I absolutely respect Ico for the influence it had on artistic adventure and exploration games along with Shadow of the Colossus. I really wanted to like it, as Shadow of the Colossus is one of my favorite games ever.

Unfortunately I hated Ico.

The loose controls, weird camera, and blurry, eye-straining graphics with way too much bloom gave me an actual headache. I just could not continue playing when the game had made me physically unwell in the first half hour.

Fumito Ueda's grand adventure. Ico! It's simplistic nature and cinematic platforming roots give us unlike anything that come before... maybe since.

This is a game that stripped all of it's flashy parts and only did the bare minimum with it's mechanics. Because it just wants to be a handholding adventure game and just does that. Nothing more, nothing less. If it's mechanics are barebones then why this game is super highly regarded? It's because they used all of their development budget on giving you the VIBES.

It's suspenseful atmosphere, it's dark foreboding loneliness, the feeling that you are in a unknown mysterious place, giving you the feeling that light is your friend, shadows are your enemy. It's masterfully constructs this atmosphere with it's foreboding castle structures, it's cinematic camera angles, it's realistic sound effects. Also it's rare use of music is a super effective choice in this as well. They only come in cutscenes or when you found a save station to make you feel secure(like go and give a listen to Ico: Healing. It's perfect save room music in my opinion).

Only game that come close to giving the same vibes is again another Fumito Ueda game, The Last Guardian, but even that one is more on the hopeful adventurous side in my opinion. This one just in the middle, both suspenseful, both hopeful. It's just perfect vibes.

Now, is this game perfect? No. It does have it's issues like all the other Fumito Ueda games. For example sometimes fixed camera angles obstructs the interactables or doesn't give you a good angle to be able to plan your jump. Our attacks or jumps can't be cancelled nor change their direction after initiating so this adds to the janky feeling a bit. Also our partner Yorda's Ai gets dumb when you are around ladders for some reason(she decides to climb it all the way even tho I am not near it nor I didn't order it to do so sometimes).

Then why 5/5 then? It's hard to explain, but when the atmosphere, the vibes takes you in, I can't help but give it a 5/5. Because there is no other game like it.

Pure Fantasy - A game designer's favorite game

One of the most difficult challenges I've faced as someone who has tried making multiple games for a considerable portion of my life is to get the people actually playing my games to even fundamentally have any sort of investment in understanding the mechanics/story of the world I set up, and I'm still working on that.

It really says enough how this game does not explain anything to you so you feel absorbed in just trying to understand it even if it does have a very strong adventure-game/Zelda origin point. The emphasis on realism with the art direction is insane and only serves to make you believe you are actually sending commands to some boy in a box (even the rumble is used for the footsteps of the main person you're trying to protect here).

The map is about as fluid to move through as you could get in this era, puzzles are hidden about, and the combat is basic but plays into your fears and uncertainty.

Ico is a game that isn't really about blowing your mind or making you live in the game for a long time, it's a short fantasy adventure with emotion and heart and I had a pretty good time with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOwreeWIz_A

The three games made by Team Ico have been some of my most anticipated games for about as long as I can remember, and since I absolutely loved the Shadow of the Colossus remake back when I played it on the PS4 two years ago, I was even more excited to eventually give Ico a try. Long before I played any of these games, I remember being struck by the beauty and detail of this game's European cover art, and it looked like one of those covers that perfectly reflected what it was like to play the game. As it turns out, I was half right, because while I would say that I liked Ico overall, the elements that this game handled poorly meant that this statement would have to come with a bunch of asterisks right alongside it.

If there was one word that I'd use to describe the atmosphere of Ico, it would be "mysterious", as practically every aspect of the game's presentation evoked that feeling. This game placed a heavy emphasis on visual and environmental storytelling, as the simple, fairytale-like plot, fictional languages, and minimal dialogue put a stronger emphasis on having the moment-to-moment gameplay be the main source of the game's storytelling than the cutscenes. This stripped down, minimalist approach made me really appreciate the detailed art direction, as the cinematic camera angles gave the castle's mossy stones and rusted metals a strong sense of ancience. Ico also doesn't use music very often in favor of the naturalistic sounds of bird chips, waterfalls, and Ico's own pitter-patter, but the game's few uses of actual music were beautiful, and they greatly strengthened the emotional impact of the scenes that they were featured in. Despite how all I did was have her hold my hand and watch her climb ladders throughout my playthrough, I was surprised with how much I cared about Yorda, as having to take her everywhere made me feel like I had formed a genuine bond with her without having the game straight-up tell me that I did. All of these elements made for an especially impactful ending, as the use of the song "You Were There" being combined with the filmic cutscenes left me in awe.

Despite how much Ico got right in terms of its atmosphere, storytelling, visuals, and uses of sound, the actual gameplay was what held me back from liking the game as much as everyone else apparently does. The worst part of Ico would easily be its combat, as everything about it felt unintuitive with how long it took for enemies to die and how sluggish the weapons were to use. Every combat encounter in Ico felt like it was interrupting the game rather than complimenting it, as spending minutes at a time just mashing square until the copypaste enemies eventually went away felt mindless, and it didn't even really make sense for a quiet, thoughtful game like this to even have combat in the first place. On top of that, the wonky controls felt like they were working against me a lot of the time, as they not only made the combat more annoying to deal with, but they also made making any jumps or even walking in a straight line annoying to deal with. Granted, Shadow of the Colossus also featured some janky controls, but the weighty physics applying to both you and the Colossi made the fights exhilarating, whereas the simpler gameplay of Ico made its unresponsive controls a lot more apparent. That being said, I did enjoy the game's final (and only) boss battle, as having to run behind cover in between attacks made for a tense and exciting fight. Ico is not a perfect game by any means, but I'd still consider it to be solid time overall, and while it didn't reach the heights of Shadow of the Colossus, I'd still say that I'm interested in checking out The Last Guardian at some point.

Jogo incrível, lindo, maravilhoso. A ambientação do jogo é fenomenal, se passando em um castelo enorme, uma construção tão mas tão grande que é bizarro de pensar que foram seres humanos que construíram isso, com tecnologias tão avançadas que nem parece que foram obras do tempo em que o jogo se passa. Ico e a Yorda são muito fofos juntos, interagindo entre si e só conseguindo prosseguir um com o outro, dá pra ver que eles criam uma conexão entre si ao decorrer do jogo, nada amoroso, mais amizade mesmo. Os gráficos são lindos, com paisagens magníficas e até mesmo os visuais dentro do próprio castelo, que na maior parte das vezes são cinzentos e sem vida, conseguem ser belos e bons de se olhar. A magnitude desse castelo é assustadora, você literalmente anda por ele como um todo e parece que ele não acaba, sempre tendo mais lugares pra explorar e resolver puzzles, o que em si é a mecânica principal do jogo. Você e a Yorda precisam sair desse castelo enorme, já que ambos foram aprisionados nele, e pra isso, vocês se juntam pra passar de todos os obstáculos que acabam encontrando, resolvendo puzzles juntos e eventualmente, combatendo criaturas sombrias (literalmente) que querem capturar a Yorda, a mando de sua mãe, a rainha do castelo, tendo total poder sobre as sombras. A OST do jogo é linda pra caralho, como a que toca na cutscene quando você fica muito tempo sem mexer no menu, até a música das partes de save, que é muito linda. Eu amei muito todas as músicas que tem no jogo, e em geral eu amei o jogo como um todo. Eu entendo as pessoas não terem curtido o combate, porque por mais que seja simples ele as vezes não é muito fácil de se acostumar, mas no fim acaba sendo só questão de tempo pra pegar o jeito. Recomendo 100%, foi um ótimo começo pra Team ICO, e sem dúvida deixou bem claro que já no começo o Fumito Ueda era um gênio, e até hoje é.

peaceful, at least the same way a fly at a picnic in the park is; it may be overwhelming when trying to steer you away from food, but it becomes another charming addition to the outdoors. despite how much it deviates from typical formula of video games, as well as how much the team set out to create smth "realistic", ico is essentially going thru the bare essentials of what amounts to a bedtime story that became a dream of a child. everything feels so simple: the combat is always the same when fighting the shadowmen, the tasks are similar to each other more often and not, and the story plays out like a fairy tale

but, not in spite of, but because it moves by, it feels less then charitable to say that it goes against the "realism" aimed for this game; more then anything, my favorites parts of the game was when i decided to walk instead of run and just press myself into how much love was put into the design, how each pristine pixel and low-key sound mixing; the flies are always at every picnic, but they're just as much little creatures of their own nature as any of the quirks and bugs here. no need to be bothered by how it took ya out of everything; it's the exchange between the two that is another form of interactive beauty

bitterly logging the version WITHOUT the greatest game cover of all time (seriously why keep the literally infamous US version?) to reflect that I did replay the ps2 version specifically

and it's still basically the best game ever
there's legitimate frustrations, enemies are too strong and you don't do nearly enough damage in the early game to make combat actively exciting to engage in, there's sections that do feel entirely luck based, all that stuff, but there's just an impossible to beat sense of scope, atmosphere, immersion, total awe, from beginning to end. it's an endless line of iconic, stunning locations back to back. the windmill, the waterfall, cave; it's seriously breathtaking. I'm always stunned by the simple camera movements that promote intuitive direction when it comes to the platforming and puzzle solving. holding Yorda's hand for the entirety of the game provides such an excellent, niche twist for the medium that promotes legitimate care in a way that hasn't REALLY been replicated since... with the possible exception of Portal's companion cube but it's not on the same level as far as I'm concerned.

It's sort of a shame that I can play and beat this so effortlessly in less than 3 hours at a time now but I adore my ventures back. it never feels any less special and sort of seems to be only closer in my heart each time.

I've noticed that games like Ico - games that commit their entire being to presenting a particular feeling or mood - are harmed even more by the slightest annoyances, since once the immersion is broken there's a good chance it has no more legs to stand on. At its best, Ico was a beautifully-woven fairytale world portraying the struggle and necessity of absolute trust between two complete strangers. At its worst? It couldn't make me feel anything.

There's a lot about this game that feels intentionally awkward in service of that mood - the difficult part is that the things that felt intentional are the bits I like the best! As an example, the combat isn't exactly "fun", and that seems to be a pretty major sticking point for a lot of others who dropped off the game - but my first few combat encounters were absolutely mesmerising. The weightless swings and the tendency of the shades to dodge and outmaneuver rather than overwhelm gave this delicate feel to the combat that perfectly complemented the aesthetic. But it's the little things I picked up on that *didn't* feel intentional - or specifically not in service of anything - that started to get to me. To use the same example, after a while I started noticing that some combat encounters took a wearily long time; as I later realised, shades that successfully 'capture' Yorda disappear into the same portal and seem to take a long time to reappear. You're bound to get knocked about and have her get dragged down at some point, but the feeling it gave off quickly changed - I'm not feeling tension for Yorda, I'm feeling annoyed because I have to wait around for the shade to come back. Parts of the game also felt like they had a *lot* of combat encounters - combine with the intentionally awkward combat and the previously-mentioned issue and I just groaned whenever I heard the cue.

I do want to make it clear that the combat is far from my only issue, and it was a pretty wide spread of minor annoyances that snapped me out of the experience it tried to convey. I just don't want to come off like I'm bashing this game. I have a lot of respect for it, despite my ultimate decision to drop it - I just wanted to express this feeling I've had welling ever since I tried Rain World last year, and Ico was just a much better vessel for doing so.

You'll need some patience to get through this game. Before getting your first "weapon upgrade" fights take too long, your companion's AI is a little unresponsive, and controls in general can be a little janky. Considering who the protagonists are, on the realism side of things, it does a good job, but this isn't for everyone. Rushing will get you nowhere, so if you're feeling frustrated with the game, turn it off and come back later. It will make for a far better overall experience.

Where this game excels is in the presentation.
The game is incredibly minimalistic in pretty much all of its aspects.
The overall atmosphere and environment is really well done. It has to be experienced and can't exactly be put into words.
The story is open to interpretation and you're free to fill in the wide gaps however you wish.
The puzzles are made in a clever way where they aren't difficult, but if you're not paying attention to the little hints given to you by either by the camera angles or your companion (although you have to wait for a bit before she points it out) you'll be stuck for longer than you normally would.

On a first playthrough, it can take a bit before you're used to the game's systems and overall feel. On a second playthrough, while you'll know what's going on, it's fun to catch the little details you may have missed and it will be an overall smoother experience.

Even with the flaws this game has, if you're interested in playing through a good chunk of the PS2's library, I'd recommend you give this game a try.

Kind of a perfect game to come back to after a long kind of absence from the medium. It was so easy to find myself getting lost in the atmosphere of Ico. Even when I would personally get frustrated while playing I was to compose myself right away because everything else just felt so serene. Some of my favorite moments in the game were just jumping around and climbing the castle. With detailed sound design and beautiful visual direction to pair alongside each other.

However what I think what ultimately makes Ico so incredible is its narrative. Its interesting to play this after playing Shadow of the Colossus a while ago because I feel as though their stories are sort of different takes on a central theme. That being the "boy tries to save girl" found in a lot of video games and just stories in general. In Shadow of the Colossus Mono is already under her deep sleep and needs Wander to revive her. Resulting in a journey that he embarks on alone to save her. Whereas here in Ico Yorda is apart of our journey every step of the way. We have to fend off the shadow creatures in order to protect her. Even if these two aren't able to understand each other the simple gesture of holding onto each other is something far more powerful. Ico the boy who was destined to be scarified and Yorda the girl who was destined to be possessed by her evil mother. Coming together like that? How could I not tear up by the end?

i don't think it's any secret that games tend to be best at communicating through experience, and ico understands this excellently. you don't need this bond explained through text, and you don't need your goals exposited here. the oblique narrative on display is emotionally engrossing and guides the player's actions very effectively, while giving you a lot of stuff to guess about and discuss with other players. in most games, it would feel pretty silly ending off with a "fin", but i think ico's storytelling has more in common with european arthouse filmmaking than it does with other games, so it feels on-point. i did feel like the last quarter of the game didn't feel as thoughtful and considered as what preceded it, though, and the combat doesn't feel like much more than a waste of time. there needs to be some sort of a threat for this narrative to function, sure, but i feel like ico would almost be better off if you couldn't fight at all.
also, please change the cover for this game on here, jeez. why is it still using a boxart that is literally infamous for being misrepresentative and ugly

if theres one thing to take away from ico, its that it accomplishes a lot with very little.

its clear ico was designed to be as immersive as possible. this manifests as an absence of any non-diagetic elements such as an onscreen hud, button prompts, and music. to counteract the lack of a display, interactable elements are always visually consistent. boxes, levers, chains, and climbable ledges straddle the line between standing out enough to be immediately obvious while also fitting well into the overall aesthetic of the area.

the world of ico feels real in the sense that nothing about the areas looks like it was specifically designed for the player to traverse. everything about the castle looks functional and its only the degradation of it that presents the challenge of moving forward.
interiors are often large and empty, with pulled back camera angles and unsettling ambient noise. in contrast, the outside is sunlit with gentle breezes and signs of life, and its only in these areas will the player find spots to rest and save their game. this serves to align the players motivation with ico and yordas motivations of escaping the castle into the green forest thats constantly teased in the distance. this is taken even further during one of the final areas when the environment suddenly becomes metallic, harsh and unwelcoming, representing the urgency of the current situation.
ico is also a masterclass of environmental storytelling. the ending recontextualizes everything about the environment that the player has seen up until that point, eliciting a profound feeling of melancholy that other games could only ever hope to come close to.

if youve ever played either god of war 2018 or ragnarok, you would know that jumping onto a wall or into a boat causes atreus to immediately be right there behind you. its clear that your companion is teleporting all over the place for the sake of the players convenience. compare this to yorda in ico and the difference is obvious. the player has to wait for yorda to physically move between locations. she wanders off on her own sometimes. it feels like shes a real person bound by the rules of the world in the same way the player is, not only furthering the sense of immersion but also the connection the player feels between the two.
it feels as though the game was created with a distinct goal in mind: immerse the player into the world and make them feel a connection between themselves and yorda. any element or mechanic that didnt directly contribute to this goal was ultimately cut, resulting in one of the most focused and flawless experiences ever seen in gaming.

theres not much more i can say about the genius of this game without spoiling it. if youre a game developer or at all interested in game design it would be irresponsible not to play ico.

The North American cover-art is the visual antithesis to the sheer quality I precieve of this particular game.

It's a simple, haunting story about a cursed boy, whom is controlled by the player, that is forced to be a sacrificial lamb, only to free himself and later free a glowing girl that speaks an entirely different language from him.

It's a simple, haunting game where the two travel through the ruins and structures, navigating treacherous and perilous environments, solving ancient puzzles that lock their exits, and fight back against shadow beings that seek to spirit away the girl the player character freed.

It's a simple, haunting theme about a growing bond of friendship beyond language, and the power of trust and determination against nigh insurmountable odds.

It's a simple, haunting journey where boy meets girl, boy saves girl, and boy frees girl, with nothing but a stick and little else left to lose.

Is this review pretentious? A tad. Am I biased? Very likely. That said, this game isn't for everyone, and its simplicity alone might turn most away from it, but power and respect to those that give it an honest try.