About The Last Guardian

The Last Guardian, known in Japan as Hitokui no Ōwashi Trico​ (人喰いの大鷲トリコ, Hitokui no Ōwashi Toriko,? lit. "Trico, the man-eating eagle") and previously referred to by the working title Project Trico, is an upcoming video game developed by Team Ico, to be published exclusively for the PlayStation 3 video game console by Sony Computer Entertainment. The title is being designed and directed by Fumito Ueda, and is expected to share stylistic, thematic, and gameplay elements with his previous titles, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, though it is unknown whether it will be directly related to either. In May 2009, a purported proof of concept trailer became publicly available online, weeks before an updated version was formally revealed at E3 2009. The Last Guardian was originally given a late 2011 release date internationally at the 2010 Tokyo Game Show, but was pushed back to 2012 on April 20, 2011.

Plot

The Last Guardian's story follows that of a yet-to-be-named boy that is trying to escape from a setting resembling the ruins of a large expansive castle. The game will revolve around the developing friendship between the boy and a giant, feathered creature resembling a griffin named Trico (トリコ, Toriko?). The name of the creature can be taken to mean "prisoner" (虜, toriko?), "baby bird" (鳥の子, tori no ko?), or a portmanteau of "bird" (鳥, tori?) and "cat" (猫, neko?). Trico has spears and arrows stuck in its back, and is initially bound to a chain. Later, it is freed and is shown attacking an armored soldier. Screenshots, as well as the E3 trailer, show the boy attempting to sneak past and attack other soldiers. Trico will initially be hostile to the boy, but during the course of the game, the two will develop an emotional attachment to each other. Ueda suggested there may be similar creatures like Trico in the game, but could not confirm this.

Some speculated, based on the tone of the 2009 E3 trailer and of Team Ico's past games, that The Last Guardian will end sadly; the webcomic "Penny Arcade" postulated that the ending of the game would involve the death of either the boy or Trico. In response to these theories, creator Fumito Ueda addressed them by stating that the story is "open-ended, and for you guys to figure out".

Gameplay

The Last Guardian is a third-person perspective game that combines action-adventure and puzzle elements. The player controls the unarmed boy who can run, jump, climb, and perform other actions similar to the gameplay in Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. The player may also need to use the environment to silently move around or defeat shadow-being guards, though initially the boy is weaponless. The guards, though slow-moving, can capture the boy, and if the player is unable to free the character in time, the game will be over.

The player's movements are augmented by interaction with Trico which the boy can climb upon and ride. As stated by Ueda, Trico is driven by animal instincts, and it is up to the player to guide the creature, "taking advantage of his natural behavior", in order to complete puzzles. For example, the player may have the boy throw a barrel that gains Trico's interest, causing it to move to a specific location. The player may also need to find the way for Trico to sit still in order to allow the player to complete a section, while the natural tendency of the creature is to run ahead of the player. Unlike typical sidekicks in video games, which immediately react to a player's command, Trico will be difficult for the player to control, and may take several attempts to coerce the creature into performing a specific action. The player will also have to care for the creature, either by feeding it or removing spears and arrows that are stuck in its body. Through the course of the game, the player will gain better command of the creature, an aspect Ueda considered equivalent to training a pet; initially in the game, the creature may wander off to explore something that interests it more than the boy, refuse to eat food it thinks smells bad, or simply go to sleep when it wants to. By performing certain tasks, the player will be able to come to control Trico better, and Ueda believes that "each player will have a different Trico to work with depending on how he or she chooses to interact with him". However, the player may still want to take advantage of the creature's natural habits; the game includes sections where by letting Trico roam free, new areas for exploration may open up.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Guardian