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Okami is celebrating its 20-year anniversary today, April 20, 2026. Below, we remember how the visually striking game differentiated itself from the renowned Zelda series.
A dead field stretches out under a washed-out sky, its trees brittle and colorless, until a single brushstroke cuts through the air. Color returns in a wave. Ink spills across the landscape, flowers bloom beneath your feet, and a sacred sapling takes on new life. It is a transformation that is earned throughout the adventure in Okami.
Two decades on, Okami still feels like an anomaly. It is instantly recognizable, rooted in a familiar action-adventure structure but elevated by a cultural and artistic identity that few games have attempted to match. Its structure is Zelda-like, complete with dungeons, tools, and a steady march across a fractured world. Move from region to region, clear a dungeon, gain a new ability, and push forward. The inspiration is clear, but the way it builds beyond that has helped make Okami a classic.
Okami is one of the most distinctive interpretations of that formula ever created: one that feels unlike anything Nintendo itself has made. It commits fully to Japanese folklore and artistic tradition. You embody a deity. Amaterasu, the sun goddess
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