Game profile
Ico
A horned boy leads a mysterious girl by the hand through an abandoned castle full of puzzles and shadows. The minimalist 2001 masterpiece is considered one of the most influential games about trust and connection.
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What kind of game this is
At its core this is Adventure / Puzzle, set in a fantasy world. Visually it is deliberately stylised rather than photorealistic, and the overall tone stays somewhere between light and heavy. The structure is guided rather than open, so you are moved along instead of dropped into a map. Sessions of an hour or two sit at the sweet spot here.
The difficulty is moderate and fair, demanding attention without punishing you for it. The narrative carries the whole thing, and the mechanics serve it. It is a single player experience from start to finish. It is available on one platform. It sits in the budget bracket.
What stands out
- Emotional hand holding
- Minimalist design
- Castle puzzles
This fits you if
- you want to live through a story, not just play a system
- you enjoy being made to think
- the writing matters more to you than the mechanics
- you play alone and want a complete experience without other people
- you are watching your budget
- you want to actually finish something for once, 7 hours and done
Look elsewhere if
- you skip cutscenes and want to get to the gameplay
- you want something that lasts, this is over after 7 hours
- you specifically want an open world to roam
- you want to play it side by side with someone
How long is Ico?
About 7 hours in total. At two hours per evening that is around 4 evenings, so about a week of casual play.
How the rating ranks
Critics settled on 90 out of 100, which puts it above 87 percent of the 1276 games here and at rank 138 overall. That is a strong score, comfortably above what most releases manage.
For comparison, Adventure averages 83 points across the database, so this one sits 7 points above its own genre. The figure rests on 302 collected ratings.
Released in 2001, which makes it 25 years old. A genuine classic, and worth checking how the version you buy holds up today.
The facts
- Release year
- 2001
- Genres
- Adventure, Puzzle
- Playtime
- approx. 7 hrs.
- Difficulty
- Moderate, fair
- Story weight
- Carries the whole game
- Play with
- Solo
- Setting
- Fantasy
- Visual style
- Stylised
- Price bracket
- Budget
- Platforms
- PlayStation
- Critic rating
- 90 / 100
Direct comparison
| Genres | Release year | Playtime | Critic rating | Price bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ico | 2001 | approx. 7 hrs. | 90 | Budget |
| Grim Fandango Remastered | 2015 | approx. 10 hrs. | 82 | Budget |
| Endacopia | 2026 | approx. 6 hrs. | n/a | Budget |
| Deer & Boy | 2026 | approx. 6 hrs. | n/a | Budget |
If you liked this, try these
- 82/100 Grim Fandango Remastered Shared: Adventure, Puzzle, Fantasy, longer
- n/a Endacopia Shared: Adventure, Puzzle, Fantasy
- n/a Deer & Boy Shared: Adventure, Puzzle, Fantasy
- 90/100 It Takes Two Shared: Adventure, Puzzle, Fantasy, longer
- n/a OneShot Shared: Adventure, Puzzle, Fantasy
- 87/100 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Shared: Adventure, Puzzle, Fantasy, longer