![]() ![]() It’s a masterstroke in game design, meaning that when the ageing AI doesn’t quite understand your command it just feels like your standard goof between a horned boy and glowing celestial being. With Yorda speaking an ancient language you can’t quite parse, there’s always something lost in translation. Subtle design choices make technological limitations feel utterly intentional. The AI is remarkably, considering the game's age, too. Ico is littered with heart-warming touches like this – moments that perfectly capture that childlike feeling of innocence, that yearning for adventure and the ease of forming pre-adolescent friendships. Ico excels at making you feel like a child, and as you squeeze ‘R1’ to gently grab this mysterious glowing girl’s (Yorda) hand, it’s a gesture that feels genuinely sweet. ![]() It’s this bond developed via gameplay that makes the experience so utterly charming. With both you and your ethereal companion clearly just scared kids, your journey together feels like one of equals – never a burden. In Ueda’s classic, there’s no such power to be lost. It turns out, escort missions in most games frustrate because they’re a jarring transition from power fantasy to vulnerability. Somehow, these universally loathed sections in Ico feel – whisper it – charming. ![]() You'll find benches in Ico – and many, many games it inspired. From the eye-rolling sections spent babysitting the president’s daughter in Resident Evil 4 to the unholy union of underwater level and escort mission seen in Metal Gear Solid 2, these sections are filler at best, and a crime against gaming at worst. For anyone who knows their way around a controller, the dreaded escort mission is guaranteed to elicit a groan. To be honest, I’m still amazed at how well old Ueda boy nails the core concept: it takes balls to centre a game around a universally hated mechanic, but that’s exactly what Team Ico did. Happening upon a glowing white girl hoisted in a swinging iron cage, our pointy headed hero immediately frees the only other prisoner in sight, and Ico truly begins. Thankfully though, your castle capers soon become a little less lonely. For vast swathes of your journey, the only audio accompaniment is the echo of footsteps reverberating off stone, and the gentle flicker of flame illuminating darkened corridors. ![]() Much like in the best horror creations, it’s the absence of strings that really makes your hairs stand on end. Ico's vibe remains mysterious, compelling.Īs sombre strings swell menacingly, every step in these ominous new surroundings feels like a slow-building panic attack. Soon breaking free of his cement restraints, your avatar manages to topple the pod imprisoning him – leaving you free to roam the dingy castle and begin your escape. Thankfully, our inexplicably-horned hero is anything but hapless. Classic case of countryfolk mentality, that. Hurled into this ominous looking keep and chucked into a glowing stone casing, your fate is to be sealed away forever – “for the good of the village”. Beginning with a clomp of horses’ hooves, we join a nameless child hastily hauled into a castle by a troupe of armoured knights. Much like Pixar’s finest, what minimalistic storytelling Ico does offer is subtle and universal – leaving the player to fill in the blanks. At times, Ico’s odd camera angles and surrealist pacing make the whole thing feel like a playable Renaissance painting amping up that dreamlike feel which defies Ico’s dated visuals, oozing a quietly entrancing sense of mystique and dread. Still, it’s hard to care when the core art style is this good. Thanks to the PS3’s notoriously difficult-to-emulate cell processor, Ico is only available to stream via Sony’s rebranded PS Now service, giving it an unintentionally murky look. There’s a wonderfully surrealist quality to Ueda’s debut that immediately recalls the ill-fitting, ethereal nature of childhood dreams. Light on narrative and heavy on ambience, Fumito Ueda’s breakthrough project is a majestic mood piece – a universally relatable adventure that largely avoids cutscenes and, instead, relies on its setting to tell its tale. When it comes to the navel-gazing ‘games as art’ discourse, there’s a reason that Ico is always highlighted as a shining example. Watch on YouTube It's worth checking out the PS Plus Extra and Premium lists – there's some gold in there.Įntirely predictably then, Ico hooks me immediately. ![]()
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