Gamers Month - ICO

(2001)



3D platform adventure for the Playstation 2 (SCEI)

***

It was pretty difficult trying to find a screenshot or a piece of artwork that would best describe and present ICO to someone who has not played it. Everyone who has will know how it felt and looked and sounded to them, but ask them to pick a single moment or image and it'll prove more difficult.

''The windmill'', many would probably say.

''The castle'', would be another likely suggestion.

Sunlight.

The ocean.

A quiet, cool breeze.

The pale, long, torn curtains billowing in the windows of an old, abandoned tower.

A metal cage, made of rust and oil and spikes.

Lonely chains, lazily hanging from the ceiling, both peaceful and yet morbid, silently whispering thoughts of what their purpose once was.

The crackle and warm glow of a burning torch.

The clack of wooden sandals on stone.

The huff of a 12 year old boy out of breath.

The quiet pat of naked feet on rock.

A small, pale hand clasping another carefully.



To see ICO, one would need to see it moving, to hear it breathing, to feel it stumble and climb and clamper.

You can look at the image on the right, and if you can picture the leaves and the brances of the trees moving about in the breeze, the sunlight streaming through them, if you can hear the ocean and the wind echo off the castle walls around, if you can feel the coarseness of the wall, the softness of the grass, the warmth of that hand clasping, then you have an idea of what ICO is like.

***

A fairytale in videogame form, ICO is the story of a young boy born with horns in a village where it is believed horned people are bringers of misfortune and misery. On his 12th birthday, he is taken through woods and over an ocean to a large, abandoned castle, and locked inside a small sarcophagus as a sacrifice. He is freed after an earthquake-like tremor causes his stone coffin to fall and break open.

Exploring the echoing hallways, bridges and balconies of the castle, the boy, Ico, eventually finds a strange pale girl imprisoned inside a metal cage in one of the large castle towers. He frees her, but finds he cannot understand her language which is different from his. The girl, Yorda, is the daughter of The Queen, the ghostly ruler of the castle, intent on keeping her imprisoned for her own plans.

Together, the two children must find a way to escape the castle and the living shadows that hunt them.

***

I first witnessed ICO at a finnish gaming expo way back in 2000.
Metal Gear Solid 2 was playable on a single TV so small many people didn't even realize it was there.

Screens ran videos of upcoming PS2 titles. Wipeout Fusion was merely a concept video of a track run, a single, massive jump through clouds making everyone stop and go ''We'll I dunno, it doesn't look l- ...wow.''

There was a trailer of sorts of some weird Squaresoft game featuring little boys with spiky hair brandishing what appeared to be a giant key, and Disney characters of all things.

And then there was a video of a game I could not recognize but looked like nothing I'd ever seen on a console. A small boy and a tall pale girl were running through a large stone castle, fending off large creatures made of shadow and smoke. The visuals were tear-inducingly pretty. Bright sunlight, gorgeus architecture and an air of mystery, adventure and deep, deep melancholy that was palpable even in the middle of the noise of the expo. There was no explosions. No guns. No buff marines. No gruff trailer voiceover or over-excited hyperbole text about features and number of enemies. There only a single logo at the very end of the video and a barely audible child's voice reading it out.

''Wow'', I thought to myself. ''That looks so pretty, I'm amazed someone is making a game that looks and moves like that''.

I eventually found out the game was indeed coming to Europe and bought it on release.

It's been my personal favourite videogame since then.

There were no life bars, no score counters, no quick time events, no button prompts, no tutorial bubbles. The controls were so intuitive you learned them in the time it took you to run across the first room. Making a control mechanic central to the story and theme of the game was another small masterclass of design.

It had an amazing atmosphere of calm, warmth, yet so much sadness. The story was ''simple'', but endlessly engaging. The arc of the story is absolutely beautifully pitched and there are more than a few emotional twists along the way.

You grew to care deeply for the children and wanted to keep them safe. The game elegantly - and in a beautiful display of design - had you telling half of its story through your own actions and in the journey itself.

If you cared about Yorda, your Ico cared about Yorda, and you could witness a companionship grow between the children. While holding Yorda's hand to lead her along, Ico would slightly slow down his walking and Yorda would slightly speed up hers so that they were both walking at the same pace. Yorda would gasp in fright whenever Ico hit a stone wall with a sword or a plank, and in worry if he slipped on a ledge and grabbed on at the last moment.

You'd see glimpses of details you weren't sure you were imagining or not.

Did she always stand that close to Ico when shadows attack?
Didn't she use to run away before?

Did she just say Ico's name out loud?

Is there a kind of skip to her run when she approaches him?

You wondered, at the same time because it mattered if the characters had developed that kind of trust and friendship, but also because it was really cool that the game could do that, that the developer had put something like that in there. And because these were the kind of things you didn't notice, or see, or wonder about in videogames. They were loud and serious or loud and funny. They were.. game-like. Wit, at best, in the hands of gods past, but never this. Not subtlety. Not elegance. Not warmth.

But of course there's subtlety and elegance and warmth and emotion and eye-watering brilliance in games, but you just don't see enough. You don't often come across that one acoustic album that doesn't feel it needs to name its songs according to the words in the chorus. Or have lyrics whatsoever. Or be over 60 minutes in lenght.

***

Everyone has one. The gem. That one book, that one movie, that one memory they hold so dear, that feels like it speaks only to you and no one else would get it. At least not like you do.

ICO is my gem in games. It's a haunting, dreamlike, achingly beautiful fairytale of rare quality. It is the perfect length, it is the perfect design, it is the perfect presentation and atmosphere. It has one of the most gripping and dramatic finales in any game and one of the most satisfying endings I've ever witnessed.

For me, ICO is one of the best exampls of what can be done with videogames. It is a wonderful synergy of presentation, atmosphere and interactivity. It is the kind of thing that isn't possible in any other form of entertainment, and it makes you all the more glad.

***

ICO was first released in Amerikka with a god awful cover.

The game was later released in Japan and Europe with slight alterations to level and puzzle design, better AI for Yorda, unlockable bonuses like english subtitles for Yorda's dialogue (they are in runes the first time you play), an optional bonus ending and a 2 player mode. And the cover was way better.

Oh and it was originally a PS1 title and Fumito Ueda was inspired by the artist Giorgio de Chirico THE END

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