I finally played the Ueda trilogy!

Hey everyone!

Over this last December and the beginning of this year and managed to finish Shadow of the Colossus, The Last Guardian and Ico for the first time. I wanted to share my experience with you here, perhaps even motivate some of you to try them out!

I was looking for something to play in December, not having any specific game in mind. I'd just finished playing more than 100 hours of a Jrpg, so I thought a shorter game would be a good call.

I found Shadow of the Colossus in the PS Plus catalogue and then remembered how much I've heard of this game being praised/acclaimed and considered as a classic and an inspiration for games that would come later.

Just to give some context, I didn't have a console at the time it was released. My last videogame was a Ps1. Then in 2020 I got a PS5 and started playing games again, so you can see how I missed it.

Anyway, I gave it a go. I thought the graphics or even the outdated gameplay would affect my perception and enjoyability, but they didn't. It was actually very relaxing to wear my headphones after work and just travel in game hearing the sound of the wind while looking for the next Colossus. That was a really great sensation and actually what made me try the other Ueda games. That relaxing loneliness feeling is just great and something we don't find so often.

The game was nice and I liked most of it, including the minimalistic style of telling the story, but in my list it would be just a good game, not a must play or a classic as people usually say. I guess in the end the fact that I played it in 2025 affected how I perceived it. The game was probably much more unique and disruptive at the time of its release?

Anyway, Shadow of the Colossus was great enough to make me hungry for more and go online to read and understand more about its lore, which is how I learned about The Last Guardian and Ico. I ended up playing both in sequence and they fascinated me in ways I was missing so much in games.

The Last Guardian has already become one of my favourite games and I can't tell how much engaging a found it to be. I was playing at all the opportunities I would have.

All that atmosphere from SotC was there again, but in my opinion enhanced with a much more engaging and compelling gameplay.

I was prepared after reading a bit on the the internet that Trico would be "tricky" to handle I guess that's why it didn't affect my experience in any way. It was really enjoyable and the moment I was struggling with Trico became just funny and part of the charm.

Needless to say the game overall is fantastic. Great story, great soundtrack, great gameplay and my favourite of the 3 games by far.

Jumping to Ico, I initially thought it wouldn't be possible to play it so soon as it's so old and probably not easily available. To my pleasant surprise the game was available for streaming on Ps Plus.

Ico was also such a nice game to play. Similar to TLG in many ways, very engaging and with great puzzles.

Ico is the oldest of the three and the gameplay shows that. In several moment I had to look on the internet to understand what the game was expecting from me.

Yorda was definitely easier to handle that Trico was, but the gameplay itself would sometimes make me feel lost.

Just to sum it up for people who haven't played them yet, as someone who's just played them all, the 3 games are all very "playable" and enjoyable even though they're not new games. That's my opinion.

They all offer a very authentic atmosphere, have a great soundtrack and great puzzles. They are all definitely worth playing.

For some reason and contrary to what I've read on the internet and many reviews, SotC is the one I liked the least. Not bad, but I think the other two are superior games.

I guess that's it. Please feel free to share with me some other similar games here! I'd love to try some others like them.