Game developer Ikumi Nakamura, who rose to fame in the industry after her energetic unveiling of Ghostwire: Tokyo at E3 2019, tweeted a video of herself and Okami creator Hideki Kamiya at the Platinum Games offices. In the video, Kamiya says plainly, “Okami is going to be back,” and gives a thumbs up. Nakamura acts surprised and says, “Really?” Kamiya responds, “Really,” and then Nakamura says “wow” and walks off screen. This, of course, has led many to believe that the video is a genuine Okami 2 announcement.
It took me a looooong time to finish the remastered original, but I loved every moment of it. I would love to see a sequel! Heck, maybe even port Okamiden over to other platforms? Assuming there isn’t any direct ties to Nintendo…
2023 was by far the most productive year of gaming I’ve ever had. During the work weeks I would always find time to at least play anywhere between an half an hour to a full one at the end of each evening, just to unwind a little before bed and MAYBE entice my imagination a bit for dreamland. Here is a list of games that I FINALLY got around to finishing, and possibly some ideas for any readers that happen to pass by.
Commander Keen: Episode 1
I’ve been wanting to play this handheld style for almost as long as I’ve been alive, and I only had to wait my whole life to finally achieve it. What’s really interesting is that it has Steam Cloud Support, meaning you can play this in between your other gaming PC’s. I made a custom config for saving, and using DOS commands with the touchpads. I’ve put this one off for far too long, but at least after all this time I can say that I finally finished it. I recommend it for those who have an interest in old school DOS games.
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Some adventures are best with friends – Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is amazing both for couch co-op or with a friend elsewhere in the world. Apart from a few bugs it was fun to play! To celebrate finishing it we even made a video about it:
Shadow Warrior 2
This was another game I put off playing for a long time, but I savored every moment of combat and the large selection of weapons and elemental combinations you could put together. They added Photo Mode to showcase how beautiful the game is, something they would take away in Shadow Warrior 3… Overall I enjoyed it just as much as I did the previous installment. It had all of the elements of the Shadow Warrior reboot, with a little bit of Borderlands sprinkled into the mix. If you’re looking for an FPS with a mix of Hack n Slash you need not look any further.
Sayonara Wild Hearts
A birthday gift from a good friend! It was short, but sweet. It tells the story of a girl who fell out of love and goes on a musical journey to find it again after fighting all of her demons that prevented her from wanting to love. I had fun playing this one in between Desktop and Steam Deck. I still go back to it from time to time, the music in it is perfect to vibe to. It’s basically an interactive album.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
Bought in 2023, and finished in 2023 in a matter of months. This was one that scratched an itch after finishing Borderlands 2, and gave us the incentive to puck up Borderlands 3 again after we completed it. The ending was anticlimactic, but the journey along the way was as fun as it was photogenic.
Okami HD
Another game that took me forever to finish, mostly because it originally released on a platform I didn’t have. When Okami was announced for PC I was there on day one for it! But due to going between too many game worlds at the same time I never got around to finishing it until the Steam Deck. Thanks to Steam Cloud Saving I was able to play this delightful title between Desktop, TV and on the go. At the same time though, I’m glad I didn’t rush it. It’s an extremely large game, especially for the era it released in, but once I finished it I felt that melancholy sensation knowing that the adventure was finally over after all this time. One of these days I’ll have to return to it to get straggling achievements.
Cloudpunk
A gift from another good friend! This one I finished pretty quickly. It’s a great game to play when you just wanna chill, fly around and absorb an interesting story. It was also another fun game to play between the desk, couch and Steam Deck.
Abyss Odyssey
Another one I had fun with between Deck and Desk. When I first played this in the beginning I found the controls to be clunky, but after spending some quality time with it on Steam Deck, and playing other Metroidvanias I finally up’d my game enough to finish this one! At least on the Katriana playthrough. This one was a fun grind to play during my lunch breaks.
Shantae: Half Genie Hero
I mostly played this one on Steam Deck, and I even got the good ending! Shantae has been one of the Metroidvanias to really help get me into the series. I love the art, the sense of humor and overall creativity this one brings to the table! I even started Shantae and the Seven Sirens not long after finishing this one, maybe I’ll finish that one in 2024! 😛
It was a wonderful year for finishing games ranging from old to new, indie to AAA, and all from the comfort of wherever I happened to be at the time. What games will I finish next year? I can already predict a few…
Spent the last hour of the evening trying to gear myself towards achievements in Okami. I’m thinking after this romp I’ll be taking a break though, maybe play something completely different for my next session. Possibly something with a more humanoid form?
This is fine!
It all hasn’t been about play though, been getting a lot of animation done… unfortunately we keep coming up with other ideas to animate into the scenes. Damn our imaginations!!! I’m hoping to have something rendering in the next few days, which is good because that’ll warm the house and it’s supposed to be getting into freezing temperatures… FREEZING TEMPERATURES.
A couple years ago, I received an anime cookbook for Christmas. I haven’t really done much with it other than make really delicious honey ginger milk for tea, but this weekend I attempted to change that. I learned about a dish called Omurice, a Japanese breakfast dish inspired by western omelets! Basically you fry rice and then wrap it up in an omelet with ketchup drizzled on top. The ingredients are easy enough to gather and prepare, but the omelet is where I’ve been failing. During my first attempt yesterday I browned the omelet more than I should of, but it still tasted good. Today I got the color right, but it fell apart when trying to put it all together. I’ll probably need to watch some videos to get an idea for the technique. It’s tasty even if the omelet falls apart, but I want to get the presentation right. Instead of having mine with ketchup, I purchased a gingery Asian BBQ Sauce, and it all tasted sooooo good.
Between my Omurice attempts, drinking green tea, flowery aromatherapy and lots of Okami; it’s been a nice, relaxing weekend. I just need to finish it up with a matcha latte and then I can successfully call it a night.
Another game I can add to the finished list! Now that I’ve successfully finished it I can provide my list of pros and cons:
Pros:
You’re a Wolf… AWESOME
You’re a God… that’s cool too
Beautiful Music and Visuals
Amazing Storytelling
Hours of Exploration
Unique Gameplay: Slowly save the world with The Joy of Painting!
4K Support
Linux and Steam Deck Friendly
Cons:
30FPS limit
All in all I thoroughly enjoyed playing Okami, and look forward to playing it again on NG+! Easily one of the best games of all time. Now give us Okamiden!
After a little over a month I’ve decided to continue my journey through Okami! Defeated Orochi (for realz), added a couple new weapons to my divine collection and finally gathered together all of the brush techniques! Nice way to chill this evening.
I woke up this morning with a grogginess that reminded me that I should probably drink some matcha or have some form of matcha substance. It was a good night of sleep with the aroma of a guava candle that made my dreams too sweet to remember. Gonna make up for that with a white choco matcha!
My one hour of Steam Deck escape at work today was Okami during lunch, with some teriyaki noodles and pocky to snack on. I’m starting a clean save on my Deck just to see how everything performs, and so far everything has gone without a hitch! I’m installing Abyss Odyssey on it, in case I have the sudden need to torture myself during tomorrow’s work lunch excursion. 😛
Another rainy day, another excuse to enjoy warm tea and games to keep me warm. I’m even finishing the evening with some sake flavoured with cherry blossom syrup. There was also more tea, and finishing off the last of the mochi. I made quite a bit more progress in Okami too!
I think I’m charged up enough to move onto something else tomorrow, now that I have a clear enough mind.
If this actually happens I might even pre-order..
