The Last Guardian game. The Last Guardian is a feathered friend. Review. Find the mirror and get out of the cave

The phrase “they wait three years for what was promised” is certainly not about The Last Guardian. The game was in development for nine years. This period is longer than many long-term construction projects that were in the stage of active creation, and not in the form of a concept on paper. Until recently, I couldn’t believe that the adventure game would appear, and it’s not just a series of constant postponements. It just doesn’t fit into the company of modern projects at all.

This is a nun in a nightclub, a jeeper at a drag racing rally, a pacifist at war - the game is so different from everything else that is coming out now. Where, tell me, are the evil aliens? Okay, since they are not there, maybe there is parkour? And they didn’t deliver him. Well, will there at least be bad Russians and brave American warriors? Also no. What kind of game is this anyway?

The Last Guardian is an action-adventure game with rather boring gameplay, but the main thing here is completely different. The Japanese have created a story that you have to watch from the outside and at times take part in. It is not very clear, especially in the first half of the passage, but it is better to take many things for granted and not look for the correct interpretation - everyone can have their own understanding of events.

The game begins without introduction. The boy comes to his senses in the midst of ruins overgrown with greenery. He discovers strange designs on himself that look like tattoos. Sitting nearby on a chain is a large Triku beast - about the size of an elephant. All in all, it was a very fun Friday night.

The monster resembles a mixture of a cat, a dog and a griffin: the paws are like those of a bird, there are wings on the back, the body is covered with feathers, the muzzle is more like a cat, and the habits are closer to those of a dog. The boy frees Trika, and the heroes begin a long journey. They need to get out of the huge castle, but nothing will happen without each other's help. Or rather, the creature could well flap its wings and simply fly away, but, firstly, it is not in the best shape after being wounded, and secondly, it owes its salvation to the boy.

The gameplay is based on the interaction of heroes. The child deftly climbs over the animal, jumps from it to ledges, and holds on to Trika while he flies from one cliff to another. Most of the puzzles involve the help of an animal: either it must stand with its front paws on a high edge, then pull some kind of chain, or lift the boy up. And this is where the problems begin.

How it gets to the giraffe is putting it mildly. Sometimes Triku is simply unbreakable. Communication problems appear quite quickly, but at first they can be attributed to an element of history. Allegedly, the animal must get used to the companion and only then begin to obey him. Indeed, the heroes gradually gain each other's trust. Throw a barrel of food - until you move away, the creature will not eat. They pulled the arrow out of its paw, and the beast already allowed itself to be stroked.

But as it progresses, the animal remains just as capricious and disobedient. About three meters above our heads there is a passage where we need to get. There is a ledge nearby that, in theory, Trick should jump onto while we are hanging on it. Hold down the R1 button and select a direction with the stick. The boy holds out his hand and says something to the creature - this is where it needs to go. Triku carefully looks forward, then at the hero - it seems that he will nod in agreement. No such luck: the animal yawns widely, scratches behind the ear and plops down into the pool. And so time after time. Sometimes it takes literally ten to fifteen minutes to get the animal to stand at a certain point.

At first it’s even touching: a big beast, but it behaves exactly like a lazy pet. However, over time, you only begin to get angry - you buzzed Triku all your ears, stroked him, fed him, but he does not do what you want from him. In this regard, by the way, the developers have come up with an ironclad justification: artificial intelligence is supposedly very advanced, and therefore the creature’s behavior is unpredictable - just like a real dog or cat.

The situation is especially bad because almost the entire passage requires the participation of an animal. The most annoying thing: when he finally achieved what he wanted, Triku climbed onto some ledge, but you yourself don’t have time to jump on the creature, and it returns to the ground. And then you have to persuade him again to take the action. The naughty companion is the only significant drawback of The Last Guardian.

The gameplay doesn't offer much variety. They pulled the lever, climbed onto a high ledge, and solved a simple puzzle. Sometimes there are guards against whom the boy is helpless. But the animal bites its opponents once or twice. You just need to run around enemies and lure them closer to Trick.

There are no particular difficulties in passing - almost always within a couple of minutes it becomes clear where to go. The problem is that when, after a couple of commands, Triku continues to stare at you indifferently, doubts creep in about the right path. If the animal does not react, it means that the solution to the problem is different. You start looking for a second option, study every centimeter of the location, then turn around - and the creature itself jumped into the place where you immediately wanted to drag it. At times it is impossible to know who is stuck: the player because he cannot find a solution, or Triku because he does not follow the command.

The Last Guardian has an unusual visual style. The boy seems to have been drawn by hand; his model lacks serious detail. At the same time, you can see every hair on Triku. The locations are magnificent: open areas are full of lush greenery, everything around is alive. Indoor spaces are also beautiful: different lighting, dark rooms give way to spacious, bright halls - don’t get too caught up.

The places themselves look natural: the wind crushes the plants, bright butterflies flutter around the hero, some kind of pollen is in the air. Triku is absolutely incomparable - you never doubt his naturalness. The animal carefully sniffs the stone walls, sticks its head into each arch and sometimes funny gets stuck there, itches (at this time feathers fly in all directions), shakes itself off, swings on its back, and can catch a barrel of food on the fly. When a creature is wounded, it is really clear that it is in pain: it whines, twitches, turns its head in search of help - it will definitely hurt the hearts of animal rights activists, and everyone else too.

Game development is a very labor-intensive process that requires a lot of time, effort and money. Yes, some studios put certain series on stream, releasing them with such frequency that even loyal fans stop catching the thread of what is happening. But there are also developers who prefer to release their projects less often, devoting more time and attention to polishing their creation. Take, for example, the Grand Theft Auto series and its: in less than a week, it recouped the amount spent on its development several times over, instantly became a hit and has not yet lost its popularity. Or the Assassins Creed series: coming out almost every year, it slowly but surely deflated, reaching such a state that even Ubisoft decided to give the series a little rest and turned off the conveyor - although in 2017 we will still be shown a film about the adventures of killers who love to dive into hay.

And there are also projects that have repeatedly made even the most loyal fans doubt that they would see the light of day. , most likely only the grandchildren of your great-grandchildren will find it. A similar situation was with, whose path to the shelves of real and digital stores was long and thorny. Let's say right away: the wait was worth it, although not everything is going smoothly with the game.

is a touching and kind story about a little tattooed boy and a giant creature that simultaneously looks like a mixture of a cat and a horned parrot. The duo will have to work together and help each other in order to survive and get out of the mysterious ruins of a long-vanished civilization, full of traps, dangers, puzzles and merciless enemies.

From the very beginning, the game takes on a very measured pace: the boy comes to his senses with a severe headache. Nearby lies Trico (a feathered creature), chained to the ground and wounded. It doesn’t, and won’t, give any hints about what this place is or what to do next. Although this is not necessary, because artists and designers were able, without unnecessary words and marker arrows, to create a world that itself guides the heroes, directing them in the right direction.

It is noteworthy that the game equally distributes responsibilities between the heroes, forcing the boy to carry barrels of food for Trico (the cattle are sometimes just too lazy to move on until they eat them), pull levers and open passages. Trico himself (most?) is left to gallop high along columns and rocky ledges with the boy on his back, hit enemies on the heads with his clawed paws, shoot lightning from his tail, destroying doors and incinerating enemies, and also howl and moan loudly. There is no feeling that anyone here is ordinary and unnecessary ballast, which could be easily done without.

Most of the puzzles in the game are extremely simple and you will have almost no difficulties with them, but this does not mean that it will not force you to think twice. As a rule, when faced with another obstacle in his path, the boy gives an appreciative comment regarding the current situation, which will not necessarily reveal the right solution, but instead will elegantly push him towards it, making it look as if you had come to it yourself. It’s nice that the developers don’t treat players as weak-minded (as the authors of many other AAA projects do) and don’t post hints and red flags at every turn. But, alas, it was not without difficulties.

At a certain point, the heroes will become so close to each other that the boy will learn to give various commands to Trico, forcing him to jump and help him climb into hard-to-reach places with a snap of his fingers. But all the fun of controlling a giant beast instantly disappears when problems with artificial intelligence surface. Very often, Trico will simply ignore commands or carry them out with a huge delay.

So, there was an episode in the game during which you had to make the monster dive under water. We in the editorial office tried in vain for about 10 minutes to convince Trico to take a dip, and the little creature only howled and moaned in response. But when we gave up and got off Trico to look around, the monster dived and swam away, forcing us to load the previous save, since it was not even going to return...

Visually, the game is simply stunning. Every pebble, the tiniest crack and the smallest pattern on the time-cracked walls are made with reverent love and attention to the smallest details. The whole world consists of many little things that you don’t attach much importance to (it’s easy to walk past a rust-eaten trolley or run across a creaking bridge), but together they create an amazing and captivating atmosphere and try to tell the story of a civilization that has sunk into oblivion, which had access to amazing technology of its time - and even something like magic.

The whole action takes place in some unimaginable citadel, surrounded on all sides by impregnable rocks. They won’t tell us in plain text who built it and why, what exactly happened to its inhabitants and why the only people the heroes encounter are the silent and empty armor trying to kill Trico and grab the boy. The player needs to figure everything out for himself.

Technically the game is simply great. The characters are perfectly animated and behave as if they were alive: just look at the episodes when the boy climbs onto Trico, and then they jump over various gorges together. The feathers on Trico's carcass flutter in the wind and can fall off during fights with living armor and even from sudden movements, and the boy behaves exactly like a boy - he is a little clumsy and runs very funny on the stairs.

It’s only a pity that over the many years of work on, in Team ICO failed to properly optimize their game. It runs at 29-30 frames per second, but only until special effects and enemies begin to appear in the scenes, which quickly reduce these values ​​​​to 20, and sometimes 15 frames. On PS4 Pro everything is a little more stable, and the diagonals can be stretched to 4K.

Without a doubt, The Last Guardian is Team ICO's greatest work and one of the best games on PS4. The world is magnificent, and the touching story of a strong friendship between a little boy and a huge beast is captivating. It's just a pity that numerous technical errors prevent you from enjoying the game to the fullest.

is a new adventure game from Fumito Ueda, developed by Team Ico (developers of Shadow of The Colossus and ICO). The game tells a heart-warming story about a little boy and a strange feathered creature named Toriko. Having united as a team, they are looking for a way out of a huge, dilapidated castle, which continues to collapse.

The gameplay of the game is based on the interaction of heroes. The boy can climb into hard-to-reach places and solve all sorts of puzzles by interacting with the world around him, and Toriko must use brute physical strength to deal with opponents and save the boy in difficult moments.

Reviews and reviews of the game “The Last Guardian”

Strategy

The Last Guardian is a game of emotions that takes the player into his childhood dreams and dreams. Who hasn’t dreamed of going on a real fairytale journey with their pets? This game brings such a dream to life in the virtual world, offering us an adventure that is sincere and full of feelings, joy and pain. Almost without words, but with a lot of gestures that say much more than words. Yes, the project is terribly clumsy...

Playpress

The Last Guardian is a sweet and dramatic story about a completely unusual friendship between two completely different creatures. But these differences are what make this story work. You feel joy and concern for this couple equally sincerely. Perhaps it was “carrying out” the concept of these relationships that became the most difficult task for the developers, which put spokes in the wheels.

GameMAG

The Last Guardian is one of the kindest and most beautiful games we've ever seen and one of the best adventures of this year. The combination of stunning animation, detail, environments and story with deep emotion creates a fantastic immersive experience. The story of a boy and a huge beast makes you believe in what is happening on the screen and finding yourself somewhere in the middle of an abandoned castle will leave a mark on your heart.

GameGuru

It’s just a pity that over the many years of working on The Last Guardian, Team ICO was unable to properly optimize their game. It runs at 29-30 frames per second, but only until special effects and enemies begin to appear in the scenes, which quickly reduce these values ​​​​to 20, and sometimes 15 frames. On PS4 Pro everything is a little more stable, and the diagonals can be stretched to 4K. Without a doubt, The Last Guardian is Team ICO's greatest work and one of the best games on PS4.

SIMHOST

The Last Guardian is a completely linear game that doesn't tell you how to move forward. Those. There is a way, and there is only one, but try to find it! In addition, the world is very contradictory - you can interact with some objects, but not with others. You can spend a lot of time trying to get to a seemingly necessary item and solve a problem, only to eventually find out that it is nothing. And those tips that are usually given are already very obvious, and therefore useless.

gambling addiction

The Last Guardian is a unique game. It's not about a long wait or a twisted plot with an open ending. It's about the smile that appears on your face while playing with a beast that is menacing on the outside, but infinitely kind on the inside. She's... in your heart, if you like.
A fascinating journey through a wonderful world. Fans of Shadow of Colossus and ICO should definitely check it out.

3DNews

The Last Guardian is a worthy successor to ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. Like Ueda's previous games, this one is not suitable for everyone - fans of modern projects with thousands of tips should be especially careful - but this does not change the fact that the Japanese game designer managed to create an amazing adventure telling about the friendship of man and wild animal. And this person is you. You are taming an animal...

Catonauts

Before us is an example of Japanese courage, when SIE Japan Studio released an outdated, but long-awaited game, in the form in which it might have been expected in 2010, but was only received now. For all those who waited, for all those who every year asked “Well, how is The Last Guardian?” Here it is, exactly the same as it was promised, and it’s a little strange to expect a super blockbuster from it after all the twists and turns.

Kanobu

Sometimes in The Last Guardian the same game that has lived in the minds of fans of Ueda’s work all these years still awakens. When you and Trico first step out into the fresh air, you see all this lush foliage and sun-drenched valley. When, sitting on the back of a giant beast, you jump from one tower reaching into the sky to another. When you first encounter enemies and hear mysterious music, for some reason reminiscent of themes from the Soviet cartoon “The Golden Antelope”.

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The Last Guardian is not at all the game that Team Ico fans have been waiting for for several years. It has moments of unearthly beauty and aspirations for something great. The idea itself sounds very cool, but the implementation of this idea is not just unsuccessful, but a failure. Perhaps The Last Guardian really should have been cancelled, as Sony was rumored to have done at one point. Then she would forever remain an ephemeral memory of something unfulfilled, but wonderful.

IGN Russia

Anyone who played Heavy Rain probably remembers the scene where Ethan Mars was crawling inside a long pipe strewn with broken glass. This is roughly how you feel when playing The Last Guardian - as if you are crawling on your hands and knees over fragments, it’s dark all around, and the pipe just won’t end. There is no doubt: Team Ico has created an authentic image of the animal, for which they can be praised. It was possible to build an emotional connection between the beast and the player.

The game tells us primarily about trust and affection. At first, Triku treats the boy with hostility and distrust. He can even hit him with his paw and knock him out for a while if he doesn't like something. Well, what did you want? This is a terrible cannibal beast. In Japan, by the way, the game is not called The Last Guardian at all, but “Triku, the Man-Eating Eagle” (人喰いの大鷲トリコ), so that players immediately understand what kind of creature we are talking about. Over time, as Triku and the boy get to know each other better, help each other out of many dangerous situations and work together to overcome numerous obstacles, their friendship grows stronger. The animal even begins to whine quietly if the boy leaves him alone for a long time. He protects his new friend from magical warriors who constantly attack them. In fact, these are not exactly warriors, but simply empty armor, driven by some invisible energy. If such armor grabs a boy, it will try to carry him into the nearest magical portal, after which the game will end (something similar happened with Yorda in the ICO game). The player must quickly press the gamepad buttons to wriggle out of the warrior's grasp and escape from him. Triku tramples this armor with his paws and tears it to shreds with his huge beak. The opponents, however, do not remain indifferent and throw spears at the beast. After each such battle, the boy has to pull out spears and arrows from the back of the beast, and also calm the wounded and agitated Trika for some time, scratching him behind the ear or stroking his neck.

Over time, the trust and affection of the heroes moves to a fundamentally new level. Triku begins to listen to the commands that the boy gives him at one time or another. It is enough to hold down the R1 button on the gamepad and indicate the direction, after which the animal will go in that direction. Gradually you will teach him to jump in the right direction, dive, attack opponents and much, much more. The game is designed in such a way that one gets the impression that Triku is really a real living creature. He may not immediately understand what you are trying to tell him, in which case you will have to teach him by repeatedly repeating the same command, or he may simply become capricious and refuse to fulfill your request. All this fits incredibly harmoniously into the gameplay, although it may frustrate those people who are accustomed to responsive controls in video games. But we are not talking about management here. We are talking about an almost real living creature, and it is simply amazing. If all modern artificial intelligence were equipped with such a charming interface, maybe people would finally stop being afraid of Skynet?

The pronunciation of the beast's name Trico has three options. In Japanese it is called Toriko (the Japanese simply do not have a separate “t” sound, but they have the syllable “to”). In the American version it is simply called Trico. And in the Russian version of the game, the localizers preferred to get rid of inappropriate associations with a tracksuit and called it Triku. Personally, the Japanese version is closest to me, since it is a combination of two words “TORI” (“bird” - Japanese) and “neKO” (“cat” - Japanese). After all, it is these two animals that most accurately describe Triku’s appearance. Triku is a kind of chimera, combining fragments of several different animals. As a result, we have a mixture of a bird (feathers, paws, wings, beak) and a cat (ears, tail, habits, movements) interspersed with some elements of dog behavior (the way Triku jumps for joy). Triku vaguely resembles griffins, but looks much cuter than these mythical creatures. However, he also has something in common with supernatural creatures. For example, horns glowing with blue light, illuminating especially dark rooms, as well as a tail, from which the animal can shoot lightning. At some point in the game, the boy will find a magical mirror shield that focuses light, with which you can order Trick to shoot at an obstacle in the way or at an enemy.

Triku's simply fantastic procedural animation deserves a special mention. Its movements are not prescribed in advance, but are programmed with a huge number of rules, which allows the creature to move as naturally as possible, depending on the current situation. I have to admit that Toriko’s animation is generally the best animation existing in the gaming industry today. For example, I live at home with “knitwear” (that’s what I jokingly call my three cats), so it was especially surprising to see how accurately the developers transferred the cat’s movements and habits into the virtual world. Before each of his jumps, Triku calculates the trajectory, groups himself, slightly warms up the muscles of the pelvis and hind legs (as cats usually do, wagging the back of their body) and only then jumps. If there is a water obstacle ahead, Triku, like any self-respecting cat, does not agree for a long time to plop into the water and wet his feathers. It’s especially touching to see how an animal tries to squeeze into some particularly narrow hole: it sticks its muzzle there, and then little by little moves forward along the tunnel behind the boy - it all looks so realistic that you unconditionally believe that what’s in front of you you are not a virtual character at all, but a real living being.

Game locations are also an important component of the story being told to us. The deserted ancient ruins in which the boy finds himself at the very beginning of the game are fraught with many secrets. Who built such monumental structures? Who controls the magical armor? Who put Trika in chains and left him to die? The player will have to find answers to these and many other questions on his own. The architecture of giant towers, spiral staircases, majestic bridges, long tunnels and high arches is well known to fans of Fumito Ueda's games. Considering that the ruins are surrounded by a giant impregnable wall, the main characters have no choice but to try to climb the tallest tower located in the center of the valley. Triku's wings are too weak after being wounded, so he is not yet able to fly. That is why the journey to the mysterious snow-white tower becomes the main goal of the two friends. I am very pleased with the high destructibility of the surrounding world. Stone tiles burst under Triku's paws, and old rotten wooden walkways crumble like a house of cards under the weight of a giant beast.

Let me say right away: The Last Guardian is a game exclusively for adults. It includes some pretty brutal scenes that I wouldn't show to children. But these scenes are simply necessary in order to make the player believe in what is happening on the screen. I think that Fumito Ueda used violence not for the sake of violence, but in order to increase the emotional involvement of the player, to make him truly empathize with Trick and the boy, to believe that the pain and suffering he sees on the screen is not just part of a video game , but something more. And I must say, the developers have once again managed to achieve the almost impossible. You truly dissolve in this fantastic world. During my playthrough of the game, I often found myself talking to the TV, referring to Trick. I had never noticed this before. This is a revolution in the field of creating virtual characters with whom you fall in love once and for all. And the touching ending of the game will squeeze out a stingy male tear from even the most callous player. Take my word for it.

The game will delight you with a variety of puzzles, when each new location poses a task for the player: to find a way out of it. And if sometimes to solve a problem you just need to climb onto Trick’s back and trust his instincts while the animal is looking for an opportunity to jump over an obstacle, then at some moments you will have to actively use your gray matter. From time to time you will need to find a hidden lever that opens a gate, and sometimes you will need to overcome a chasm by jumping and climbing over the chains and remains of a bridge hanging over it. Problems in which the tail of an animal can be used as a rope ladder look very interesting, simply by lowering it where you need it. At one point in the game, I spent a good twenty minutes trying to climb up a ledge while swimming around in the water until I realized I needed to tell Trick to jump into the water. The massive body of the beast created such a wave that I was simply thrown onto this very ledge. Surprisingly elegant puzzles, perfectly woven into the gameplay, decorate the game and make it even more original. Sometimes you still get lost, not understanding where to move next. But the developers have placed numerous tips throughout the game that allow the player to navigate and understand in which direction to think now. Sometimes even Triku himself points out the most obvious solution to the problem. From time to time, on your way you will come across stained glass windows in the shape of eyes, of which Triku is terrified and immediately begins to hiss at them. You have no choice but to try to break these stained glass windows with stones or throw them into the abyss so that they do not interfere with your further movement.

Visually the game looks simply great. No, the graphics are not without flaws. For example, some low-resolution textures migrated here from the original PS3 version. But this does not in any way affect the magnificence that you will see as you progress through The Last Guardian. What is most striking is the range of drawing, the detailing of huge architectural structures, especially when they are destroyed right before your eyes INTO INDIVIDUAL BRICKS, the vibrant wildlife with lizards running everywhere (hello, Shadow of the Colossus!) and fluttering colorful butterflies, as well as unrealistically cool lighting. I played the game on a regular PlayStation 4 console and a TV without HDR support, so I couldn’t enjoy all the beauty of the picture. But those who were lucky enough to see all this splendor in HDR and 4K simply cannot contain their emotions. Triku himself is drawn in such detail that you are simply amazed. Each individual feather on its body behaves according to all the laws of physics: the plumage moves in the wind, gets wet and sticks together in the water, feathers fly to the sides if the animal decides to scratch itself. I have never seen such a detailed virtual character model before. After it, any other 3D models of heroes from other games look like just soulless, uncouth dummies. Triku is simply a triumph of artists and animators.

I would consider the extremely inconsistent camera to be a serious shortcoming of the game. Sometimes she takes such a bad position that you simply can’t see anything. Sometimes it gets to the point of absurdity: the camera plunges into a wall or other object, and you watch a completely black screen until you correct its position. But these are all technical issues that have little effect on other aspects of the great game. I also noticed tiny drops in framerate from time to time, but this had virtually no effect on my experience of the gameplay, since the drop in frame rate most often occurred during cutscenes in which the player was unable to influence anything. In The Last Guardian, by the way, there is no interface. No, there are game menus and settings, but during the passage you don’t see anything superfluous on the screen at all: no life scale for the main character, no mini-map, nothing at all. Except that from time to time, hints appear as to which gamepad button is responsible for what, so that the player does not get confused. Besides this, nothing will distract you from immersing yourself in the atmosphere of the fantastic world created by the genius of Fumito Ueda.

Pros:

• A story about friendship and affection, told primarily through gameplay.
• A huge fantasy world full of mysteries and unexpected revelations.
• Impressive graphics of the game and high-quality lighting.
• The most alive and believable character ever to exist in a game.
• Incredible emotional connection between the charming player Triku.
• An advanced physics engine that calculates every feather and brick.
• Unusual artificial intelligence, which must be trained by the player himself.
• Lots of interesting puzzles based on the interaction of the main characters.
• The lack of an interface allows you to better immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the game.
• The kindest, most sincere, touching game of this year, which will not leave anyone indifferent.

Minuses:

• The game camera sometimes behaves simply disgusting.
• Frame rate drops are observed from time to time.

The Last Guardian was definitely worth the years of waiting. This game is a real work of art, and Fumito Ueda once again made a small revolution in the gaming industry, setting an unattainable bar in the field of creating realistic virtual characters. You become truly attached to Trick, he becomes the friend you are willing to trust with your life. You miss this beast and worry about it if something separates you for a long time during the game. You won’t find such emotional involvement anywhere else today. This game is a must-buy for all PlayStation 4 owners without exception, and, without a doubt, it will take pride of place not only on your shelves, but also in your hearts. I am ready to close my eyes to any shortcomings of The Last Guardian simply because such masterpieces are no longer made today. And they are unlikely to do anything similar in the future. This is such a unique product that its very existence causes sincere surprise. I give the game an unconditional rating 10 points out of 10 and immediately classify it as an immortal classic. I doubt that in the coming years we will see something more emotional and heartfelt.

Having released the magnificent Shadow of the Colossus, team ICO took on a new adventure. Who would have thought that the game, which for many fans became the reason for purchasing PS3, will never appear on the new console from Sony, and will be released only 10 years later already on PlayStation 4.

From the very first minutes it makes it clear that this is exactly the project that everyone has been waiting for for so long. A giant castle, a little boy and a huge unknown creature - everything speaks of the heir to the cult adventures from Fumito Ueda. The developers, in their usual manner, present the story in small portions, introducing the characters and showing the development of the relationship between the boy and the beast through gameplay, rather than cut scenes.

Game designers masterfully reshuffle past concepts and create something new based on them. Unlike Yorda, Triku(this is the name of the amazing beast) is not a helpless companion. He is an active participant in the events taking place - with his own character and capabilities. At the very beginning, the half-dead monster, which simultaneously resembles a dog, a cat and a bird, does not trust the boy and is quite aggressive. Only gradually, through care and affection, will you earn a little trust to begin a joint and very dangerous adventure.

Using switches, dragging objects and luring the bird with new portions of magical food, you solve spatial puzzles and slowly move through the vast expanses of an abandoned castle. Sometimes you need to hang the bait on a chain - in this case, Triku, in an attempt to tear off the prey, will pull on it and thus open a huge gate. In other cases, when luring the animal to the desired location, you use it as a platform, climbing up the detailed plumage. At one point I was struck by a physics puzzle where you have to make Trika jump into the water, which creates a huge wave that throws the boy up, allowing him to reach a previously unreachable ledge.

The size of the castle is truly monumental. A complex system of towers, bridges and fortresses is located in the middle of inaccessible rocks. Sitting on a beam near the clouds and watching birds flying nearby, you notice somewhere in the distance places that you visited many hours ago. Nature in this abandoned place has long since begun to take its toll, so thick grass and trees grow right through the stone, filling the gaps between the dilapidated slabs. Ivy picturesquely covers the walls and, together with the trees, reacts effectively to the wind. Coupled with absolutely divine sunlight, all this creates a truly unforgettable atmosphere.

But this legacy of a lost civilization, beautiful in every sense, still remains a prison for the main characters. The only way to get out is by air. Since the wings Triku have not fully healed, then you will have to look for a way to climb the central tower, which proudly rises above the entire valley. This will be the main goal of your journey to freedom.

The detailed environment is interactive. The boy can not only grab the edges of objects, rise and swing chains, as well as drag and throw various objects, but also receives an ancient artifact, a magic mirror, with which he projects a green beam onto the environment. This in turn activates the deadly laser and then the energy projectiles in the tail. Triku, which burn through everything in their path, including opponents and obstacles, opening up new sections of the world. And although in the story you will visit old areas, gaining access to previously unexplored territories, the exploration of the valley occurs in a strictly linear sequence.