Okami

Clover Studios’ Okami is one of my favorite video games of all time, and one of the works that has profoundly influenced my storytelling and worldbuilding. I began posting fiction set in the world of Nippon in 2014, starting with For All Eternity, a novel-length sequel to the original game. Eventually, this also came to include a series of short prequels that expanded on the background of the Celestials, Moon Tribe, and the brush gods.

My take on the world of Okami is one that leans deeper into the Shinto mythology that inspired bits and pieces of the original game. The conflict of the main game is reframed into the battle between the Shinto creation deities Izanagi and Izanami, which has carried on to their successors of Amaterasu and Yami, respectively. Other prominent deities from Shinto myths take on large roles, including Amaterasu’s siblings – Tsukuyomi, god of the moon, and Susanoo, god of storms.

I put For All Enterity on hiatus in 2017 so that I could concentrate on projects set in my own original worlds. I still intend to finish it, and it remains something that I come back to from time to time.