The Last Guardian: More Believable Character Writing and Realization in Games
After nine long years since its initial announcement, The Last Guardian finally released last year as the latest vision from Fumito Ueda, director of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. And much like Ueda’s previous games, it proved to be a massive critical success with immense emotional storytelling and thoughtful moment-to-moment gameplay. However, what I find perhaps most impressive about The Last Guardian is the character at the center of it: Trico.
To provide a bit of context, The Last Guardian opens with a young boy waking up in a large cavern with structures he’s never seen before. But what’s more startling is the massive beast he sees injured and chained up before him. Though the beast initially appears somewhat hostile, the boy decides he wants to help it. Freeing the beast from its bonds, the boy decides to call it “Trico,” and the two begin to slowly develop a deep trust and friendship in one another as they work to escape from the mysterious valley they find themselves in.
Now, I have a bit of a confession to make regarding Trico. After a few hours of playing the game for the first time, I finally noticed that I was occasionally talking to Trico like one would do with a real animal, making comments like “Good boy,” when he properly followed my directions and so on. And while I was highly embarrassed in myself when I realized this, it also really impressed me, because I couldn’t think of any other game that had ever elicited that kind of response from me. No game had ever managed to so thoroughly trick my mind into treating one of its characters/creatures like they’re real.
So, what makes Trico so special compared to other creatures in gaming then? Well, it’s a number of details; it’s a culmination of multiple little moments that make him feel alive. For instance, when I’d carry over one of the barrels that Trico loves to eat, he at times wouldn’t eat it outright. He would take a moment to paw at it instead, in that same curious way that cats seem to do sometimes. At one point, I passed by a small pool of water, and I turned around to find Trico rolling around, bathing in it. At other times, I would make my way onto a ledge or platform out of Trico’s reach, and he would stand on his hind legs and begin to whine as he realized he couldn’t follow. As the game goes on, Trico’s trust in the player naturally builds, and he becomes more quick and willing to listen to the player’s orders. These simple little interactions quickly add up and raise the player’s believability that this is a real animal, and it makes the player care about Trico the same way they would for a real pet.
I believe that the saying “the devil is in the details” applies best here. An extreme amount of attention has been given to this character’s design and behavior, and it’s this extra level of care that makes Trico feel real, rather than just another basic AI companion. And I feel that it’s this kind of subtle character detailing that really needs to be further nurtured as games continue to grow and strive for stronger character writing.
Images Courtesy of:
Sony Interactive Entertainment
genDESIGN
Team Ico
SIE Japan Studio
