Today, Okami HD releases on the Nintendo Switch, and I am extremely excited. The original is one of my favorite games, and it quite simply has had a more direct effect on my work as a composer than almost anything else outside of music.
You play as the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu, awakened on Earth in the form of a white wolf. You are accompanied by the tiny traveling artist Issun, and the two of you travel Japan solving problems and defeating demons and monsters pulled straight from Japanese mythology and storytelling. Kaguya-Hime and the bamboo cutter are here, as are Urashima Taro and the clan of sparrow from the Tongue-Cut Sparrow. These tales and many more are woven organically into the game world and told colorfully and with great humor – the best example is perhaps the transformation of the god of storms Susano into a lazy descendent of a great warrior who gradually learns his true potential. Continue reading “Okami”