The Last Guardian

This was mostly written before I had the games section. I’m bringing this over from BlueSky with some additional thoughts.

BOMBS25 Update! Today I finished my 3rd Ueda game, The Last Guardian! A game with a dev cycle of 10 years, I think it’s a miracle it even came out. That miracle does not extend it’s control scheme and gameplay. Of these three games, this was my least favorite, and I don’t think that’s a hot take.

I’m still trying to unravel this conundrum of a game. I don’t like being overly negative when doing a post-mortem like this but there was so much here I should love, that I’m having a hard time not being overly analytical on the details that I didn’t like. The first is the presence of the narrator. In Ico and Shadow of the Colossus you are set off on your journey and it’s you and your companion, and you are IN THE MOMENT. Knowing the narrator is older you breaks that loneliness for me, we’re now being told a tale of what happened and it’s really just a fleeting adventure that has gone by. It was also used to hold your hand and give you traditional tool-tips. Luckily the narrator kind of goes away, and they do loop you together in the end so he does not stay a disembodied voice.

The controls were a mess, my boy never dismounted from Trico gracefully even once. The narrator breaks the solitary feel. Trico gives you no feedback when issuing commands! I wish when i pointed at a ledge, yell GO! JUMP! that Trico would react! Maybe they’ll jump, maybe they won’t. Maybe you need to lead them back and forth and try a few times. Who knows! Give me some FEEDBACK. I also found the climbable elements were not properly delineated from set decoration. SOMETIMES you can grab a cornice, but maybe not! I also feel like Trico was just TOO BIG. This castle was built for these things? They hardly fit! Trico’s a big monster with a fat dumper and has no business in that castle. I enjoyed the story for the most part. That ending was TOUGH but beautiful. But there were some parts of that story that felt like they were written at different times or by someone else. It’s a confused game, right down to the art style. Trico is a realistic beast with every feather rendered individually, with real-time blood stain physics and loads of idle animations. And your boy looks like that Jesus painting that was improperly restored.

Almost 24 hours away from the credits on this game and I’m still thinking about it. Something about Ueda’s control schemes, they aren’t normal, they do things differently and your hands remember. It’s a hard thing to forget, and even though I hated asking Trico to jump or hit or move, I miss doing it.

The story is great & I did bond with Trico making the story that much more difficult. Though I had issues, its a game that will stay with me. I think that its worth pushing through for the emotional highs and lows it offers, just beware, if you’re not a dog person, maybe this won’t be your game.

alternate review

Its your classic “boy meets beast, beast eats boy 3 times, boy soothes beast, beast loves boy, boy and beast escape the clutches of a giant robot orb, boy gets returned to his family and the saddest ending you’ve ever seen happens to the beast” love story, bookended by frustrating controls, confusing design and mismatched visuals. 10/10, would cry again.