Okami is pure art. Amaterasu's brush makes a sumi-e world bloom with every stroke, and the journey lingers long after the credits. One of the most beautiful games ever made, full stop.
Your verdict
Category
Action Adventure1 player12+
Description
An action adventure by Clover Studio and Capcom released in 2006 (US, Japan, Korea, Europe), a stylistic gem by Hideki Kamiya. The wolf Amaterasu, sun goddess incarnate, must revive a mythological Japan with her Celestial Brush (a drawing system). A revolutionary sumi e aesthetic, a Zen tale in the Shinto pantheon. An absolute PS2 peak.
Ookami review
MAX
Art direction
★★★★★
"Iconic"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
MAX
Story
★★★★★
"Masterful"
Ink wash, brushed outlines and animated woodblock prints: the game turns mythological Japan into a living painted scroll. The sumi-e comes alive with each brushstroke summoned by the player, of breathtaking beauty. This art direction, unique and sublime, remains one of the most beautiful games ever made.
Inspired by traditional Japanese music, the score blends flutes, kotos and percussion into a work of rare elegance and serenity. Each theme accompanies the reawakening of nature and Amaterasu's feats with a painterly grace. This timeless sonic beauty wonderfully matches the game's ink-painting aesthetic.
Embodying a wolf goddess, the player breathes life back into a mythic Japan smothered by darkness, divine brush in hand. Drawing on folklore and Shinto tales, the story celebrates nature, faith and the bond between gods and mortals. Of luminous poetry, this legendary epic enchants from beginning to end.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
Painting with a brushstroke to slash, revive nature or solve a puzzle grafts a poetic mechanic onto a perfectly paced Zelda-like adventure. Exploration, combat and puzzles interweave with unbroken fluidity. A few drawn-out stretches of dialogue stretch the whole thing thin, but the inventiveness of the celestial brush keeps a freshness that never wavers.
Fun
"From the very first minutes"
Addictiveness
"Obsessive"
Painting with a celestial brushstroke to bring a tree back to life, slice an enemy or reveal a bridge blends exploration, combat and puzzles into a loop of constant wonder. Restoring nature and gaining new techniques revives the urge to push on. The pace is sometimes slow and talky, but this sublime art direction and this brush system keep a rare hold.
Difficulty
"Balanced"
Lifespan
"Massive"
Roaming a mythological Japan at its peak, painting the world with a divine brushstroke, unfolds an adventure of rare scope and beauty. A sweeping main quest, side quests, secrets and a bestiary to complete hold you for dozens of hours. That density, served by sublime art direction, earns the title its status as a masterpiece.
The Korean edition of Okami, released in a market where the PS2 saw constrained distribution and localized runs stayed tight. Beyond the game's prestige, its appeal lies in this narrow local availability, which makes a complete copy noticeably less common than the Western versions. A sharp target for collectors of Asian pressings of this painterly adventure.
Memorable bosses
Marrying action with the celestial brush, this fresco inspired by Japanese myth pits you against demons drawn from folklore, such as the eight-headed serpent Orochi, brought down by tracing strokes of light across the screen. Each guardian asks you to pair the blade with the right brush technique to expose its flaw. The painterly beauty and cleverness of these duels make it an experience apart.
A cult cover
All ink wash and drifting petals, Amaterasu the white wolf runs against a gold ground, marked with her scarlet signs. The cover adopts Japanese sumi-e, turning the screen into a living print where the brushstroke tells the world. Of rare painterly beauty, the image instantly imposes one of gaming's most celebrated art directions.
Is Ookami still worth playing in 2026?
Released in 2006 on PS2 and known in the West as Okami, Clover Studio's project remains one of the most beautiful games ever made thanks to an art direction inspired by Japanese woodblock prints and ink wash painting. Playing the wolf goddess Amaterasu to bring a withered world back to life, using the Celestial Brush that draws phenomena onto the screen, offers a mechanic of rare poetry. The adventure, vast and steeped in Shinto mythology, alternates exploration, puzzles and stylised combat. The sometimes slow pace and a few overlong stretches weigh. A timeless masterpiece, recommended for anyone fond of adventure and of pure visual beauty.
