The WhatsNext verdict
If you like quiet, visually driven puzzle adventures that build attachment through action rather than dialogue, Ico delivers a distinctive castle escape, provided you can tolerate slow escorting and sparse guidance.
What it does best
A lonely, dreamlike world you can disappear into
A castle designed like a perfect visual and spatial memory
Environmental puzzles that make the castle itself the answer
A quiet bond that becomes unexpectedly powerful
What might put you off
Escort-heavy progression
Minimalism and opaque guidance
The setup
What you are walking into
An action-adventure game in which a boy is abandoned and taken to a massive castle by his people. After exploring it for a while, he meets a girl who speaks a different language than him, then decides to get both of them out of the castle grounds by leading her along, in order to escape the shadow-like creatures that frequently try to kidnap the girl.
Where it lives
Genre
Vibe
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