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Roronaa_chan on 30 September 2016
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Raviel said:
Roronaa_chan said:
The Last Guardian. I know people say there's combat but there really isn't. ICO technically didn't have it either, even in the game's only boss fight the only act of violence you commit happens in the cutscene after it's finished. Of course there's the mandatory scene before going up that's ambiguous as to what exactly happens but that's another discussion

I was reluctant to mention The Last Guardian since it's not out yet but from what I've seen it would fit in ;)
ICO did have fighting though, didn't it? You fought the shadow things? Didn't play the entire game so I can't say for sure :P

ICO is relative..and there'd be much to talk about. You don't hurt or kill anything as a) enemies are an atmospheric threat and do not need to be engaged; b) enemies aren't hurt or killed, they are either driven away ("action" route) or ignored (focus on the puzzle "route") (except the mandatory scene i mentioned where it's ambiguous whether anything/anyone is being killed/destroyed*)**. Enemies can't do more than push you either. For all intents and purposes, the interactions that can occur between the boy and the shadows is harmless for both parties.

 

* IMO they are, which means that it's the only part of the game where you commit violence. But others may view it differently.

**Also, to make matters more complicated, it can be argued that the "action" route is actually less violent. If you drive away the shadows, nothing happens to them, while if you avoid them, they will be killed/destroyed when Yorda activates the special/magical doors***.. Maybe an analogy could be made with stealth games, where in this case fighting the shadows is like sneaking up and using tranquilisers on the enemies while leaving without causing harm, meanwhile avoiding the shadows and not fighting is more in line with sneaking through a base and leaving explosives planted which will be detonated when you successfully leave. I wrote this as a note because some of what I wrote depends on your interpretation of the events, so it shouldn't be up there.

*** Yes, another note.. because it's not 100% clear (nothing in the game is, really..) that they are destroyed**** when this happens.

**** Oh boy, things would get even trickier if we delved into semantics, considering we're talking about non-corporeal entities whose nature is completely unknown to us.

 

Btw, now that I think about it, when taking these things into consideration, ICO is likely less violent than TLG, because I forgot that in TLG the "non-corporeal entities" (if that's what they are, because somehow they can don armor and handle physical objects unlike ICO's shadows; we'll see) can harm Trico (the animal) with physical objects (spears). Even if you don't fight them, you still see occurrances of bodily harm. Poor Trico