Okami HD review for PC, Xbox One, PS4

How I love Okami. This gem originally came out back in 2006 on the PS2 when the Clover studio still existed. While they are no longer around, gamers did not forget their legacy which has lead to Okami appearing on future platforms such as the Wii and Even an HD version on the PlayStation 3.

Well now we’ve reached a new generation of platforms and it’s no surprise that Okami has made another appearance. For one, it’s always been a gorgeous game to look at. We crave seeing this in a higher resolution, and I never tire of the Japanese aesthetic.

If you haven’t played Okami, then the story is this. You are the sun goddess Amaterasu who has taken the form of a wolf in order to restore life to a land overtaken by a demon lord. That’s right, in this game you play as a dog! It also plays similarly to Zelda games. Hey wait, a Zelda game that stars a wolf? Nintendo should go back in time and sue Clover for ripping off Twilight Princess years before it came out!

Anyway the great thing about Okami is that you will use a celestial brush to fight enemies and solve puzzles. How this works is that at any time in the game, you can freeze the action and turn the screen into a canvas that can be painted on. By using the analog sticks you can draw slashes through enemies, or use other symbols to create things like bombs which will take effect one you leave the canvas screen.

This was a really cool twist on how one could interact with a game, and Clover made great use of the celestial brush by allowing you to use it in combat or even change the environment. Another thing that I love is how much time you get to spend in the game, which can run at about 40 hours for a full play through. This bothers some people, and I’ve played through this twice on PS2 just because I love being able to spend so much time in the game world.

So what’s special about Okami HD? Well not much except that now you can play it in 4K and own it forever on something like Steam. I don’t have the kind of technology for 4K, but since Capcom gave us a code for PC I do have the technology to have it in a safe place that will always be there. Unless Steam goes out of business.

If you do want a hard copy, you can definitely buy it for the Xbox One or PS4 and then you’ll truly own it forever. I might still pick it up because the price is a steal at $20 and this is a game I really don’t mind owning multiple copies of. Oh, to see it adorn the shelf in my collection.

As far as performance goes, I did find it difficult to run this on a regular laptop without dropping some of the settings. The game definitely takes advantage of any medium to powerful computer, though. Playing this on a Steam link with the big screen will impress you and your friends!

Some might be disappointed to find that this game only runs at a locked 30fps. While the community may later come up with a patch for a higher frame rate, I have never played Okami above 30fps and it doesn’t make a difference to me. There aren’t too many options to change the visuals, but the ones available aren’t anything I would change except for adding anti-aliasing and boosting the resolution. I honestly find this game beautiful out of the box.

You probably don’t need me to tell you how Okami HD turned out, but it’s exactly what you would expect. It’s a beautiful rendition of a classic game, now available on the current gaming platforms. Well, except for mysteriously missing on the Switch. I find this an odd exception since the game was ported to the Wii and even got a DS sequel called Okamiden, so the series has been on Nintendo platforms before. Okami HD would truly be at home on the Switch right next to the other consoles, but at least we have access to this game in HD and it’s definitely worth picking up. And that’s my only critique of this port, being that it was omitted from the Switch lineup. I guess Capcom hates money!