You’ve probably heard about the game Shadow of the Colossus. And about the game Ico? Well, besides the fact that this game is from the same developers who made the colossus. If you go to YouTube now, you won’t find a single review of the game with a large number of views. And in general, the game rarely comes up in discussions and media. It didn’t have a full-fledged remaster, much less a remake. So why did this happen??
The game began to be developed back in the late nineties, for the first PlayStation. But it soon became clear that it would not be possible to implement everything the authors had planned on the old console, so they decided to transfer the game to a new curling iron. The game was released in the fall of 2001. And despite the highest ratings from critics, it failed in sales. There were reasons for this, but we’ll talk about that later. For now, let’s figure out the plot.
And the game begins https://mintbingocasino.uk/bonus/ like this: a boy with horns on his head is taken to a huge abandoned castle, and they lock him in a certain sarcophagus. True, a small earthquake soon happens and the boy manages to get out, we have to play for this boy. After a short wandering around the castle, he finds a girl locked in a cage and saves her. After which they have one single goal, to escape from the ill-fated castle. And this is what we will be doing for the next few hours. The plot itself in the game is very conventional, there are practically no cutscenes, and the characters speak in a language we do not understand. However, everything is clear without words; visual storytelling works well here. The game is generally very minimalistic in all its aspects. It has no interface, tips, map, inventory. Even saving the game is arranged in such a way as not to take away from the overall immersion. The main characters simply sit on a bench to take a break, and at this moment you can save the game.
The gameplay here consists of solving puzzles and fighting shadows. The puzzles are also quite simple in nature. Most often, you just need to get from point A to point B, but the path is blocked by some obstacle that you need to get around or remove. You don’t need to figure out codes, solve puzzles or know Shakespeare to beat them. Everything is based on interaction with the environment – press a lever, drag a cube to climb higher, use a rope to climb into a previously inaccessible place, etc. d. But despite the seeming primitiveness, the puzzles force you to strain your brains, especially in the second half of the game. The puzzles here really teach you to study your environment, try different options and experiment, you can’t just click everything and hope something will work. The most important thing is that the decision is always logical. It’s not like you have to connect a string to a bottle of milk to fish out the key in the toilet. When you can’t figure out what to do for a long time, and then finally find a solution, you even feel a slight sense of shame: “It was obvious, why didn’t I think of it right away?”!"The duration of your passage largely depends on how quickly you think. If you know where to go and what to do, you can easily beat the game in 3-4 hours.
At the same time, the fact that the game was originally developed for the first PlayStation is noticeable. Even by the standards of 2001, most of the textures are extremely low resolution, and the environment is as ascetic as possible. In the premises of the castle, you will only find heaps of stone fragments or lonely trees sticking out. But the animations are beyond praise. They are very realistic and alive. When your character jumps, his arms and legs twitch; if he is dragging a heavy object, you can see how he strains his whole body to move it from its place. Animation plays a special role when interacting with a nameless girl. We have a special button to take her hand and lead her in the right direction. And this is a really important gameplay moment. If you take her by the hand and quickly run, she will not keep up with us and will begin to stumble, she needs help to climb onto ledges and jump over long distances, and if you leave her alone, she will blithely wander around the location, examining the environment and sometimes shyly pointing to a possible solution to the puzzle. All these micro-moments make the game special, despite the fact that the characters will say about a dozen words during the game, you manage to become attached to them, and perceive them as living people, and not just computer dummies.
The weakest part of the game is the combat system. You only have one attack button and nothing else. No division into strong/weak blows, dodges, special moves – stupidly one button. There are only two types of enemies – ground and flying. You also have the same weapon – a stick or a sword, there is no difference between them, the sword just hits a little harder, but you also get it closer to the end of the game. The main character is generally immortal, the shadows cannot kill him, but only knock him out for a few seconds. They are not interested in him – they came for the girl. The shadows grab her and drag her far away to put her in some dark portal, and if she is not saved in time, the game will end. I understand that the game is not about this at all, but if you are adding skirmishes with enemies, at least give me the opportunity to place a block or throw something at them. The battles in the game are not difficult – they are drawn out and annoying. Fortunately, you soon realize that you can often simply run away from the battlefield; the enemies here do not know how to move between locations.
And you can ask. What is it about this game that hooked players if it is so awkward and simple?? Well, it’s just its simplicity and minimalism that catches you. Many games try to be everything at once, and rarely does it succeed. Ico is a very simple game in its concept and implementation. It is not wasted on unnecessary gameplay mechanics, long cutscenes and technical innovations. She’s from a time when video games could just be games, and not work out a mandatory program of social commentary or political agenda. It has great music and excellent level design. You won’t spend more than a couple of evenings watching it, but it will leave an aftertaste for a long time.
Returning to the question of why it failed. There are two reasons for this: The first is banal, in 2001 an unreal number of legendary games were released. Final Fantasy X, Devil May Cry, Max Payne, MGS 2, GTA III, and against their background – Ico certainly seemed like a scary, small and incomprehensible game. Secondly, after the release of Shadow of the Colossus – which had already received popular recognition and love, Ico seemed to fall into the shadow of its older and more successful brother. The attitude towards it has become that this is an old arthouse game, from the same developers who would later make Colossus.
