Following the announcement of a sequel to the cult favorite Ōkami at The Game Awards last year, fans speculated that the game would be developed using Capcom's RE Engine, given Capcom's role as the publisher. IGN can now exclusively confirm these speculations after conducting an in-depth interview with several project leads.
In the interview, Machine Head Works producer Kiyohiko Sakata confirmed the use of RE Engine. He elaborated on Machine Head Works' role in the project, stating:
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 the 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.
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 appeal of RE Engine and its benefits for the Ōkami sequel, Capcom producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi responded affirmatively, stating, "Yes." He further explained, "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 added, "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."
Later in the interview, the leads hinted that RE Engine might allow them to achieve certain elements they had envisioned for the original Ōkami but were unable to implement. Sakata mentioned, "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."
RE Engine, also known as Reach for the Moon Engine, is Capcom's proprietary game engine, originally developed for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Since its debut, Capcom has utilized it in major titles such as the Resident Evil series, Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, and Dragon's Dogma. While most games developed with RE Engine feature a realistic art style, the unique artistic approach of Ōkami presents an exciting opportunity. Capcom is also working on a new successor engine, REX, which is gradually being integrated into the existing RE Engine. This integration might introduce elements of REX into the upcoming Ōkami sequel.
For more insights from our interview with the leads of the upcoming Ōkami sequel, you can read the full Q&A here.
