{"id":44813,"date":"2025-02-26T13:24:44","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T04:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=44813"},"modified":"2025-02-26T13:24:46","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T04:24:46","slug":"nier-automata-creator-yoko-taro-talks-about-icos-epoch-making-impact-on-video-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nier-automata-creator-yoko-taro-talks-about-icos-epoch-making-impact-on-video-games\/","title":{"rendered":"NieR: Automata creator Yoko Taro talks about ICO\u2019s \u201cepoch-making\u201d impact on video games\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Earlier this month, NieR: Automata and Drakengard creator Yoko Taro participated in a three-way interview with Ender Magnolia director Keisuke Okabe and <a href=\"https:\/\/news.denfaminicogamer.jp\/interview\/250205a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Denfaminicogamer<\/a>. During the discussion, Yoko Taro named some games he considers to have had a major impact on video games as an art form, emphasizing the PS2 classic <strong>ICO<\/strong> in particular.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Published by Sony in 2001, ICO is a 3D action platformer designed and directed by Fumito Ueda. The title quickly achieved cult classic status, captivating players with its minimalistic yet highly immersive design and mostly silent storytelling.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ico HD: Japanese Trailer\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DTweY16e3W0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Yoko Taro\u2019s comments on the game revolve around its central mechanic \u2013 as the protagonist Ico, you are tasked with escaping the castle together with the mysterious girl Yorda. As Yorda can only perform limited actions, Ico has to help her through the castle by lifting her and arranging objects on the field so that she can pass. If ICO strays too far from Yorda, she will be targeted by shadow creatures, and he cannot progress past locked gates without her.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cICO is a game with very strong overarching messaging. Frankly speaking, the mechanic of leading the girl along with you itself has a negative impact on playability,\u201d Yoko Taro comments before adding, \u201cFor example, if ICO were a game in which you carried around a suitcase the size of a girl, it would be an extremely annoying game. But having the player lead the girl was an innovation.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1007\" height=\"573\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1007px) 100vw, 1007px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cbd1b6393c137ade5b92f19861437702-2.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-44818\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cbd1b6393c137ade5b92f19861437702-2.webp 1007w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cbd1b6393c137ade5b92f19861437702-2-380x216.webp 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cbd1b6393c137ade5b92f19861437702-2-768x437.webp 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Yoko Taro explains that this decision in ICO\u2019s design went against mainstream game development theory at the time. \u201cBack then, good game design was defined as design that\u2019s entertaining even if you stripped it down and replaced all the objects on screen with basic cubes. This is where ICO took a step in the opposite direction, conveying meaning through its themes while using gameplay that already existed elsewhere, even including \u2018negative\u2019 gameplay mechanics.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Yoko Taro, ICO appeared at a time when \u201cart and worldbuilding were seen as merely \u2018decorations\u2019 to be overlayed on top of the game system.\u201d However, ICO did the opposite, putting art and atmosphere first. The gameplay was subordinate to art, and used as a means to express the theme and message. \u201cI found it to be very epoch-making,\u201d he comments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"999\" height=\"557\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 999px) 100vw, 999px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/af7fb79b039696f8896143778a63203e-2.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-44819\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/af7fb79b039696f8896143778a63203e-2.webp 999w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/af7fb79b039696f8896143778a63203e-2-380x212.webp 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/af7fb79b039696f8896143778a63203e-2-768x428.webp 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>NieR: Automata\u2019s creator also mentioned two other titles that he believes have had a lasting impact on both game design as a whole and his own work: Toby Fox\u2019s Undertale and Playdead\u2019s LIMBO. He suggests that these titles pushed video games as an art form and encouraged \u201cthe range of what\u2019s expressed in games to expand dramatically.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NieR: Automata and Drakengard creator Yoko Taro talks about titles that have impacted video games as an art form, including ICO and Undertale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":44817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-44813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>NieR: Automata creator Yoko Taro talks about ICO\u2019s \u201cepoch-making\u201d impact on video games\u00a0 - 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