GameHoof.com

Developer Team Ico
Publisher Sony Computer Entertainment
Designer Fumito Ueda
Platform PlayStation 3
Release date INT Q4 2011
Genre Action-adventure, Puzzle

The Last Guardian, known in Japan as Hitokui no Ōwashi Trico​ (人喰いの大鷲トリコ Hitokui no Ōwashi Toriko,? lit. “Trico, the man-eating eagle”) and previously referred to by the working title Project Trico, is an upcoming video game developed by Team Ico, to be published exclusively for the PlayStation 3.The title is made by the small Sony team led by Fumito Ueda, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, have a powerful air of mystery about them. Their hazy, bleached visuals, sorrowful air and vague stories make them seem like half-remembered children’s books – the kind that had some secret, solemn, adult meaning that was always just beyond your understanding, but that affected you powerfully anyway.

Story

The Last Guardian’s story follows that of a yet-named boy that is trying to escape from a setting resembling the ruins of a large expansive castle. The game will revolve around the developing friendship between the boy and a giant, feathered creature resembling a griffin named Trico (トリコ Toriko?). The name of the creature can be taken to mean “prisoner” (虜 toriko?), “baby bird” (鳥の子 tori no ko?), or a portmanteau of “bird” (鳥 tori?) and “cat” (猫 neko?). Trico has spears and arrows stuck in its back, and is initially bound to a chain. Later, it is freed and is shown attacking an armored soldier. Screenshots, as well as the E3 trailer, show the boy attempting to sneak past and attack other soldiers. Trico will initially be hostile to the boy, but during the course of the game, the two will develop an emotional attachment to each other. Ueda suggested there may be similar creatures like Trico in the game, but could not confirm this.

Some speculated, based on the tone of the 2009 E3 trailer and of Team Ico’s past games, that The Last Guardian will end sadly; the webcomic “Penny Arcade” postulated that the ending of the game would involve the death of either the boy or Trico. In response to these theories, creator Fumito Ueda addressed them by stating that the story is “open-ended, and for you guys to figure out”

Gameplay

The player controls the boy, who must care for and work with the large creature, Trico, using its animal instincts to solve puzzles.

The Last Guardian is a third-person perspective game that combines action-adventure and puzzle elements. The player controls the unarmed boy who can run, jump, climb, and perform other actions similar to the gameplay in Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. The player may also need to use the environment to silently move around or defeat shadow-being guards, though initially the boy is weaponless. The guards, though slow-moving, can capture the boy, and if the player is unable to free the character in time, the game will be over.

The player’s movements are augmented by interaction with Trico which the boy can climb upon and ride. As stated by Ueda, Trico is driven by animal instincts, and it is up to the player to guide the creature, “taking advantage of his natural behavior”, in order to complete puzzles.

The PS3’s graphical effects allow Ueda to express Trico’s behaviour or feelings without the creature being able to speak, he says.

Ueda has no secluded office that you can peer into to divine his soul. Turns out he just works there, like everybody else. There’s a very nice view of the Imperial park. That’s all.

I don’t really expect to get the answers I’m looking for from Ueda himself, either. The game designer and director is a notoriously unwilling and evasive interviewee, although pleasant and polite. With his long hair, neat button-down shirt and boyish features, he looks an awful lot younger than his 40 years. Still, he seems in fairly relaxed and receptive mood, so I probe gently. What does The Last Guardian have in common with his previous games?

“In the very first game there was the interaction between the player’s character and the AI character, the girl,” he says. “In the second game, it was the action of climbing on these giant monsters. In the third game, there’s a bit of each of those in there. You’ve got an AI character this time, but this time it’s kind of a really giant AI character rather than the small helpless character of the first game.”

And in this simple answer, The Last Guardian’s secret is laid bare. It is, quite simply, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus rolled into one.

That much is also revealed by the 15-minute gameplay demonstration, a “vertical slice” of puzzle-solving, platforming, light stealth and creature-wrangling. As in Ico, the boy must use his vigorous, ungainly child’s agility to scramble through rooms in a labyrinthine, Gormenghast-style ruin. He must also face sinister enemies and guide his companion to follow him.