Ico (pronounced eee-koh I think) is one of only 3 games developed by the studio that created it. Development studio Team Ico was led by Fumito Ueda who became somewhat legendary for the trio of games for their minimalist style and beautifully realized worlds. Unsurprisingly, Ico was the first of Team Ico’s games based on the studio’s name and was released in 2001 on the PlayStation 2. Ico developed a huge following and was well liked critically. Unfortunately, the game’s initial sales didn’t match the critical hype and praise that was being reported. Even still, Ico’s influences can be seen in many video games after 2001 including: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
What I Liked 😃
Full of Atmosphere
The single most impressive thing about Ico is the atmosphere. From the get-go when Ico emerges from a sacrificial coffin inside a massive castle, you can just tell that this game is different than a lot of other games. Less is more in Ico and what little spoken word that is in the game is some fabricated language. Ico relies on the sounds, the music, the visuals and the character’s body language to tell the story to the player. There’s no heads-up display and no standard UI elements that you would find in other games such as a health bar.
When Ico runs, his footsteps reverberate throughout the room he is in. You can hear him breathing heavily while running. When he eventually finds Yorda, his female companion, her movements are more erratic than Ico because she is weak (and being dragged around by Ico). In most rooms you can hear the wind blowing outside which gives the entire castle an eerie feeling.
Visually, the castle is falling apart. In fact, the only reason Ico is released from his coffin is because the stone in which the coffin is sitting breaks apart. Convenient, eh? The castle is still magnificent even in its dilapidation. Rooms are huge and you can tell this was once a regal structure that probably housed many people, kings and queens included. Each room is distinct enough that it doesn’t feel repetitive as well, which can be a problem for some early PlayStation 2 3D games.
Puzzle Enjoyment
There’s a lot more puzzling in Ico than action combat. If you are not a fan of puzzles in games, then I would say stay far away from this game. But if you like puzzles, I think this is one of the most intuitive set of puzzles in a game in recent memory for me. With the exception of a single point in the game where I had to look up the solution, I was able to figure out everything on my own, which speaks to the intuitive nature of the puzzles. They were still challenging, and some took longer than others to figure out, but rather than being completely obtuse and frustrating, they all seemed to make sense.
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The puzzles ranged from something as simple as jumping onto the right location to using a combination of your equipment such as the torch or sword to make progress. There was standard “push this heavy stone block” puzzles as well as more intricate head scratchers, plenty of variety for the puzzle enthusiast.
Empathy for Yorda
Besides pulling you into the game world with a rich setting, the thing Ico does well above all else is making you feel empathy for Yorda, the young girl whom Ico rescues early in the game. She is trapped inside a metal cage surrounded by metal spikes lofted high above the ground. Once Ico rescues her, the game becomes less about Ico’s survival and more about protecting Yorda. Yorda is not able to defend herself or do anything on her own, so it is up to Ico to lead Yorda. Ico must take her by the hand in order to do so. This is done to great effect. You can really see Yorda’s weakness presumably from being trapped inside the castle by her mother. Leave her alone too long and she will be captured by the dark entities that are roaming the entire castle.
Every time Yorda was close to being consumed, I felt a sense of tension and anxiety. The need to go save her was even more important because of the bond that is established between the two characters. The fact that this bond is established only by sounds and visuals and not by spoken word is even more impressive.
When you boil it down, Ico is one big escort mission and to this day, I do not think there is a game that handles escort missions this well or has implemented it in the same way.
What I Didn’t Like ☹️
Quick Playthrough
Ico is a very short game. I think my play time was somewhere between 8 and 10 hours. There really aren’t any extras or side missions here so once you’ve rolled credits, there’s very little reason to return to the game unless you just want to experience the story again. I would also say the story itself isn’t epic or anything. This is more of an emotional tale about two people rather than a world ending crisis. I kind of wanted to see more of Ico’s world and see what lies outside the castle walls. But on the same token, I think that would have made the isolated experience less memorable.
Overall Thoughts 🤔
Ico is not for everyone. It's a more intimate gaming experience in the sense that there’s no epic world-spanning adventure to go on and no collectibles or side quests. Instead, the game is isolated to a very large, dilapidated castle. It focuses on Ico and Yorda and their relationship and trying to escape the castle while also defeating the corrupted Queen. There are a lot of puzzles and a little bit of combat and the combat that is in the game is very simplistic. The game is oozing with atmosphere and has been an inspiration for countless games that came after it. If I were equating it to film, I would say Ico is kind of like the Citizen Kane of video games. It made future games better, but the game itself may not be entertaining to a lot of people. Hopefully that film reference made sense…send me a comment if you need clarification. 😉
Where Can I Play This? 🕹️
Ico was most recently re-released on the PS4 with the Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection, so that’s the best way to play it today. Otherwise, there’s also a collection on the PS3 or you’ll be emulating or playing the game on the original PS2 hardware.
I played the game physically on PS3 via the Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection.
Ah, Ico, one of those games so cult-classic, that I... watched a longplay of it being played on YouTube...
ICO was a favourite in the household. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences with the game