New action games, in the style of Devil May Cry and Bayonetta, need to offer more than just great graphics. That’s what Hideki Kamiya thinks, and he should know – he’s behind some of the genre’s very best, including Bayonetta and Devil May Cry.
Speaking to Famitsu alongside Morbid Metal creator Felix Schade (thanks to Automaton), Kamiya has expressed his desire to create new mechanics in his games and not just focus on making them look more visually impressive – a part of the conversation that came about after explaining how the door loading screens in the original Resident Evil were added to stop players staring at a black screen for six seconds.
“When I make a new game, I try to come up with a unique gameplay mechanic that can only be experienced in that game,” he said. “For example, in Bayonetta it was the Witch Time system where dodging an enemy attack slows down time, and in Okami, it was the Celestial Brush, which lets you directly affect the game world by drawing.”
Kamiya added that he’s not really drawn to a game that is only offering pretty graphics – he’s looking for more: “As a player, I want to get excited by the unique experiences which only that one game can offer.”
The genre as a whole, though, Kamiya reckons is in a good spot: “Until not too long ago, there weren’t many 3D action games around, but recently there have been a lot of stylish, combo-based action titles. I think that’s a result of growing demand, and as someone who also wants to make that kind of action game one day, it makes me happy to see.”
Fans of Hideki Kamiya’s work were thrilled at December 2024’s announcement he was working on a sequel to Okami at his Clovers studio, in collaboration with Capcom.
