The Last Guardian
The Last Guardian! In a strange and mystical land, a young boy discovers a mysterious creature with which he forms a deep unbreakable bond. The unlikely pair must rely on each other to journey through towering treacherous ruins filled with unknown dangers. Experience the journey of a life time in this touching, emotional story of companionship and trust. Discover a fantastical beast named Trico who will act as companion and protector, forging bond that drives an emotional and harrowing journey. Through advanced lighting and particle effects, detailed environments, and lifelike character animation, The Last Guardian transports players to a breathtaking world filled with crumbling ruins and mysterious secrets to discover.
The boy awakens in a ruined castle in a deep valley known as the Nest. He discovers an enormous, winged, cat-like creature called a Trico, chained and wounded. Though Trico is hostile, after the boy removes the spears from its body and feeds it, it begins to accept him. The boy unchains Trico and they explore the area, discovering a mirror-like shield that summons lightning like energy from Trico’s tail. The pair make their way through the castle ruins, evading the ghostly soldiers, and Trico’s broken horns and wings slowly regrow.
In a flashback, Trico flies to the boy’s village and steals him from his dormitory. It flies back to the Nest, but is struck by lightning and chained up by the soldiers. In the present, Trico resuscitates the boy after a cave collapse. After fending off an attack from a second, armored creature, Trico and the boy enter a mysterious tower and discover a malevolent force, the “master of the valley,” which manipulates creatures and soldiers. It summons several creatures of the same kind as Trico, which regurgitate stolen children into the tower and savage Trico, tearing off the end of its tail. The boy uses the mirror to summon energy from the severed tail segment and destroy the master of the valley, causing the creatures to plummet from the sky.
Wounded, Trico takes the boy, now near-death, and flies to his village. When the terrified villagers attack him the boy instructs Trico to leave. Years later, the boy, now grown, discovers the shield and raises it to the sky, sending a beam of light to the Nest, where Trico resides.
The Last Guardian Review
Gameplay-wise The Last Guardian functions very much like a medley of the developer’s previous efforts. You, as the boy, can climb Trico much like mounting monsters in Shadow of the Colossus, while the sense of teamwork and non-verbal communication is reminiscent of Ico. As the boy you must climb, crawl and jump around this world, finding levers to pull to open doors and guide both of you through the labyrinth. The 15-year-old formula has had some tweaks, though not as much as you might expect, and this often leads to The Last Guardian’s greatest flaws.
The majority of gameplay relies on communication between the boy and Trico. Neither share a common language, and therefore must gesture towards one another in the hope that the message gets across. It won’t be long before you’re given the ability to direct Trico using all the actions the boy can do – basic stuff like move here, jump up there, push that, but all essential for progression – and sometimes the inability for the giant creature to do what you want will lead to immense frustration.
As the story peeled its layers back, it only hooked me more. It’s a great tale expertly told. It’s not the deepest, but it’s captivating, and its ability to tell so much by saying so little engrossed me even more. It’s just a shame I had to fumble through inconsistent mechanics to see the narrative through.
Yes, The Last Guardian’s controls are incredibly archaic and at times can be entirely broken, but two days after finishing it, the story has stuck with me. Studio Japan has continued to show how it can do so much while saying so little. The environment, characters and everything about the narrative captivated me. In spite of the controls I still thoroughly enjoyed the game overall. The story is a simple one, but powerful nonetheless.
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