Well, this is certainly interesting. In the wake of Capcom recently shutting down development on several unannounced games, it appears that the publisher might be getting ready to beef up their announced lineup with something Okami related.
The speculation of an upcoming Okami announcement comes from the official Japanese Okami Twitter account, which posted the following message (as translated by Gematsu) on April 17th:
“Hello, this is Okami news. Sorry I’ve been kind of out of touch lately, but I have the feeling we’ll be able to drop a fresh announcement like WHAM! around the beginning of Golden Week, so please look forward to it. Right now we’re on track with preparations. Management is also very excited…”
The statement about “Golden Week” is referring to the period of time between April 29th and May 5th, when several Japanese Holidays are celebrated; The Emperor’s Birthday, Greenery Day, Showa Day, Constitution Memorial Day, Citizen’s Holdiay, Greenery Day, and Children’s Day. If the stated time frame is correct, this means that we could get this Okami announcement as soon as Monday.
Adding fuel to the speculation fire, the popular Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu is said to have teased a big “must-see” reveal of a “new game to bring fans tears of happiness finally comes to life.” Of course, this tease might not be related to Capcom’s Okami announcement next week, but the timing seems to suggest that it is.
Capcom has been extremely quiet on the Okami front since launching Okami HD on the PlayStation Network in late 2012. Prior to the HD port, the last new game released in the franchise was Okamiden, which came out for the Nintendo DS in March 2011.
It is unclear exactly what Capcom has planned, so it is entirely possible that the Okami announcement could end up being nothing more than another port (or something else that doesn’t justify my current level of excitement). Hopefully, that is not the case and we can happily reveal a brand new entry into the series in the near future. We will let you know as soon as Capcom lets the cat… er, dog… out of the bag.