Team Ico’s upcoming PlayStation exclusive action-adventure, The Last Guardian will launch later this year, game director Fumito Ueda reconfirmed.
The latest issue of Edge Magazine features new gameplay details and release date confirmation from Ueda.
In the Q&A, Fumito Ueda says, “Since this is the year we will see the game’s release, I do have some worries, but I’m also very excited.”
The magazine preview details new gameplay mechanic, in which the human boy character wields a mirrored shield. Edge writes, “Holding circle ‘illuminates’ the device, shining what is ostensibly an ornate crosshair onto any surface it’s aimed at… [Trico] can fire a devastating beam of red lightning from its tail, and will direct this power wherever we point the mirrored shield.”
Team Ico showed off a demo to Edge, which is from an early portion of the game, this attack was used for environmental puzzles – “one involving the destruction of a rock face, the other the disintegration of a wooden wall.”
The star of the game, “Trico”, is “one of the most striking video game presences in recent years,” it is a “free-spirited creature that flagrantly disregards your attempts to tame it,” which prompted Ueda to question whether this may or may not annoy players.
“It would be a lie to stay that I have no worries, but another game where you can completely control a creature wouldn’t be enjoyable for me because there are a lot out there where you can do that. I think I’ve had enough of them,” said Ueda.
As the game progresses, the Trico and the boy’s relationship strengthens and the Trico becomes more responsive to his requests.
Trico has a special feature, his eyes change color based on its mood, for example: “pink tinge denotes wariness and anger.”
The creature is powerful, but timid and nervous in its nature. “One area a little later in the demo sees us emerge high up from the wall of a huge cave that holds an underground lake.
We immediately take the opportunity to leap into the clear water below, diving underneath the surface and exploring the muffled underwater world for a time.
On resurfacing, we find Trico timidly pawing at the edge of the drop, refusing to jump. It is, after all, part cat.”
“This creature isn’t like the cute pets that exist in other games, or an ally that’s really useful. The role of the creature is ambiguous; that’s something we wanted to express in the game, and it doesn’t always do what you ask it to do.
That’s one of the themes of The Last Guardian. It’s something that’s difficult, and completely different. I want to create the next thing – an experience that people have never had before.
“The amount of code is very large compared to AI in conventional games. We’ve given this creature its own desires, so depending on what action it wants to take, that affects everything, including its animation. It’s not like a normal humanoid character,” he concluded.
The Last Guardian has been in development since 2007, it will finally release sometime this year for PlayStation 4.
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Source: EDGE (via IBTimes)