Just in time for the summer solstice, video games’ best-loved sun goddess is coming on home to consoles. Amaterasu will return to PlayStations this fall in Okami HD.
Capcom announced that it would release the high-definition re-master this October. The PlayStation 3 re-release of Clover’s Legend of Zelda-like adventure will also incorporate the motion controls introduced in Wii re-release of the game.
It’s great to see that Capcom is willing to keep the series alive. 2011’s Nintendo DS entry in the series, Okamiden, was a cute sequel but failed to capture the magic of the original.
Capcom’s track record with HD re-masters isn’t exactly stellar though. Resident Evil 4 HD and Resident Evil: Code Veronica HD as well as the recent Devil May Cry HD Collection were terribly rushed and lacked the polish of similar efforts from other publishers like the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection and the Ico & Shadow of the Colossus collection.
The talented people at Bluepoint Games, in conjunction with the original studios, handled both of those compilations though. Even if Capcom hired an outside studio like Bluepoint for Okami HD, the original staff is long gone having formed Platinum Games in 2008.
If nothing else, people that didn’t get around to playing Okami before have much to look forward to.