Ōkami 2 Confirmed: Developed in RE Engine

Following the announcement of a sequel to the beloved game Ōkami at last year's Game Awards, speculation ran rampant that Capcom's RE Engine would be the driving force behind the project, given Capcom's role as the publisher. IGN can now exclusively confirm these rumors, having spoken with key figures involved in the development.

In an in-depth interview, Machine Head Works producer Kiyohiko Sakata confirmed the use of RE Engine. He elaborated on the collaborative dynamics between the involved 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.

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: "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."

Kamiya himself chimed in, highlighting the engine's reputation: "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, Sakata hinted at the potential of RE Engine 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."

RE Engine, or Reach for the Moon Engine, was initially developed for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and has since been utilized in Capcom's major titles including the Resident Evil series, Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, and Dragon's Dogma. While most games built on RE Engine feature a realistic art style, the prospect of applying it to Ōkami's unique visual style is intriguing. Capcom is currently developing a new engine, REX, which is being gradually integrated into RE Engine, suggesting that elements of REX may also appear in the upcoming Ōkami sequel.

For more insights from our interview with the Ōkami sequel's lead developers, you can read the full Q&A here.