Sony Japan Studio: 28 Best Games They Helped Create

Developed by: Team Ico

Ico marks the first game by the highly regarded studio within Japan Studio: Team Ico.

Newcomer Fumito Ueda (then an unknown developer) made the product that was initially seen as an underselling arty platformer...that then went on to become one of the most influential video games of the last twenty years.

The game takes the formula of ‘young protagonist helps princess’, a familiar trope since Mario jump on his first dinosaur head, but flipped the concept upside down. Almost all default gaming tropes were tossed out: no hub, no power-ups, no weapons (asides from a minor stick), and no discernible dialogue.

With that minimalist approach, quite surprisingly, the game results in creating one of the most haunting and involving bonds in gaming history, and a shining showcase of advanced emotional storytelling in video games.

While it didn't sell well on release, this is a near-masterpiece without argument, and the minimal and emotional aesthetic is felt still in about 90% of all indie games made. While the innovation for in-game storytelling went on to influence triple-A blockbusters.

Basically, this is peak stuff from Japan Studio.