Ico

Overview

Ico (stylized in all caps) is a 2001 action-adventure video game by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It was first released in September and December 2001 for North America and Japan, respectively, with a March 2002 release for Europe. It was first re-released in Europe with its spiritual successor, Shadow of the Colossus, in 2006. A high-definition remaster, included in the Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection, was released for PlayStation 3 in 2011. The story follows Ico and Yorda as they escape an abandoned castle to save each other from being sacrificed.

Ico is an action-adventure video game. The player controls Ico from a third-person perspective as he explores the castle and attempts to escape it with Yorda. The camera is fixed but swivels to follow Ico or Yorda as they move; the player can also pan the view a small degree in other directions to observe more of the surroundings. The game includes many elements of platform games; for example, the player must have Ico jump, climb, push, and pull objects. The player must also perform other tasks such as solving puzzles in order to progress within the castle.

Ico is a young boy born with horns. Seen as a bad omen, he is taken by a group of warriors to an abandoned castle and locked inside a stone coffin to be sacrificed. A tremor topples the coffin and Ico escapes. As he searches the castle, he meets Yorda, a captive girl who speaks a different language. Yorda is magically linked to the castle and has the ability to open various gates using white energy that emanates from her body.

Lead designer Fumito Ueda came up with the concept for Ico in 1997, envisioning a "boy meets girl" story where the two main characters would hold hands during their adventure, forming a bond between them without communication. Ueda's original inspiration for Ico was a TV commercial he saw, which depicted a woman holding the hand of a child while walking through the woods. He was also inspired by the manga series Galaxy Express 999, where a woman protects a young boy as they travel through the galaxy, which he considered adapting into a new idea for video games. He also cited his work as an animator on Kenji Eno's Sega Saturn game Enemy Zero, which influenced Ico's animation, cutscenes, lighting effects, sound design, and mature appeal.

The game was released in Japan on December 6, 2001 alongside Yoake no Mariko, developed by another unit of Sony as a collaboration with Spümcø. The main theme song of the game, "ICO -You were there-" composed by Michiru Oshima was used in commercials to promote the game in Japan. The cover is inspired by the Italian artist Giorgio de Chirico and his work The Nostalgia of the Infinite; Ueda believed that "the surrealistic world of de Chirico matched the allegoric world of Ico". It was used for the releases in Japan and PAL regions. The North American version was released two months earlier; due to time constraints, it lacks the cover art intended by Ueda, as well as additional features such as the two-player mode.

Ico received acclaim from players and critics, with an aggregated review score of 90 out of 100 at Metacritic. The game has gained a cult following, and is considered by some to be one of the greatest games of all time; Edge ranked Ico as the 13th top game in a 2007 listing, while IGN ranked the game at number 18 in 2005, and at number 57 in 2007. Ico has been used as an example of a game that is a work of art.

Official trailer

Gameplay Trailer. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Platform, Puzzle, Adventure

Developer

Team Ico

Publisher

Sony Computer Entertainment

Series

Ico

Platforms

PlayStation 3

Age rating

ESRB T

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

No

Co op

No

Age ratings

ESRB

T

PEGI

12

Release dates

Subscription history

Playable today

Playable offline todayYes

Single-player only, with no online features.

Online

Plays offlineYes

Credits

Region

US

Time to beat

about 7 hours