Games Like Ico
Quick Answer
The closest games to Ico are Shadow of the Colossus, The Last Guardian, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Journey and Rime. Below are 9 picks with the reason for each — what carries over from Ico, and what does not.
What Made Ico Work
Ico is a puzzle game about holding someone's hand. The castle is the puzzle, Yorda is the mechanic, and the game withholds explanation almost entirely. What replaces it is not more puzzles — it is atmosphere, silence and a companion you actually care about.
Ico was made by Team Ico at Sony's Japan Studio, directed by Fumito Ueda, and released on the PlayStation 2 in 2001; an HD version followed on the PS3 in 2011, paired with Shadow of the Colossus. A horned boy leads Yorda, a girl who cannot fight, out of a vast castle by the hand. There is almost no dialogue and no HUD: the castle is the puzzle and keeping Yorda safe is the mechanic, so people who loved it usually want companionship, silence and architecture rather than more combat.
9 Games Like Ico
1.Shadow of the Colossus(2005)
The same team's next game — same silence, same world, boss fights instead of puzzles.
Why it fits: Team Ico, PS2, 2005, remade by Bluepoint Games for the PS4 in 2018. Ueda's next game, set in the same world, swaps the castle's puzzles for sixteen colossi, each one a climbable puzzle of its own.
What is different: Almost no puzzles and no companion to protect — it is sixteen boss fights across an empty land.
Where to play it: PS2 original; remade for PS4 (plays on PS5).
Games like this →2.The Last Guardian(2016)
Team Ico's direct return to the companion mechanic, with an animal that has a mind of its own.
Why it fits: genDESIGN with Japan Studio, PS4, 2016. Ueda's third game returns to the companion idea with Trico, a huge creature that does not always do what you ask, which is the point.
What is different: Trico is huge and slow to respond, so the pacing is much more stop-start than Ico's.
Where to play it: PS4, and it plays on PS5.
More about this game →3.Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons(2013)
Two characters on one controller — the companion is a control scheme, not an escort.
Why it fits: Starbreeze Studios, directed by Josef Fares, 2013 on Xbox 360, then PC and PS3. One controller steers both brothers at once, so cooperation is built into your hands instead of an AI partner.
What is different: Brighter and more varied, with a fairy-tale journey rather than a single castle.
Where to play it: PC, PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One and Switch; remade for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
More about this game →4.Journey(2012)
Wordless companionship with a stranger, and the same restraint.
Why it fits: thatgamecompany, PS3, 2012, later PS4, PC and iOS. No words at all; the companion is a stranger online whom you can only reach by chirping, and the desert tells the story.
What is different: No puzzles to speak of, and the companion is another real player you cannot talk to.
Where to play it: PS3, PS4, PC and iOS.
Games like this →5.Rime(2017)
Openly Ico-inspired: an island, a boy, environmental puzzles, no dialogue.
Why it fits: Tequila Works, 2017, on PS4, Xbox One, PC and Switch. A boy on an island, environmental puzzles and no dialogue: the studio openly named Ico as an influence.
What is different: Brighter and more colourful, and the ending reframes everything in a way Ico never tries to.
Where to play it: PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch.
More about this game →6.Inside(2016)
Silent, bleak, and every puzzle explains the world instead of a tutorial doing it.
Why it fits: Playdead, 2016, on Xbox One and PC, then PS4. A silent side-scroller where every puzzle is also a piece of the world's story, with no tutorial text anywhere.
What is different: 2D, bleak and unsettling; there is no one to protect.
Where to play it: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch and iOS.
More about this game →7.Papo & Yo(2012)
A companion who is also the obstacle, in a game about something harder than it looks.
Why it fits: Minority Media, PS3, 2012, PC in 2013. The companion, a monster called Monster, is also the obstacle, and the game is about something harder than it first looks.
What is different: Brightly coloured favela setting and a story about addiction; rough in places.
Where to play it: PS3 and PC.
More about this game →8.Portal(2007)
For the sparse, confident puzzle design and the trust it puts in the player.
Why it fits: Valve, 2007, released in The Orange Box on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. Sparse, confident puzzle rooms that trust you to work out the rules, which is Ico's design ethic in first person.
What is different: First-person, funny and clinical; no companion and no fantasy.
Where to play it: PC, Xbox 360 and PS3; in Portal: Companion Collection on Switch.
More about this game →9.Little Nightmares(2017)
Atmosphere and scale doing the work that dialogue usually does.
Why it fits: Tarsier Studios, published by Bandai Namco, 2017, on PS4, Xbox One and PC. Scale and atmosphere do the storytelling: a tiny figure in a huge, hostile building, with no dialogue.
What is different: Horror, with things chasing you, and far more trial and error.
Where to play it: PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch.
More about this game →
Where to Start
Shadow of the Colossus is the obvious next game and The Last Guardian the closest to Ico's companion idea. If it was the quiet two-person journey that stayed with you, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is the one to play next, in a single sitting.
How We Picked These Games
Every pick had to keep at least one of Ico's two halves: a companion whose presence changes how you play, or a wordless world that explains itself through its spaces. Puzzle games with chatty narrators or games where the companion is only a follower on a leash were left out.
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Games Like Ico Compared
Year is each game's first release anywhere, on the platform in the next column. "Play it now" is where it can be bought or played today.
| Game | Year | First released on | Play it now | Closest to Ico in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shadow of the Colossus | 2005 | PS2 | PS2 original; remade for PS4 (plays on PS5). | Same team, same world, same silence |
| The Last Guardian | 2016 | PS4 | PS4, and it plays on PS5. | A companion with a mind of its own |
| Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons | 2013 | Xbox 360 | PC, PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One and Switch; remade for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. | Cooperation built into your hands |
| Journey | 2012 | PS3 | PS3, PS4, PC and iOS. | Wordless companionship |
| Rime | 2017 | PC, PS4, Xbox One | PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch. | Island puzzles, openly Ico-inspired |
| Inside | 2016 | Xbox One, PC | PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch and iOS. | Every puzzle explains the world |
| Papo & Yo | 2012 | PS3 | PS3 and PC. | The companion is also the obstacle |
| Portal | 2007 | PC, Xbox 360, PS3 | PC, Xbox 360 and PS3; in Portal: Companion Collection on Switch. | Sparse puzzle rooms that trust you |
| Little Nightmares | 2017 | PC, PS4, Xbox One | PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch. | Scale and atmosphere instead of words |
Which One to Play, by What You Liked
If you liked Ico for holding Yorda's hand, try The Last Guardian and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. One is Ueda's return to the companion idea; the other puts both characters on one controller.
If you liked Ico for the castle as one big puzzle, try Rime and Portal. Places you learn by moving through them, with no tutorial text.
If you liked Ico for wordless storytelling, try Inside and Journey. Two games that say everything without dialogue.
If you liked Ico for being small somewhere hostile, try Little Nightmares. A tiny figure in a huge building that wants to hurt you.
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