Ico Retrospective 

One thing I noticed about the game was a VERY subtle hint system; this came to mind when you mentioned that the developers will never directly tell you what to do. A couple of times when I got stuck on the puzzles, I did what I normally do: stop and think. It was then that I noticed that Yorda would turn and stare at something, and kind of fidget. After a while she would make a sound an point to something. It was Yorda alerting Ico to the next step in the puzzle. If there was a lever I couldn't find, Yorda would point me in its general direction, for example. I thought that this was ingenious, particularly from a game design perspective. This cemented all the more, how much care and attention and passion went into the core design of the game.

More than 18 years later... ICO is still one of the best gaming experiences I've had.

Actually, Yorda's birdcage does seem to have a purpose. If you look near the switch, there's a large metal shutter, just big enough for the cage to go through. And if you look up near the ceiling of the Queen's throne room at the end, you can see the same kind of shutter door. It's fair to assume that the Queen was bidding her time until she was ready to swap bodies with Yorda, and then move the cage into the throne room. Ico just happened to mess up that plan. That was really one of the coolest things about the game, how the castle's layout was consistent. No area was disproportionate from what you saw of it from the outside going in, or vice versa. If they could do a full on remake, I'd imagine having seamless transition from one area to the next (like in most open world games) would be something they'd try to do. Considering how the upcoming Last Guardian appears to be borrowing from Ico's "locked in a fortress/castle" setting, I can bet we'll see that some kind of design where, even hours after passing through an area, we'll see it from a vantage point and go "wow, so this is that ledge I glanced at earlier"

The atmosphere and gigantic architecture of Dark Souls 1 reminds me so much of ICO.

17:09 I didn't know Yorda was more prone to falling over after opening the castle gates until I watched this video. At this point, she seemed especially drained, so I felt it was better to just walk with her in this part. The in-game character animations do a great job at communicating the state of the characters and giving them more life. The fact that the impression of Yorda's frailty in this moment is actually something that affects gameplay, and not just a wrong impression or visual flourish, made me appreciate this game more.

I think the part when you realise that the shadows are other prisoned children is work of genius and it is handled in such a way that is completely unique to video-games. It was one of the moments that really made me think of games as art.

It's 2023 and I still love playing this on my PS2...

This game blew my mind the first time I played it. No game has ever come close to making me feel what I felt playing Ico.

As ultimately simplistic as the combat is, I think it deserves more appreciation than it gets. The enemy AI is actually rather good at getting you away from Yorda. They will bounce backward if you're obviously going to attack them, which can bait you enough distance for another shadow to grab her. I find that the best strategy is to turn my back to an enemy giving me trouble, which always prompts them to move in to try to knock you down. This shows they are actively opportunistic about catching you off-guard to get you out of the way so that they are free to grab Yorda. Simplistic combat, yes. A pretty good awareness of enemy management and AI for the time? Also yes.

Hell yes, this was perfect.

There's a book written by Miyuki Miyabe called Ico: Castle in the Mist which is based on the game. She was given creative freedom by the creators for it. The book isn't canon, but I enjoyed her view and expansion on the story.

19:55 "After all, it's hard to think of a concept more simple or effective than a boy and a girl holding hands." Little Nightmares 2's Six & Mono: *_Hold RT to hold hands._*

I had the Shadow of Colossus HD collection for a very long time, but only played SotC, never touched Ico. This week I finally played Ico, after many years, and I'm so glad that I did. Inspiring game.

Wow I totally missed the fact that the monsters are other children with horns like Ico

Thank you for uploading HIGH QUALITY reviews. You are fair and you even go so far as to point out the flaws in things that you love. The gaming industry really needs more reviewers like you. You analyze different views and subjects coming to your own well rounded and educated conclusion. I am glad to have found your channel and I hope that you continue to make videos. My one little critique is to sound less like you are reading off a script (still the quality is so good that it doesn't matter).

The level design in this game feels the most natural of any game, outside of the Souls series. The location itself is one of the best things about the game.

just been scouring through the top search results for Ico review, & i don't need to look any further now. as an english lad i'd much rather listen to a crackin irish accent than a whiney smiley american talk about a game that has genuine sentimental value to me - my mam used to work in Choices (blockbuster before blockbuster) lots of VHS, lots of 5th and 6th gen of gaming, some DVD's. as things were in the early 2000's. Remember playing Ico with her at a very young age & loved the world it created. funnily enough we rented shadow of the colossus shortly after completing Ico, found it way too hard and ambiguous and never finished it before returning it's a bit mad really, when silly things like games stay in your mind nearly 20 years later & become warm & fond abstract memories

I'm glad I found this channel. You are an excellent critic of video-games. You should unquestionably be hired by someone somewhere in a capacity that puts you in charge of game creation direction. Your ability to describe the loves and grievances I've felt with each aspect of a particular game is more accurate than my own. That is intense. Keep it up man, love your work.

I really love Ico's jump animation. To me it looks like something is pushing him further up in the air than what he was expecting. Great video by the way. I'm always excited to see someone give their thoughts and interpretations on the story and characters. This game needs more love these days.

Ok, so, I know that you'll probably wont read this comment but I just have to say:You have to be the best game reviewer/analysis In the history of RU-vid.I can't even start explaining how hard it is to write reviews like you do. You manage to get all your points acrossed in a simple yet sometimes witty manner that I utterly adore and respect, writing all your points in a well systematic order is something many reviewers don't do well. Many reviewers often just tell everything they can randomly without any thought behind it. You address your problems unlike any other: You don't just showcase general points. Many other people would present a certain topic and then break it down. You, however, do the opposite- You take few broke down points and create a general point with the pieces. This create a sense of following a story rather than listening to someone's rant. My last point, is how well you are able to make all your videos to sound and look objective while clearly having an opinion about it.I really appreciate your work and effort and I cant thank you enough for all the videos you made in the last couple years.

Oh gosh the fact that all the enemies were sacrificed horned children totally flew over me :0 The\ enemies in the final room looked so much like ICO that I just assumed they were clones of him and it symbolized the internal struggle of the loss of Yorda... Dammit!

Look at all of you who were here all those years ago and especially look at Matthew who was also there to put so gracefully to words our feelings about these games when we couldn't. The environmental inspiration for the Souls series, even without prior knowledge, I think, is clearly visible, among other things.

That last line truly was perfect and is probably the best single sentence summary you can give about the game. No game has ever really had such a profound impact on me immediately after finishing playing it as Ico did. For hours afterwards I played "You Were There" on repeat while looking up articles on the game, wondering how after playing it I could find the resolve to play other games on my backlog when they would probably be so shallow in comparison. Its not my favorite game of all time(that would be Majora's Mask) but its one of only a few games that just thinking about it for a short while has a fairly significant emotional effect on me. While games are art in general like films and books, Ico is one of the games I consider to be high art. The only thing that disappointed me a bit in this review is not talking about "You Were There", how perfectly that song tells the story of the game and mixes with the ending cutscene.

Great, profound analysis. I don't remember seeing one other youtuber wit h approach you are using. You're well informed, invested and know how to keep a viewer entertained. All of my praise.

beautiful analysis of a beautiful game. thank you.

I'm almost done enjoying all of your content. I honestly wish you could do a critique or review of every single game I've ever played.

Love these memories... And always got this queasy, uneasy feeling when I lost Yorda to the shadows. There's an unofficial prequel novel, ICO-Castle in the mist. It's a great read!!!!

Another moment of role reversal that stood out to me is when the bridge is separating and Yorda holds her hand out for you to jump and grab onto. Also, I like how the enemies push you around through the whole game, in an almost bullying type way, but in the big battle at the end they try to avoid you because of your sword.

A fantastic review, it's great that you focus on the gameplay elements that back up the theme and tone, much as they do in the context of the game itself. Probably the best review of Ico I've seen so far.

I'm impressed you mentioned Another World, but not the more obvious choice of inspiration; the PSX Classic "Heart of Darkness" it even has the same enemy types (visuals are also nearly identical) and also features a teenage boy as the protagonist.

I wish I could play Ico. It gives me ASMR and I fall asleep within twenty minutes of play time.

Ive been calling this game Eye-co my whole life

I truly hope you continue to do this for as long as you can, Matthew. I appreciate your thoughtful analysis so much, and it truly stands out in the world of video game critique. On topic, Ico is a game I played once during the year that Shadow of the Colossus came out. For me, it was a build-up to SotC, or a prerequisite before playing that game, which I was anticipating very greatly. Therefore, I guess it makes sense that Shadow of the Colossus is one my very favorite, and objectively speaking what I believe to be one of the best, video games I've ever experienced, while Ico, despite me enjoying it, sort of faded from my memory. I need to go back and give Ico the attention it deserves, because this video made me feel guilty for forgetting about such a clearly brilliant work.

That last line was solid gold. :-) Fingers crossed that you'll find time to tackle SotC. :-)

Thank you for giving this game the praise it deserves. This and Okami are two of my all-time favorite PS2 games.

I remember playing the demo on the PS2 when I was maybe 5 years old and I wanted the game so bad, and finally at the age of 22 I have the game and can play it on my PS3!🤩

pls keep makin vids, i found ur channel today and have spent the rest of the day watching all ur vids

I think you were probably one of the most appropriate people to review this game.

I can't count how many times I've played through this and loved every single time!

I thought it was kind of odd that you didn't specifically talk about why people don't mind that the whole game is an escort mission. You touched on it a bit with the combat, but not really. Maybe it's just really obvious and I'll sound like a dumbass, but I thought it was actually *because* the whole game was an escort mission and there was not much else to the gameplay. Usually people dislike escort missions because it's only one mission from the game, and it takes away focus from the combat or some other more fleshed out and fun aspect of it. In ICO, however, there was really nothing else but to protect Yorda, and I think the combat being repetitive added to that. You didn't want to actually fight these monsters, you wanted to end the fight as fast as possible and get her to safety. Yeah, I dunno how to end this shit, fuck it.

One of the few truly emotional experiences I've had in games, no surprise that Shadow of the Colossus is also among those. Ueda might just be too much of a perfectionist, at least I think that is a large of why we haven't seen The Last Guardian yet.

one of the most captivating and underrated games around, reviewed by one of the most captivating, underrated games reviewer around. keep up the great work Mathew

great last sentence

In my opinion, sir, you are the most precise and critical game reviewer I know. Your work is impressive and thorough and I enjoy this channel very much. Thank you for your work.

Yorda: *exists* Me: *must protect* On the day of writing this I finished my playthrough of Ico. This game I can honestly say is one of the best video games that I have ever played. I knew little when coming into this game, and i understood even less upon playing it. My mind was not bothered by the questions of lore and what had become of the fortress. For me, I was captivated and immersed by one feature: "save my friend". I know that everyone hates escort missions. They are tedious, slow and all together poorly executed, but I felt nothing of the sort when it came to protecting Yorda. In fact, I can summarize for one particular reason why this feature was not wretched. I am referring to the feature of "holding hands", this small ability allows for the complete guidance of Yorda. This action both builds the attachment to Yorda as well as act as primary tool for traversing safely. This action is so genius; in fact, that I have no idea why modern games do not rely on this more. Without some kind of redirection for the character's A.I a great game can easily become one of loathing. And it can allow animosity to be attributed towards a character. I apologize for my rambling, and I am aware that these points have been stated time and time again. Although, I thought that it was appropriate for me to bequeath these aspects from my own perspective. Farewell and protect Yorda...

This video really brought me back. I remember completing this game over 10 years ago and being so emotionally gut-punched, that I felt it days afterwards. I might be more of the sensitive type, but this video really brought me to tears. Have you ever considered reviewing the original Silent Hill series? At least the first two games contain some genius programming decisions, which you might have a lot to say about.

I have just finally played it(curse the exclusives!). And my god was I blown away.

Great video essay. This is exactly the kind of video Ico needs on youtube. I, like many I assume, played SotC 1st out of curiosity but loved it so much that I got the HD disc just for Ico. I'm surprised you didn't really talk about the infamous bridge separation scene. I heard that was an illuminating moment for some game designers who played Ico. I'm glad you discussed the penultimate fight and its music, because I thought it was the game's most powerful and haunting scene with very dark implications. I didn't realize the connection between the shadows and the gradually glowing containers until over halfway through the battle. Also, the ending was fabulous and you nailed why it embraced non-control and helplessness.

I think the reason it didn't spawn imitators was less out of a fear of challenging Ueda and more because of financial reasons. The game is a cult classic and people like devs or more enthusiast gamers who have actually played it generally love it but it still took a lot of work to make and didn't make a lot back. It would be very hard for a studio to get financing with the premise of "we're making a game that's like Ico".

"Iconic boxart", i see what you did there.

I jumped out of my seat when I saw this. Love both Ico and you.

This is not only the best analysis of ICO I've encountered, but it also really helps clarify what it is that makes games as a whole, such a unique and important artistic medium. Thank you.

Wonderful video. Also always pleased to see when the name is actually pronounced correctly instead of eye-co.

I just realized that just watching bits of this game in a review is significantly less enjoyable than I thought. You did a phenomenal job, though. I love this game.

OH MY GOD MATTHEW IS ALIVE. I really appreciate the amount of effort you put into analyzing the games you review, Matthewmatosis; it's always a pleasure to see your videos pop up in my subscriptions list.

God, i recently disabled adblock for your channel since i read you wanted to start doing this fulltime and i've just watched 8 minutes of some, german-esque teenager talking about sneakers i guess. I forgot ads exist, and this wasnt very pleasant. The things i do for love. Hehe, now back to your soothfull voice and slipping into sleep for me.

ICO is PURE ART and one of the greatest video games ever created.

ICO is my favorite game of all time. Thanks for making a great retrospective on it.

Always a joy to watch a bonafide critique that analyzes a game far deeper than its face value.

This game is so beautiful, I just had to buy a copy. I don't even have a Playstation lol

This is definitely favourite game from the PS2 era. I wish Bluepoint would remaster it.

Brillant! Matthew as allways i thank you for the time and efort you put into these analyses!

I was expecting a deeper reflection on the bridge section and the jump, which is the climax and the conceptual core of the entire game. Excellent review as always, tho.

What a beautifully written review. Lovely as the game itself.

Absolute masterpiece. Fumito Ueda is still the master of minimalist storytelling and game design. It’s clear Hidetaka Miyazaki took a lot of great inspiration from Ueda for the Souls games, but did it in his own way. I feel that Ueda doesn’t get enough credit for his work because a lot of games today use minimalistic elements whether in story or game design.

Allow me to thank you for this and the zelda reviews. I have not played ico, but every zelda game you mentioned and I really like how you point out so many things, that I mostly disregarded during my playthroughs, thus completing my experience. Thanks

The upcoming game Rime for the PS4 has some aspects of ICO I think.

Great review, as always! If you end up doing a review on Shadow of the Colossus, then I cannot wait!

Excellent video, really enjoyed it. I didn't know Ico was originally going to launch for the PS1, I appreciate the information you find when you make a video about a certain game or series. Looking forward to future content!

Amazing video! Probably my favourite of yours so far!

I just discovered your channel a while ago, but I really enjoy your video essays, here's to hoping you come back and keep making more videos.

I've lost count of the times I've played this, especially Shadow of the Colossus. I'd love to see you do a review on Baten Kaitos or The last story. Keep up the good work friend.

When he fell off the suspended platforms I felt that.

First time I played Ico I was 11 years old, I really liked the aesthetic part as well as simple control system and story it told. Till this day I think Ico was on of the strongest gaming experiences of my life so thank you for this review.

I dont think That I have agreed with a video more in my life. I went "I KNOW RIGHT" for pretty much the entire thing. Reminding me how good some of the games I've found on my travels to outside of mainstream has been is always a noble effort. Thanks for this and the Ghost Trick video.

Incredible anaylsis of one of my favourite games. well said and thought out as always. Keep it up these really are some of the best reviews on youtube.

Oh Matthew... you always find the perfect words to end your videos :)

I like these retrospectives. I never had a playstation or playstation 2 growing up so seeing these retrospectives (like the one about Abe's Oddysee) makes me appreciate their games more.

Maybe odd for me to say, but I would ADORE sitting down to have coffee with you. Picking your brain sounds way too great.

The proper animated feet movement on steps and other uneven terrain was already done years before on shenmue and much better I might add.

what an amazing video! Ico is still one of my favorite games of all time

I quite liked Matt's observation on the way the atmosphere of indoor and outdoor areas is reversed after Ico and Yorda are seperated, and the way in which a game embraces convention at just the right times to enhance the experience.

Welcome Back dude cant wait to see more reviews from you

'Which, at worst, can result in death' So, no biggie.

Glad to catch this upload! Keep up the good work!

When you tryna get the Oonspah but she hits you with the Yannen

I remember when I first played ICO and found it really boring but then going back later on and finding it utterly brilliant but I could never put in into words properly why I found it so good,well now I can =D

If there's anyone I'd want to make a modern day sequel to the PS1 "Heart of Darkness" game, its Fumito Ueda.

Still a great game. Still a great retrospective. Some things you just want to get back to just to check if all is still good. It is.

Well thank you for the very enjoyable little trip down memory lane. Roll on Last Guardian! I must be honest I never made the link that the horned shadows at the end of the game were the shadow creatures throughout the game so thanks again for the insight.

This was a pretty cool game back in 2001. It's definitely one of the prime examples of art defined by actual gameplay and mechanics without any reliance towards lazily scripted walking sections and you're almost always in full control of the character. Even during scripted segments you feel like you're in total control of the character and normally rely on the game's mechanics. I always respected Team Ico's effort of acknowledging the importance of gameplay and putting a major focus towards them despite their artistic delivery towards their games. Many artsy games, even the latest ones, seem to forget that and as a result totally missing the point of the medium. Ico may be my favorite Team Ico's game.

Ico reminds of a few levels in Zelda Majora's Mask.

Excellent video. I always love how in depth you are. By any chance, could you (or anyone in the comments) recommend me to a channel that also does these kinds of reviews and analysis? I love seeing people go in depth on various games but so many "reviewers" either make their reviews too short for them to say much or our just idiots.

Wow, again your analysis is just excellent!

I wonder when Last Guardian is ever going to come out...

Awesome video yet again, Matthew!

I really appreciate ICO, I think what it did with the presentation was revolutionary.

Handholding and chilling on benches in one large escort quest. Watch and learn, Elden Ring.

The point about video games being inherently art is something I wish more modern game critics could understand. Ico takes a very "back to basics" approach to design, having more in common with Super Mario Bros.' simple and effective use of the level design itself being the tutorial, challenging the player and having faith in the player's ability to understand mechanics, than it has in common with any of its contemporaries. This is something that can ONLY be done in a video game. Design complementing story, and vice versa, is something often forgotten by critics who seem to view the "game" part of the game as secondary to its ability to be compared to film and literature. This is why I think this video and the Tetris video are close to essential viewing for someone who wants to understand what video games as an artform actually means. Thoughtful and in-depth critique like the videos on this channel shouldn't be as rare as it is, it should be the norm. It doesn't take a genius to be able to comment on design, and yet this ability is so uncommon that any example of it is held up as masterful.

I've finished a second playthrough and wanted to explore and know more about this impressive game. Thanks for creating this video, and many thanks for the English subs.