History VideoGame / TeamIcoSeries

* LivingShadow: In ''ICO'', they're your enemies, [[spoiler:born from the souls of the sacrificed boys in the castle]]. In ''Shadow of the Colossus'', [[spoiler:they're spirits of each slain Colossus]], but all they do is stare before you wake up. In ''TheLastGuardian'', the living armors are filled with shadowy essence in a vaguely humanoid form.

* AnachronismStew: The Castle in ''ICO'' and The Nest in ''The Last Guardian'' both contain Victorian-era technology such as railway lines, mine carts, and even elevators, technology that is quite a bit more advanced than what one would expect from such seemingly ancient ruins (especially in the case of ''The Last Guardian''), and significantly more advanced than the medieval-esque civilisation that both the main characters from those games originate from.

* ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'' (2005 , UsefulNotes/PlayStation2): A young man goes on a journey with his trusty horse to revive a girl. He must slay a series of giants called Colossi to do so.
* ''VideoGame/TheLastGuardian'' (2016 , UsefulNotes/PlayStation4): A boy goes on a journey with a (colossus-like) horned gryphon and together they mature and become friends.

* OddBallInTheSeries: ''ICO'' and ''The Last Guardian'' are both {{Puzzle Game}}s where you need to work with an AI companion in order to escape the location they find themselves trapped in. ''Shadow of the Colossus'', by contrast, is a straight up BossGame about finding and slaying giant beasts. Even applies in terms of gameplay, as of the games in the series, it's the one to have more classical video game conventions such as having an HP and grip bar.

Although the Team ICO itself would dissolve during the development of ''The Last Guardian'', Fumito Ueda, the head of the team, as well as several key staff members would go on to form a new studio called [=GenDesign=], which would head the completion of ''The Last Guardian's'' developement. A new game by them, in the spirit of the Team ICO trilogy, is in the works, with [[https://www.thegamer.com/fumito-ueda-gendesign-next-game-reveal-2023/ hopes for it to be officially unveiled in 2023]].

Although the Team ICO itself would dissolve during the development of ''The Last Guardian'', Fumito Ueda, the head of the team, as well as several key staff memembers would go on to form a new studio called [=GenDesign=], which would head the completion of ''The Last Guardian's'' developement. A new game by them, in the spirit of the Team ICO trilogy, is in the works, with [[https://www.thegamer.com/fumito-ueda-gendesign-next-game-reveal-2023/ hopes for it to be officially unveiled in 2023]].

Although the Team ICO itself would dissolve shortly after the completion of ''The Last Guardian'', Fumito Ueda, the head of the team, would go on to form a new studio called [=GenDesign=]. A new game by him, in the spirit of the Team ICO trilogy, is in the works, with [[https://www.thegamer.com/fumito-ueda-gendesign-next-game-reveal-2023/ hopes for it to be officially unveiled in 2023]].

The Team ICO series is a trilogy of games featuring a SharedUniverse and intuitive ActionAdventure gameplay design. It's not a series in the sense of the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' or ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series, and is more of a universe that three stand-alone games take place in. The games focus on adventurers in barren worlds, working as a team - with one player controlling a hero and the companion controlled by the game, accomplishing things together that they could not do alone. There tend to be few usable objects, and the main character's inventory is highly limited. Most of the puzzles involve creative use of the nearby terrain in an intuitive way. Dialogue is sparse, and the story of each game may seem very minimal, but on later analysis opens itself up to many interpretations.

* ''VideoGame/TheLastGuardian'' (2006 , UsefulNotes/PlayStation4): A boy goes on a journey with a (colossus-like) horned gryphon and together they mature and become friends.

* ''VideoGame/{{ICO}}'': A boy with horns is imprisoned in an ancient castle. There he meets a girl who is also imprisoned there. The two attempt to escape from the castle.
* ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'': A young man goes on a journey with his trusty horse to revive a girl. He must slay a series of giants called Colossi to do so.
* ''VideoGame/TheLastGuardian'': A boy goes on a journey with a (colossus-like) horned gryphon and together they mature and become friends.

** ''The Last Guardian'' -- A boy and his pet [[UpToEleven gigantic baby horned]] [[MixAndMatchCritter griffin colossus]].

** ''The Last Guardian'' has a mirror which reflects light, strange beacons that make Trico hostile, and living suits of armor. [[Spoiler: The Master of the Valley may be a living example]].

* LivingShadow: Both in ''ICO'' and ''Shadow of the Colossus''. In ''ICO'', they're your enemies, [[spoiler:born from the souls of the sacrificed boys in the castle]]. In ''Shadow of the Colossus'', [[spoiler:they're spirits of each slain Colossus]], but all they do is stare before you wake up.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/team_ico_trilogy_2_9.JPG]]
%%Does this look better? https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ico_series.png

** [[spoiler: Ico was placed into a sarcophagus where he and many other horned boys would be used to resurrect the Queen in Yorda's body.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheLastGuardian'': A boy goes on a journey with a (colossus-like) horned gryphon and together they mature and become friends. Escaped from DevelopmentHell at E3 2015.

* {{Fictionary}}: The vaguely Japanese-esque fictional language spoken by the main characters across the three games, along with the unknown, vaguely Latin sounding tongue that Yorda speaks in ''ICO''. The actual spoken dialogue is elegantly constructed gibberish, but if somebody really wanted to they could probably work backwards from the subtitles and come up with a working ConLang.

The Team ICO series is thus far a trilogy of games featuring a SharedUniverse and intuitive ActionAdventure gameplay design. It's not a series in the sense of the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' or ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series, and is more of a universe that three stand-alone games take place in. The games focus on adventurers in barren worlds, working as a team - with one player controlling a hero and the companion controlled by the game, accomplishing things together that they could not do alone. There tend to be few usable objects, and the main character's inventory is highly limited. Most of the puzzles involve creative use of the nearby terrain in an intuitive way. Dialogue is sparse, and the story of each game may seem very minimal, but on later analysis opens itself up to many interpretations.

* RiddleForTheAges: Rather than raising more questions than they answer about the setting, Each new installment simply raises more questions without answering any of the existing ones to begin with.

* OrphanedSeries: The company that made these games has gone bust, so all our questions will likely remain unanswered forevermore.