Ōkami’s creator reveals original story of the game and more

With the recent announcement that Ōkami 2 will finally see the light of day, it seems that series creator Hideki Kamiya is now able to more freely talk about the origins of everyone’s favorite sun goddess. In a post on Twitter, Kamiya divulged some new information regarding where the concept for Ōkami came from and, surprisingly enough, it dates back to to his university days.

 

大神は元々「孤島で暮らす狼の群れのリーダーとなって大自然を生き抜くゲーム」の企画としてスタートしました…
そこから「森羅万象を操る神さまの力」の遊びへと発展して筆しらべが生まれ、「大神」というタイトルを付けました… https://t.co/2TVBSKnAck

— 神谷英樹🍀 Hideki Kamiya🍀 (@HidekiKamiya_X) January 9, 2025

 

Nintendo Everything has a full translation of all of Kamiya’s posts, but the gist is that the first concept was created around 1993-1994 before the PlayStation had even been released. Kamiya joined Capcom and made a written proposal for a side-scroller where you would control a white wolf running through a forest and interacting with the various flora and fauna. You would also fight wild beasts and help some lost humans.

Later on, I’m assuming when the game was actually greenlit in the 2000s, Ōkami took a different direction. “Planning for Ōkami originally began as ‘a game where you play as the leader of a pack of wolves living on a deserted island and surviving in nature,’” Kamiya writes. “From there, it led to gameplay about ‘using God’s powers of creation’ and the creation of the Celestial Brush, and we gave it the title ‘Ōkami.’” He then described how even before that version, Ōkami was initially planned as a game where you lead a pack of wolves, which came from a book of White Wolves in his university days.

 

 

 

While the game we currently have doesn’t quite bear a resemblance to these ideas, this little tidbit is a fascinating bit of gaming history. With how tight-lipped developers can be regarding new and upcoming projects, it’s nice that we live in an era where creators can finally reveal the secrets that led to the creation of some classics. Hopefully, we can learn more about Ōkami in the run-up to Ōkami 2’s eventual release.

 

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