the resolution overhaul, nonetheless. The describe distance is very low, then you can expect plenty of popular in as you dash around fields and cities. Sadly, in that location'southward no option to turn off the motion blur effect.

My Nvidia GeForce GTX 970-powered gaming desktop smoothly renders Okami HD at maximum settings, with no issues any. That'south non surprising, as Okami HD has meager system requirements: a Windows seven PC with a 3.3GHz Intel Cadre i5-2500 CPU, Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 GPU, 34GB of storage, and 2GB of RAM. Loading tin take a few seconds, just I chalk that up to the game beingness old, rather than taxing on my PC. Okami HD supports Steam Achievements, Steam Cloud, and Steam Trading Cards.

My biggest gripe with the game is its capped framerate: the game is locked at 30 frames per 2nd, and cannot be increased. Some earthworks reveals that much of the gameplay is tied to the Okami's innate 30FPS, and the value tin can't be modified easily without adversely affecting the game. Having played the original at 30FPS, I notice this cap disappointing, just not bargain breaking. Even so, continue the FPS cap, draw distance, and movement blur in mind if these are sticking points for you lot.

The game has a stellar soundtrack. Okami Hard disk's music makes heavy utilise of Japanese instrumentation, and with a focus on ambient. At that place are a few recurring themes that are sampled into many of the compositions, which gives the overall soundtrack a wonderful sense of harmony. Fans of the PS2 original may exist upset to learn that the ending theme, Reset, is not included hither due to licensing problems. But the rest of the soundtrack is excellent, even if the end credits feel a piddling emptier without Reset playing in the background.

Glorious Risk

Okami Hard disk drive is about as faithful a port of the original game every bit yous can look. The game is a classic, well-designed, and beautiful action-adventure game, then people who missed the initial release volition definitely want to check information technology out on PC. While I wish Okami HD allows y'all to tweak the motion blur, frame charge per unit, and depict distance, the game is yet enjoyable without these boons. If you can overlook those shortcomings, Okami Hd is a grand gamble that's well worth your fourth dimension.

Gabriel Zamora is as passionate about writing as he is about video games and electronics, and his fervor has led to game and tech commodity contributions in a variety of online publications including PCMag.com, Examiner.com, 2D-X.com, and Multiplayergames.com. When non criticizing the state of gaming or reviewing tech, Gabriel spends much of his time attention related events in New York City, catching upwards on his favorite written works, or trying out new cooking recipes at home. You can follow him on Twitter: @Dracozombie.