IGN The Last Guardian Review
9The Last Guardian[a] is an upcoming video game developed by genDESIGN and SIE Japan Studio, and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. The game is designed and directed by Fumito Ueda, and shares stylistic, thematic, and gameplay elements with his previous games, Ico (2001) and Shadow of the Colossus (2005). In The Last Guardian, the player controls a young boy who befriends a giant half-bird-half-mammal creature, Trico, and the two work together to evade guards that are after them both. The player must manipulate Trico as they would a real animal, such as luring it with food, to use it to reach high platforms or other remote places, while evading enemies.
The Last Guardian has been in development by Team Ico since 2007, and was announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009 with a planned release in 2011 exclusively for the PlayStation 3 console. The game has since suffered from numerous delays, Ueda and other Team Ico members departed Sony, and hardware difficulties forced the game to be transitioned to the PlayStation 4 in 2012. Ueda and his studio genDESIGN, which is composed of several former Team Ico members, remain as creative consultants, with Ueda continuing as director and Sony's internal Japan Studio handling the programming and technical aspects. The Last Guardian was reintroduced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015, and will be released worldwide in December 2016.