Ico
Description official descriptions
Ico is a boy with horns. At the age of twelve, when his horns grew large enough, the elders send him away to be sacrificed in order to prevent evil spirits from attacking the village. Entombed in a crumbling ancient castle, Ico only manages to begin his escape when a freak earthquake shakes loose the vessel he has been locked in. Ico shortly meets a princess named Yorda, who has been imprisoned by the evil queen. The two children must explore the ominous castle, trying to find a way to escape, persecuted by the queen's shadow minions.
ICO is a third-person perspective game that mixes action-based exploration gameplay with puzzles. The game is set almost exclusively in the castle, which consists of dozens of rooms, passages, platforms, and contraptions. Ico will run, climb, and jump his way through these environments. The puzzles in the game are physical (environmental): Ico must push and pull objects, manipulate switches, re-arrange structures, etc.
Yorda will accompany Ico throughout most of the game. Many of the puzzles revolve around creating a way for Yorda to access special glowing blue doors, which only she is capable of unlocking with her powers. Being less athletic than Ico, Yorda will often need a more comfortable path built for her. Ico can hold Yorda's hand to lead her with him, and also call her to come nearer.
With the exception of the final (and only) boss, all the enemies in the game are shadows. They attack in groups, either at pre-set points, or when Ico is separated from Yorda for a long time. Their goal is always the same: to capture Yorda and carry her towards a black whirlpool. If the player fails to rescue her before she is consumed by this shadow portal, the game is over. Conversely, Ico can not be killed by the shadows; they can only push him, preventing him from reaching Yorda in time. The player must therefore fend off the shadows (Ico uses a stick for the largest portion of the game), at the same time hurrying towards Yorda. Protecting and rescuing Yorda is one of the primary gameplay elements in ICO.
The game has no HUD (heads-up display). Other distinguishing features are the soft lightning visual style, low-key use of in-game music, and conversations through a fictional language, leaving much to the player's imagination.
Spellings
- イコ - Japanese spelling
- 이 코 - Korean spelling
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Credits (PlayStation 2 version)
193 People (147 developers, 46 thanks) · View all
Producer | |
Testers | |
European Senior Product Manager | |
European PR Manager | |
Manual and Packaging Design | |
Manual Editor | |
Manual Approvals | |
Localisation Co-ordinator | |
Lead Tester | |
Spanish | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Discussion
Subject | User | Date |
---|---|---|
512x256 PAL shots | GTramp (81823) | 2013-06-30 06:27:01 |
Trivia
Art
The original artwork, designed by Fumito Ueda, was inspired by the works of the surrealist painter Giorgio de Chirico. For comparison, the painting The Nostalgia of the Infinite bears a strong resemblance in style to the cover art.
Development
ICO was originally meant to be released for the PlayStation, but the development was halted and then continued for the PlayStation 2. A screenshot gallery of the first version has been included with the limited edition of Shadow of the Colossus. Also, originally Yorda was due to have horns, not lead character Ico
Extras
The European Limited Edition version has a double cardboard-sleeved case and contains four postcard-sized art cards.
Novel
In 2004, author Miyuki Miyabe released a novel in Japan based on the game. She wrote it because of her appreciation of the game (ISBN 4-06-212441-6).
Version differences
The US version does not contain the second playthrough bonuses present in the Japanese and European releases. These include translated subtitles (initially hieroglyphs), the option to have a second player (who controls the princess), a secret weapon different from the one findable in the first playthrough, and the option to play the game with one of four cinematic video filters. There are also changes to some of the shadow generation points, fights with enemies are slightly harder, and the Waterfall and Windmill puzzles are simplified.
Awards
- 4Players
- 2002 – #7 Best PS2 Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
- 2002– Best Atmosphere of the Year
- 2002– Special Game Idea of the Year
- EGM
- February 2006 (Issue #200) - #121 out of 200 in the "Greatest Games of Their Time" lisz
Information also contributed by Big John WV, Indra was here and Mark Ennis
Related Sites +
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Cursedlands.com
A resource site for ICO and Shadow of the Colossus -
Hints for Ico
These hints will give you only as much help as you need, so you can solve the game yourself. -
Official game website
Available in 11 languages -
The ICO Repository
A very large resource site, with writings, fan art and media -
Wikipedia: ICO
Information about ICO at Wikipedia -
Zarf's Review
A review of <em>ICO</em> by Interactive Fiction developer Andrew Plotkin (October, 2001).
Identifiers +
- MobyGames ID: 5158
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by nullnullnull.
PlayStation 3 added by Kabushi.
Additional contributors: Macintrash, Jeanne, Sciere, Leandro S., Zeppin, DreinIX, Patrick Bregger, Rik Hideto, yenruoj_tsegnol_eht (!!ihsoy).
Game added October 15th, 2001. Last modified February 22nd, 2023.