Ōkami
PlayStation 2 version
Journey to the east
The Good
The visuals, attention to detail, the music, the characters. This is as pretty and as unique as PS2 era games get. This game has a lot of gameplay in it with minigames and collectibles. The combat system and brush mechanic is fun and used well in the game.
The Bad
The game is long. I don't mind playing a 30h playthrough but I feel like much of the runtime comes through the dialog. Dialog and is slow and explains action and every plot movement to the player multiple times. I understand that this is to cater larger audiences but man did I feel patronised and guided by hand through the game. The dialog is also unskippable. So if you are impaitent, you might have some frustration playing through the game.
The game also gives you different brush skills that open up new abilities and possibilities as you progress the game. This is great, I like metroicvanias. But I felt the rewards that you got from searching every nook and cranny with your new abilities was not worth it.
The Bottom Line
Even though I got frustrated with the game for it's length and thourough explaining. I sat through the whole game and it slowly grew on me. It felt like a journey to the far east. Getting familiar with japanese mythology and stories related to the gods. This game also has a meditative aspect to it, not many games have you run around the beach as a wolf, digging treasure, earning praise, biting and barking around. The whole revigorating the nature was the best aspect of the game. Surely this game is a must play.
by Santtu Niskala on February 25, 2025