Okami HD Review

Here’s another gem I missed the first (and second) time around. Though I feel like waiting for an HD remaster was the right call. The art style had always intrigued me about Okami—screenshots of the game are absolutely gorgeous—but seeing it in action is a different story. Even in HD, the janky cel-shaded graphics can be a bit of an eyestrain. Coupled with a claustrophobic camera, Okami can be physically uncomfortable to play. It took a few hours for me to get used to it. I was never inclined to abandon the game, though. 3D adventures a la Zelda are kind of my thing, after all.

And, oh boy, this is quite the adventure. The map feels both small and maintainable yet large and full of secrets. I was continually surprised by how much the world opens up. Early on, there’s a lot of importance placed on defeating a certain monster, but defeating him only marks the halfway point, and suddenly you have 15 more hours of adventuring to do. My favorite village came immediately after this halfway point, where I lost track of time running errands for the townsfolk. Like any good Zelda game, there’s a great mix of village side questing and dungeon exploring.

That halfway point does deflate the story, though. I lost interest in the stakes shortly afterwards and started fast-forwarding dialogue much more often. This game is really wordy. I don’t know what it is about Japanese adventure games that feel the need to spell everything out to you, like Zelda reminding you what a rupee is every time you pick one up. Similarly, your side character in Okami will not shut up and spoils every puzzle before you’ve had a chance to solve it on your own. But despite the overbearing hand-holding, this is a fun game that any Zelda fan will find a lot to like about.

Reviewer

Clark
I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.

Published by

Clark

I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.