Ōkami 2 — Capcom, Hideki Kamiya, and Machine Head Discuss Hotly Anticipated Sequel in Exclusive Interview

ign.com:

20 years after the release of the original Ōkami, the great god Amaterasu, origin of all that is good and mother to us all, is making a triumphant and unexpected return.

Announced at The Game Awards last year, a sequel to Ōkami is in development. Hideki Kamiya, newly separated from Platinum Games, has formed his own new studio, Clovers, and taken the directing helm. He does this with the blessing of IP owner Capcom, which is serving as publisher, and with the support of Machine Head Works, a new-ish studio staffed by Capcom veterans that's already supported several recent Capcom titles, including the Ōkami HD remake. Everything we've seen so far speaks to an all-star line-up of talent, mixing both new developers with veterans of the original Ōkami committed to seeing their original vision bloom.

But aside from a fairly emotional teaser and the names behind the Ōkami sequel, we've been somewhat short on details regarding what exactly to expect. Is it a direct sequel, or something else? Whose idea was it, and how did the project get off the ground after all these years? Was that Amaterasu in the trailer, or a lookalike wolf?

Recently, IGN had the opportunity to get some answers. Though the Ōkami sequel is still very, very early in development, we visited director Hideki Kamiya, Capcom producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, and Machine Head Works studio head Kiyohiko Sakata at their home base in Osaka, Japan. In a two-hour interview, we asked them all we could about Ōkami, the sequel, their partnership, and their respective studios.

Here's the full Q&A of that interview, which has been lightly edited for clarity:

IGN: Kamiya-san, you've talked before about why you left PlatinumGames. You said you were feeling it was going in a different direction from your beliefs as a developer. And you said you wanted to make games that only Hideki Kamiya could make. What beliefs about developing games are important to you and how do you expect them to shape Clovers'?

Hideki Kamiya: It’s a