Okami HD (Switch)

Capcom apparently only got the wolf part from Twilight Princess

Okami was one of those games that you should have played on the Playstation when it was released the first time. We never got it, and I've only read about it and watched some people talk about it. I gathered it was pretty much a action-adventure akin to Zelda, but with a wolf... like Twilight Princess. So when it was released for the Switch I decided to give it a go. Not disappointed. The story is that someone have stolen the sword that kept the evil eight-headed dragon Orochi trapped in the moon cave and brought darkness all across Nippon. This awaken Okami Amaretsu, the wolf sun goddess that trapped Orochi 100 years ago with the great warrior Nagi. Weakened she sets out once again to revive her abilities and fight off Orochi and all darkness that plagues Nippon. On her quest she is followed by the sprite Issun who will be the loud-mouthed side-kick for this game. 

The game is beautiful and with a rather unique art style that evokes classic Japanese painting come to life. Together with the Japanese folk-lore inspiring the monsters and environments it reminds me of another game with pretty much the same progression, although maybe not having the serious moment Okami have at times (although Okami doesn't take itself all too serious at times either) and that game is Mystical Ninja 64. Both steeped in Japanese culture, history and folk-lore and they share even the same characters.

You look rather familiar?

Oh yeah, you're that asshole that blocked the door for Goemon!

Music is really evoking the sound of traditional Japanese music and certain things in the game feel so Japanese that is impossible to miss. A side-quest you can do is feeding the animals which give you "praise" (basically EXP that you can use to level up certain stats), but when you feed them you get this slow-moving camera shot around Amaretsu and the animal as it eats for a noticeable long period of time when everything is supposed to go fast. It really calmed me down while waiting for that clip to finish. That was rather interesting... until I realised I could skip it by pushing +, but that's besides the point. 

Anyway, is there any problems with the game? Some of the powers are not explained enough what they can do. For example powerslash can be used to open chests at the bottom of bodies of water, but nowhere is that mentioned. Also, Orochi is defeated after half (or maybe 1/3) of the game. The buildup to that point is fantastic, but after that you just aimlessly wanders the world in search for the celestial brush techniques. Not until you reach the north do you get a new main goal that feels urgent, and that is to stop Yami, the ruler of darkness behind all evil that have befallen Nippon. I get there was something like that since a dark shadow emerging from the slain corpse of a dragon isn't usually the best thing. It feels a bit like Dragon Quest-games in story structure, you have defined quest in the beginning that then spirals out to something bigger. It bothers me there too at times. 

Overall it was well worth playing, finishing it unlocked a new game +, but that might be a while until I play it again.