Ōkami

The first thing about Ōkami, and I mean this literally as in it occupies the first 15 minutes of your New Game, is that it is steeped in Japanese Shinto myth and is particularly mindful of a legendary plot. I haven't delved too deeply into it so far but it's very evident that this is, if perhaps not story-driven, at least very intricately woven into the fabric of ancient tales. This manner of storytelling, combined with the game's infamous and extremely distinctive aesthetics, make for a really unique experience.

Like I said - I haven't gotten very far, but the gameplay is at least passable. As of yet there are three facets: adventuring, e.g. moving around, jumping, and smashing headlong into clay pots; combat, which is currently not dissimilar from the clay pots; and drawing, used both outside of combat to solve puzzles, and in it to weaken enemies. The drawing is a very cool idea, with a multitude of abilities available based on gesture recognition in the control stick paint strokes. But, due to the PS2 controller's left analog stick being in a fairly unintuitive orientation, I'm running into a bit of a learning curve in mastering this controller stick art.

Progress: Kamiki Village