When Team Ico released its first project Ico on September 24, 2001, the game was an commercial failure. For the small number of players who played the game at launch, though, they were the lucky few to experience one of the most foundational games in modern video game history. Ico's commercial woes did not impact its critical success; it was quickly recognized as something imperfect, but deeply special.
The game's visual design and minimalist sensibilities can be seen in modern releases by indie studios like thatgamecompany (Flower, Journey, Flow) and major franchises like Hidetaka Miyazaki's Dark Souls. What has kept Ico present in conversations about modern game design is how successfully the game created a moving experience with such a deliberately limited toolset.
Ico's Subtractive Design Philosophy And Modern Game Design
The gameplay's deliberate simplicity was described by the team as "subtracting design". This design philosophy drove Team Ico to cut out any elements of gameplay that interfered or conflicted in any way with the game's story or setting. In a now archived interview with 1UP.com, Fumito Ueda and Kenji Kaido described how the team completely removed plans for enemy variety. The game was originally intended to have enemies with unique strengths and weaknesses but were eventually refined down to a single enemy type.
Even Ico's beloved environmental design was originally meant to be far more intricate. Team Ico planned to have a castle, surrounding environments, and settlements nearby that the player could explore. When the game released though, the world design had been cut down to only showcase the surreal and towering castle from which the player must escape. All of this was compounded by the decision to hire staff for the team from outside the game's industry to ensure the staff could think without the preconceptions and mental limitations of seasoned developers.
What resulted from this design philosophy was a game that creates almost surreal level of mechanical and emotional depth with seemingly very simple systems. Developers like Phil Fish, creator of indie darling Fez, claimed to have adopted a similar approach to Team Ico when stripping away unnecessary features from Fez. Protagonist Ico's interactions with his companion Yorda, protecting her, guiding her around by holding her hand (simulating grip by requiring players to hold R1), and the bond that forms between them throughout the story have shaped much of modern companion AI design.
Ico's Approach To Escort Mission Design Brought Players The Last Of Us
Escort missions are notorious in the game industry, but games like Resident Evil 4 have served as breaking points for escort mission design. Modern games like The Last of Us and BioShock Infinite made a specific point in their promotional material that players would not need to worry about guarding or protecting their companion, and that they could only benefit players in gameplay. Yet despite The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog explicitly citing Ico as an influence, Ico itself is essentially one large escort mission.
The game centers around the player protecting, guiding, and exploring the world with their companion Yorda, who is frequently attacked by enemies, cannot easily navigate terrain without the player forming a path, and whose primary mechanical purpose is to open specific doors for the character. Despite seeming to be everything that its successors would try to avoid, Ico still managed to build a meaningful connection between the player and their in-game companion.
Many of the games that Ico influenced focus on far broader and more complex interconnected systems. When Naughty Dog cites Ico as a design influence on The Last of Us, what that actually means is that Ico's design were adapted to create a similar emotional experience in line with modern AAA expectations. Ico's influences permeate so much of modern design that it can be difficult to find games that can't be traced back to its innovations in some way. With any luck, Ico will receive the same treatment as Shadow of the Colossus and be remade so that the brilliance of its design can continue to influence the next generation of developers.
Ico is available now on PS2.