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The Last Guardian: A Few Things to Wish for

ICO, an early PS2 Sony adventure game, commonly showed up on lists of most unappreciated games.  Unlike the overrated Beyond Good and Evil, I happen to agree with ICO’s standing as one of the most unique, beautiful, and innovative games ever created.

However, ICO must have went on to cultivate some popularity because Sony ponied up the dough to make a spiritual sequel, Shadow of the Colossus.  Though much more commercially successful, this morally ambiguous game was equally beautiful and offered up a completely new set of gameplay mechanics that forever changed what a climactic boss battle could be.

Now, if only Sony could combine the two to make the perfect dish.  Here are four elements I would positively love to see for the announced sequel, The Last Guardian.

1.  More GIANTS!

Though hauntingly beautiful, Shadow didn’t break any new ground with its open world environment.  Its gifts to gaming were the towering boss encounters.  The trailer for Guardian revealed what was undoubtedly a huge beast; the protagonist was even riding it.  But he sure as hell wasn’t slaying it.  I’d give my left big toe to get a new roster of apathetic monstrosities to tackle.

2.  What the hell is the point?

Each colossus was a walking, skyscraper sized puzzle.  But what I sorely missed from ICO’s sequel were the environment puzzles.  Sony gave us a beautiful world in Shadow but to little purpose.  There was literally nothing to do apart from getting from point A to B, and this usually took between five and ten minutes.  I wouldn’t mind some intellectually stimulating distractions along the way.  

3.  Even the joker needs henchmen.

The protagonist from ICO didn’t need items more tricked out than a simple stick or sword because the enemies were just as simple: recurring shadow beings.  Shadows upped the ante a little by offering a mighty bow; obviously, giants require more hardware.  Can we have a little of both?  Is it possible to have both giants and lesser enemies along the way.  This could almost fall under wish number two.  I’d love another open world; just populate it a little, please?  With more than just bosses?  Even if those distractions are a return of the shadow beings, I’d be tickled.

4.  The truth is out there... right?

Tie up some lose narrative ends.  We already have an educated assumption that the protagonist’s end state in Shadow grew up to be the unlikely hero of ICO, but I want to be damn sure!  Sony, fill us in on the real deal behind these heart wrenching stories.

xabmol6088d ago (Edited 6088d ago )

Lizard hunting, fruit eating, hawk riding, and just plain exploration. I've seen every pixel that game has to offer. Heck, I climbed the main temple/tower in the demo from OPM like 30 times.

The only thing I felt was missing from SotC was more platforming. I remember the little bit from climbing up to fight the first colossus in the demo. I was thinking that there would be a platforming-puzzle section in order to reach each successive colossi. That was my only "let down."

swiftshot936088d ago

well, Ueda said that The Last Guardian is basically combining both games, so your wishes are likely to come true.

cuttlefish806084d ago (Edited 6084d ago )

I think this may come out a little morbid but i wouldn't mind having one of the characters die with conviction. I personally found it heart wrenching when Ago sacrifices his life (it is a he right?) so that Wanda could live to complete his quest. But my point is that having Agro appear at the end (abet one step closer to the glue factory) took a little away from this moment.
Yorda also made a grand sacrifice to save Ico only to wash ashore ready to eat watermelon. It's not that i'm dissatisfied with these endings but it does add a little hollowness to emotion that i felt. I mean i took all that time getting so fond of them while playing the game having them die would of been one of the most memorable moments in gaming ever, having them live cheapens a little. This isn't a disney movie for god sake.
Perhaps they could have the beasty going rabid or something and the player having to mercy kill it old yella style. just a thought.

70°

Microsoft Gaming Revenue Drops 7% Year-on-Year, Content and Services Down 5%, Xbox Hardware Down 33%

Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.

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simulationdaily.com
Jin_Sakai16h ago(Edited 16h ago)

Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.

dveio9h ago

To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.

Jingsing7h ago

The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.

Tanktopmaster928h ago

Once they re-evaluate exclusive all will be fine….

S2Killinit8h ago

Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.

Jingsing7h ago

15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.

Tanktopmaster926h ago

These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse

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50°

Games Done Quick is coming to Europe for the first time with 3 days of Gamescom speedruns

The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.

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Report: Injustice 3 in Development at NetherRealm Studios

Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.