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<\/a>The Last Guardian is an action-adventure puzzle video game directed by Fumito Ueda, and it is a spiritual successor to his earlier titles Ico (2001) and Shadow of the Colossus (2005). Development for the game started as early as 2007, the first trailer came out in 2009 and, only after having suffered from several production delays, the game was finally released in December 2016 for the PlayStation 4.<\/p>\n
The game follows the adventure of a boy protagonist and a legendary gryphon-like creature Trico who find themselves trapped inside a giant castle. The sophisticated audiovisual atmosphere immerses the player in a stunningly beautiful game environment. The story is told both through engaging gameplay and occasional in-game cutscenes, gradually shedding light to the background of the characters over the course of around 10 to 20 hours of playing content.<\/p>\n The graphics, the gameplay, the world and the story, however, are ultimately just tools for exploring the most essential element of The Last Guardian: the player\u2019s interdependent and complex relationship with Trico. Meaningful gameplay actions such as feeding Trico, tending to her wounds, mounting her, calling for her and petting her all contribute to establishing a mutual bond between the two characters.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The game isn\u2019t flawless of course, even with nearly a decade of development time. The third-person camera behavior is sometimes unintuitive and buggy, making movement harder than it needs to be. This is further amplified when aiming jumps, when Trico obstructs the camera view, or when the boy is climbing Trico whilst she\u2019s moving in tight corridors. A couple of awkward puzzles, retrying agility jumps and occasional bugginess along the way can break the game\u2019s immersion, and I needed to check some things online to make sure my game hadn\u2019t ended up in a dead end state.<\/p>\n The game\u2019s overarching storyline is pretty much on-rails. This is surely justifiable in relation to both story and game mechanics, but it also means that, as it\u2019s not always possible to backtrack, you have to keep a keen eye out for secret areas and extras if you don\u2019t want to miss anything. As expected, trophy completionists still need to play the story through more than once.<\/p>\n Trico\u2019s unpredictable nature certainly divides opinions, and I personally consider it a courageous move. While a meandering animal does affect the pacing of the game and can lead to temporary frustration, those negative emotions are part of the intended game experience. Make no mistake: this is art, not mere entertainment.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>