21 years later: the game that changed the rules

#42: Castle in the mist

Fumito Ueda doesn't make many games, but when he does the entire industry sits up and takes notice. Including his first as lead designer way back in 2001, Ueda has only actually released three; most recently The Last Guardian in 2016, Shadow of the Colossus back in 2005, and 21 years ago this week, his debut, ICO.

And what a debut it was.

"Beautiful or attractive, commanding attention, causing or capable of causing bewilderment, shock or insensibility. Striking or overpowering the senses with astonishment, especially on account of excellence."

ICO is stunning in the literal, dictionary-definition sense of the word. A game that dropped into the vast ocean of PlayStation 2 software almost unnoticed in 2001, but which produced ripples that grew and swelled until they reached every corner of the gaming landscape. Ripples that can still be felt 21 years later.

Team ICO and Japan Studio's game was unlike any other. Firstly, the visuals were striking; not so much an early glimpse of next-generation graphics, but like a completely new aesthetic altogether. As if built not on updated versions of hardware already available but on different architecture entirely.

Even the card packaging (in Japan and PAL regions at least) was beautiful. The cover art - looking more like a Criterion Edition of a classic movie than a game - was designed by Fumito Ueda himself and inspired by the works of surrealist painter Giorgio de Chirico. It all combined to give the impression of something different. Something special.

It was in stark contrast to the thousands of identikit plastic PS2 cases that surrounded it on retailers' shelves at the time. Retailers who bothered to stock it that is. For while ICO was loved and lauded by critics and industry folk alike, like so many games throughout history that tried something truly different, it had a difficult ride at retail.

This was around the time of Devil May Cry, Silent Hill 2, Grand Theft Auto III and Metal Gear Solid 2. Wonderful games in their own right, but examples of the blockbuster scale the industry was aiming for at at the time, and just how much of a bolt out of the blue Ueda's ethereal, understated game was in comparison.

In simple terms ICO is a puzzle/platformer in which a young boy and girl are tasked with escaping a giant castle together. But like the game itself the relationship between the two leads is delicate, poignant and utterly beautiful. ICO was developed with Ueda's "design by subtraction" ethos in mind, where the team tried to remove anything that wasn't essential to the experience. This is no more evident in the game's minimalist, achingly beautiful score, which can barely be heard above the sound of your footsteps echoing through cavernous rooms, and the ambient sounds of the wind and waves crashing against distant cliffs.

It was a difficult sell to the masses, but although it had a muted reception commercially in terms of influence its impact on gaming cannot be understated. Eiji Aonuma (Zelda), Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid, Death Stranding), Neil Druckmann (Uncharted, The Last of Us) and many others have all cited ICO and Ueda's work as having a significant influence on them.

Perhaps most remarkably, FromSoftware boss and Souls, Bloodborne and Elden Ring creator Hidetaka Miyazaki even credits ICO as the very reason he chose to pursue a career in game development in the first place. “That game awoke me to the possibilities of the medium,” he said in an interview with The Guardian. “I wanted to make one myself.”

The 'Ueda Trilogy'

Of course, it would be unfair to give Ueda sole credit for the creation of ICO, Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian - numerous developers spread across different teams were involved in bringing them to life - but he is rare in that he has a singularly unique vision for his titles and is able to pull these different teams together in service of it.

He's also very fortunate to have had a publisher in Sony loyal and trusting enough to let him see these visions through to fruition. Especially in the case of The Last Guardian, where “development hell” doesn’t even come close to describing its protracted nine-year development cycle.

ICO built a passionate cult following and remains near the top of many ‘must-have’ lists to this day. It never got the commercial recognition it deserved, but its influence can still be seen and felt in so many areas of gaming. Even if a lot of people don't know it.

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I hope you enjoy the rest of the newsletter.

Take care everyone, and see you next week!

Jeff

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