Ico on PS2 by Fumito Ueda.

I binged the game over a long weekend whilst suffering from flu, my partner at the time picking it up from Blockbusters based on the box art alone.

The mood of the game, its lighting, the mysterious setting and circumstances, paired with being ill was already quite the experience. But what completely caught me off guard was a simple but rather genius mechanic.

As to not spoil the game (too much), throughout much of Ico, you lead another character around the game by holding their hand. This is implemented as holding down R1.

I can’t explain it but it was an emotional experience when you had to get go of R1. The risks, the worry, and the longing to hold your follower’s hand once more.

Binging the game, you do a lot of hand holding, but you truly feel it in your hand too; that comforting tension of gripping the controller, squeezing R1, and holding a digital hand.

I appreciate it’s not an accessibility friendly mechanic but I still think about how meaningful holding a single button could be in a game.

Ico proved to me that “games” can be art, designers can be auteurs, and that the medium can be more impactful and evocative than absolutely any other.