Fans of Amaterasu and Issun have long hoped for a continuation of their adventure, and now it’s finally happening. Speaking with IGN, however, original director Hideki Kamiya and Capcom have confirmed that Okami Sequel is going to be powered by RE Engine. While it shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering it is Capcom’s in-house engine, its use still becomes a cause for concern. After all, the same tech is powering Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Monster Hunter Wilds — both of which have faced performance issues.
When asked if is there a benefit of using RE Engine, Capcom producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi initially paused before answering with a simple, “Yes.” After the development team finished their laugh, he continued. Hirabayashi believes the engine is essential to bringing Kamiya’s artistic vision to life.
“Of course we cannot go into much detail at this point in time,” explain Hirabayashi. “But we from Capcom, we believe that without RE Engine at this point we wouldn’t be able to realize Kamiya-san’s artistic dreams for this project.”
Kamiya chimed in, adding that the engine is ‘very, very good’ and expressive, able to show the best of the games that utilize the tech. “We believe people are also expecting and awaiting the RE Engine level of quality now for this game,” he added.
While this sounds promising, RE Engine has been criticized for its share of technical struggles. The engine seemed to excel at running games with smaller, closed-off areas like the Resident Evil series and Kunitsu-gami. However, it struggles to handle the sprawling world offered by Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Monster Hunter Wilds.
Considering the first Okami was a free-roaming game with a semi-open-world layout, the alarms are now blaring. Can RE Engine render the inkbrush-stylized landscape of the Okami Sequel without a hitch? That’s where Machine Head Works and its producer Kiyohiko Sakata come in.
Sakata said that the studio would act as a bridge between Capcom and Clovers, the new development team led by Kamiya. As Machine Head Works is staffed by several ex-Clover employees who also had experience working on Resident Evil 4 Remake.
Hirabayashi added that the publisher has always wanted to create an Okami sequel but waited for the right moment. It arrived when Hideki Kamiya, the original director, left PlatinumGames. Hirabayashi also implies that this game will not borrow any element from the DS spinoff Okamiden.
“As we explained before, [Okami Sequel] is a continuation from the story of the original base Okami. That’s how we’re going to phrase it,” he explained. Whether ditching Okamiden and picking RE Engine are actually going to benefit Okami Sequel though, we’ll just have to wait and see.
