"Trico" and Ruminations on Ueda

You've probably already watched this by now, but...



Footage from Fumito Ueda's new game! Kind of. Actually, apparently it's less of a trailer and more of a proof of concept demonstration from a few years ago that has conveniently leaked a few months before E3, where it's already rumored to be announced. Sort of the same thing as the "Nico" footage that ended up being Shadow of the Colossus, except with more music from Miller's Crossing:



I've already heard tons of folks complain that it's not divergent enough from Shadow of The Colossus as Shadow of the Colossus was from Ico, as well as the game still taking place in "Uedaland" (i.e. still featuring barren brown-gray wastelands, ancient abandoned ruins, steep cliffs dropping into bottomless pits, etc.) While I feel the same way, I'm trying to reserve judgment until I see a "real" trailer. After all, look at how much difference there is between Nico and the finished Shadow of the Colossus... It's possible that they're just reusing leftover art assets from Colossus as placeholders.

I dig the concept though. It initially struck me as a combination of Shadow of the Colossus and A Boy and His Blob (which, incidentally, is getting a pretty sweet-looking Wiimake by Wayforward), though it's been more correctly observed as a combination of Colossus and Ico. But unlike Ico, you are dependent on the more mobile and powerful entity. Instead of being the caretaker, you are being taken care of. And unlike Shadow of the Colossus, it seems the game will not be about figuring out how to clamber about this big living creature (with whom you will presumably be quite familiar with after an hour or so of play) and more how to use it to navigate large scale environmental puzzles. Which has a lot of interesting design possibilities...

Ueda's games are notable because they elegantly bring out subtle emotions with a realistic sense of gravity. What I really like about Shadow of Colossus was the way it used the format of an epic quest to chronicle the internal decay of the hero... and the weird sort of guilt you sometimes felt after taking down a colossus for selfish ends. Ico was powerful because the relationship between Ico and Yorda is one of implicit trust despite the ambiguity of who they are (and their inability to communicate.) I've been replaying Ico and it feels like R1 should really be called the "Trust" button. I think I might make another post about that, since Ico is interesting to dissect in terms of its level design and how its at odds with the games aesthetic goals. In Ico that was the hook and what ultimately made the game meaningful. In Shadow of the Colossus, the hook (that being epic battles with enormous living statues) was really a maguffin that concealed a game ultimately about hubris and regret.

It's too early to tell if this game's hook is all there is to it or if there will be more layers of meaning that can only really be grasped by playing the full game... I'm excited to see the real trailer, though.

Boy I sure wish I could go to E3 :3