Following the exciting announcement of a sequel to the beloved cult classic Ōkami at The Game Awards, speculation was rife about the game's development engine. IGN can now exclusively confirm that the Ōkami sequel will indeed be developed using Capcom's RE Engine, as revealed in an in-depth interview with key project leads.
Kiyohiko Sakata, producer at Machine Head Works, elaborated on their role in the project, emphasizing their unique position as a bridge between Capcom and Clovers Studios. "The way that Machine Head Works is involved now, working together with Capcom and Clovers, is that of course we have Capcom as the major IP holder of Ōkami, deciding the major direction of the games. And we have Clovers as this development lead for this project. Machine Head Works comes in by having the experience of both working with Capcom previously on several titles, so we know what Capcom needs to create the game. That's something that Machine Head Works has the experience and knowledge of. We also have the experience of working with Kamiya-san before as well. So we have both experience of Capcom and Clovers, and we're acting sort of like a bridge between Clovers and Capcom," Sakata explained.
He further highlighted Machine Head Works' familiarity with the RE Engine, which is crucial for aiding Clovers' developers, who are new to this engine. "In addition to this, we also have the experience of working with the game engine that we are using for this project, RE Engine. So Clovers' developers haven't had any experiences with using this engine, but Machine Head Works have experience of using it. So we're aiding them. Also under us, Machine Head Works, we have people who have actually had experience of working with the original Ōkami game and also will be aiding us with the development of this title."
When asked about the specific advantages of using RE Engine for an Ōkami sequel, Capcom producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi was succinct but optimistic: "Yes." He added, "However, of course we cannot go into much detail at this point in time. But we from Capcom, we believe that without RE Engine at this point we wouldn't be able to realize [director Hideki] Kamiya-san's artistic dreams for this project."
Director Hideki Kamiya himself chimed in, praising the RE Engine's capabilities: "So RE Engine is of course famous for showing the best of the games that they have. Very, very good expressively. And so we believe people are also expecting and awaiting the RE Engine level of quality now for this game."
Sakata also teased that the RE Engine could enable the team to fulfill ambitions that were beyond reach during the development of the original Ōkami. "With today's technology, we are able to achieve all of this that we were trying to achieve back in the days and perhaps even greater now, now than what we have the RE Engine as well working with us," he stated.
RE Engine, also known as Reach for the Moon Engine, was initially developed for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and has since been used across Capcom's major titles, including the Resident Evil series, Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, and Dragon's Dogma. While most games developed with RE Engine have adopted a realistic art style, the potential application to Ōkami's distinctive visual style is particularly intriguing. Capcom is currently integrating technology from their new successor engine, REX, into the RE Engine, hinting at advanced features that may appear in the Ōkami sequel.
For a comprehensive look at our interview with the leads behind the Ōkami sequel, check out the full Q&A here.
