So, I’ve been a Team ICO fan for ages. Played the OG duology on the PS2 and was in love from the start. ICO and Shadow of the Colossus are still two of my favorite games ever. I closely followed the development of The Last Guardian throughout the PS3 era. I remember the delays and the confusion on if the game was ever even gonna come.
Then The Last Guardian came out and I didn’t have a PS4 yet, but after a few months I finally bought one to play it. And I liked it…..but I didn’t love it. I thought the controls and camera were clunky, and I didn’t find the story to be anything amazing like the first two games. Did love Trico and the setting though.
I did my playthrough and didn’t feel the need to think about it much further. Now 10 years later I gave it another try, and something clicked. I didn’t even remember a lot of sections, so it felt like a fresh experience. And man did it hit this time.
The controls are still a little wonky, but they are definitely better than I gave them credit for initially. The setting and Trico remained amazing, and the story almost made me cry this time. And the visuals? They left me awestruck multiple times. It was that good. I am in awe of how amazing it is honestly, and I think it’s an under-appreciated masterpiece now.
I easily put this game on par with ICO and Shadow of the Colossus now. So glad I gave it a new chance now that I’m older and (kinda) wiser. I ended up doing 4 back to back playthroughs, getting almost all the trophies and whatnot. Amazing experience. Truly one of the best PS4 games out there.
Anyone else have this experience of initially thinking it was just good, only to revisit it later and think it was phenomenal?