Pure Dead GamingPure Dead Gaming
  • Podcast
    PodcastShow More
    PDG Revisited – Sleeping Dogs
    August 24, 2024
    Podcast 191
    August 23, 2024
    Podcast 190
    August 18, 2024
    Podcast 189
    August 9, 2024
    Podcast 188
    August 2, 2024
  • Reviews
    ReviewsShow More
    The Precinct review
    Steel Seed review
    KARMA: The Dark World review
    Atomfall review
    Marvel Rivals review
  • Classic Reviews
    Classic ReviewsShow More
    Okami HD Review
    Classic Games Revisited + Reviewed – Spec Ops: The Line (PC)
    The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Review
    April 19, 2024
    Golden Sun Review
    April 3, 2024
    Classic Games Revisited + Reviewed – Yakuza 0 (PS3 / PS4)
    January 20, 2023
  • Editorials
    EditorialsShow More
    Hades II – Hands On
    May 20, 2024
    Need For Speed, where did it all go wrong?
    March 25, 2024
    Biggest Gaming Releases This Week (November 20-24)
    November 20, 2023
    Ghostrunner 2 Hands-on preview
    September 11, 2023
    Summer Game Fest 2023: A Recap of Exciting Game Announcements
    June 9, 2023
  • Shop
  • Contact
Reading: Okami HD Review
Share
Font ResizerAa
Font ResizerAa
Pure Dead GamingPure Dead Gaming
  • Podcast
  • Reviews
  • Classic Reviews
  • Editorials
  • Shop
Search
Follow US
© Foxiz News Network. Ruby Design Company. All Rights Reserved.
Pure Dead Gaming > Blog > Classic Reviews > Okami HD Review
Classic Reviews

Okami HD Review

Euan Matthews
Last updated: May 24, 2024 10:04 pm
Euan Matthews
Share
5 Min Read
SHARE
7
Review Score

Okami is an action-adventure game which plays very similar to the The Legend of Zelda series. Funnily enough, Okami came out just before The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess which bears a massive similarity to Okami where you also play as a wolf with a sidekick. Okami however has it’s own unique style and identity that makes it an incredible game in it’s own right.

The plot of Okami follows the journey of Amaterasu (Ammy), the Japanese sun goddess who takes the form of a white wolf. Ammy is accompanied by Issun, a tiny wandering artist who rides on her back. The game takes place in a beautifully stylised version of ancient Japan, heavily influenced by Japanese mythology and folklore. It all begins with the land of Nippon falling under the curse of darkness caused by the resurrection of the demon Orochi. Ammy awakens from her slumber to defeat Orochi, a fearsome eight-headed serpent demon and restore light and peace to the world.

Reading other people’s reviews, the same topics come up again and again: slow pace, too much hand holding, incredible graphic design and music. It’s very easy to see what everyone means. 

The game starts with a slow paced dialogue cutscene using beautiful Japanese illustrations to tell the backstory of the adventure you’re about to set out on. I immediately turned off the game’s on-screen dialogue sounds which I found irritating. The opening cutscene goes on for around 20 minutes before the player takes control of Ammy. It is little wonder why people struggled to stick with this game through the first area. Once you gain the ability to move around the beautifully artistic world, the game teaches you the basic controls before you journey to Kamiki Village. There, you’re assigned the task of restoring life to the land of Nippon from the darkness by utilising your celestial brush.  

Using your brush to bring life back to an area has satisfying cutscenes

The celestial brush is the core mechanic of the game. Throughout the game, Ammy collects a total of 13 brushes, each of which functions similarly to the items in Zelda, allowing her to open up new paths, interact with scenery to solve puzzles, or attack enemies. You can use a cutting brush to cut down trees or enemies in battle. Other brush techniques enable the player to change the time of day or create bridges that were previously destroyed. Executing brush strokes is not always as easy as it should be. Either the game will be fussy about what it considers a straight line or as some brush strokes are very similar to one another, you will accidentally conjure the wrong action at a vital moment. All that aside, it’s a great unique feature of the game and can be a lot of fun at times. Curing areas of darkness is a satisfying experience, as you watch cutscenes of the darkness being washed away by greenery and flowers. Afterwards you’re able to freely run around the area and explore all the secrets.

Brush strokes have different effects depending on the shape drawn

You can use Ammy’s different brush strokes to reach certain areas. Some are inaccessible at first but may have better luck if you return later with more brush strokes. Annoyingly most of the time the items are just ones for you to sell at merchants. It is very rarely a cool item you can benefit from immediately. It makes the effort spent getting to the item chest feel like a bit of an anti-climax. 

Brush techniques will allow Ammy to reach previously locked off areas

Battles in Okami are quite simplistic. You can either attack enemies with physical attacks using one of two equipped weapons or use certain brush strokes on enemies that require them. You can gain more abilities through the course of the game such as additional combos and dodge. The equipable weapons allow you to set Ammy up to suit your fight style. Do you prefer fast less powered attacks or slower more powerful ones? Upgraded weapons are either given to you as you progress the story or purchased from merchants. 

The battle arena surrounded by a cursed wall

To improve Ammy’s stats you can do good deeds around the land of Nippon to be rewarded with “praise”. This will either be feeding animals, doing tasks or eradicating darkness from areas. With these praise points you can spend them on either more ink, more health, bigger wallet or reserve health. 

Feeding the animals of Nippon is the cutest way to earn praise

The graphics for the original game and the HD remaster are very unique and are wonderful to admire. I like how it’s unique to Okami (as far as I know). 

Every scene in Okami shows off the beautiful art style

The other element that people talk about a lot is the soundtrack and it is absolutely beautiful. Easily one you could stick on in the background and listen to while doing other things when not playing the game. It’s all inspired by classical Japanese works. 

The dialogue speed varies from scene to scene and there isn’t anything that judges what scenes should have fast dialogue or not. This was one of the very few games that I started to feel a tightness in my chest from frustration due to how slow the dialogue is.

Okami is a relatively easy game to play, Issun who is Ammy’s accomplice through the game will point out exactly what you need to do. If you are struggling with a brush stroke for the first time, he will eventually show you on the screen how to do it. The battles are quite easy too and stat improvement items are plentiful. Players complain about how this game holds your hand is but I liked it. It’s clear Capcom just wanted players to be able to experience this game no matter the skill level. This is my gameplay preference. “Stray Beads” are one of the game’s collectable items. If you collect all of them it gives Ammy unlimited health and a massive attack boost. This can be considered overkill, particularly when certain enemies can already be taken down with relative ease.

An arrow points the way for the first section of the game

The game uses another Zelda trope of leading you to believe you have fought “the big boss” but in reality, you’re only a third of the way through the game. By that point you have 9 of the 13 brush strokes, you’ve explored many areas and got most of what the game has to offer. By that point I would have been happy if the game had ended there. This false ending made the rest of the game feel like it dragged on a lot slower than it should have. The slow dialogue, battling bosses multiple times and that you need to do a lot of ground traversal didn’t help with the pacing either. People complain about the pacing at the start of the game but I thought the last two thirds of the game was worse. 

There are mini-games in Okami which are unfortunately not optional. The compulsory mini-games are either fishing or digging. The fishing mini game is pretty standard but the underground digging game is very much like Dig Dug meets Lemmings. This game requires the player to complete it 5 times. With each one getting harder and harder. It frustrated me so much I nearly binned the game several times because of it.  

Fishing is one of the available non-optional mini games
Review Score
7
Summary
Okami is a game which has earned its place in the video game classics archive. The story is great, it has its own unique visual style. The music enhances the experience as you explore each area and restore life to the land overrun with darkness. However, the game is notorious for its pacing issues, leading many players to abandon it before completion. Okami is very accessible due to its low difficulty allowing all kinds of gamers the ability to comfortably experience this wonderful game. I’m glad I got to experience Okami but it shot itself in the foot with the false ending making the bulk of the game feel like a slog. If you love Zelda games and like me like to experience every different type of game available, this is definitely the one for you.

You Might Also Like

Podcast 191

Dear Esther (Landmark Edition) Review

Classic Games Revisited + Reviewed – Spec Ops: The Line (PC)

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Review

Golden Sun Review

TAGGED:okamiokami hdps4PS5
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Email Print
By Euan Matthews
Follow:
Euan's experience with video games started in 1993 with Sonic the Hedgehog and DOOM. Growing up with the PlayStation 1 means he has a undying passion for the console that changed the video game industry forever. After rekindling his love for gaming after the partying days, he has a deep passion for video game history and seeks out to experience everything they have to offer, unsurprisingly, mainly retro video games. Nothing Euan loves more than a remaster of an old game, and Final Fantasy VII.

Latest YouTube Post

X-twitter Youtube Spotify Tiktok Instagram

Random Reviews

Reviews

South Park: The Stick of Truth | PS4 Review

May 28, 2019
Reviews

Ghost Giant | PSVR Review

May 1, 2019
Reviews

A Horizon Forbidden West Update will Target Various Visual Issues

May 14, 2022
Reviews

A Juggler’s Tale Review

October 23, 2021
Reviews

Hunt: Showdown | Xbox One Review

February 29, 2020
Reviews

God of War Ragnarök review: The bravest video game I’ve ever played

November 17, 2022

Pure Dead Gaming © 2024

You guessed it. This site uses cookies.
We use non-personal cookies for analytics, and also some social media cookies to allow us to personalise ads. There are also one or two to take care of security. If you click 'Accept' this will allow us to use Analytics and Marketing cookies. You have full control over which cookies may be set by clicking 'Settings'. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?