During Thursday night’s Game Awards ceremony, founder and host Geoff Keighley surprised everyone by looking like he was about to cry as he revealed that Capcom is working on a sequel to his PlayStation 2 classic Okami with original director Hideki Kamiya.

It’s one of the most human and relatable things I’ve ever seen Keighley do, and I was there with him. Watching the simple teaser, which contains little more than rousing music, shots of a running wolf, the Capcom logo, and Kamiya’s name, made me cry a little too.

Let me explain. Okamiwhich came out in 2006 is a good game. It’s a Zelda-style action-adventure about a celestial wolf god who uses his flame disk to fight ghosts and fix things for confused villagers. It features beautiful graphics inspired by traditional Japanese illustrations. The characters are outlined with thick, inky brushstrokes and filled in with delicate watercolors.

I checked it Okami for Edge magazine and gave it 9 out of 10, a rating I stand by. I wouldn’t call it one of mine favorite Games however; It’s too long and can be clunky, and I wouldn’t choose it over half a dozen of the best Zelda games.

But here’s the thing – Okami represents a very special time in gaming, in which large Japanese studios in particular took on the challenge of expanding the artistic expression of video games. It also represents the partial failure of that dream, as it didn’t sell very well and ruined the unique Capcom studio that made it: Clover. Clover’s fall led to Kamiya, Shinji Mikami, and others leaving Capcom to form PlatinumGames.

For Capcom to seek redemption by reuniting with Kamiya (who named his new studio Clovers) and funding a project Okami The sequel shows me that the spirit has not been completely eradicated these days. It also tells me – Capcom is a company after all – that the various remakes of Okami have sold well enough over the years to justify this move and prove to Capcom how short-sighted it was.

Watch the announcement of the Okami In the sequel, I was touched by the great music performed by a live orchestra. I was impressed by the striking new visual direction, which replaces the ink outlines with warm, painterly touches of color. I loved the animation of the wolf god Amaterasu racing through the landscape. But like Geoff, I was really emotional about this announcement means.

The Game Awards live stream shows a beaming Keighley and Kamiya in the audience, watching impassively behind his red sunglasses. Undoubtedly, the infamous Twitter troll mentally blocked Geoff because of his sentimental weakness. I guess he has to block me now too.