Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki shared his memories of playing Ico. The designer was interviewed by Famitsu magazine to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the title's release.
Miyazaki admitted that without Fumiko Ueda's work, he would never have gone into game design. He added that he played Ico for the first time with a friend and worked in a non-gaming industry, but was so impressed by what he saw that he quit and took a job at FromSoftware.
Hidetaka Miyazaki:
“I'm not exaggerating when I say that one game changed my life. And I am very proud that it was Mr. Ueda's Ico. Congratulations on the 20th anniversary of the release of Ico, Mr. Ueda. I look forward to your new games. “
Ico is an adventure game released in Japan on December 6, 2001. The title was a PS2 exclusive, but was later remastered for the PS3. The game is distinguished by an almost complete absence of dialogues, unique technical solutions for its time and unusual gameplay, built around helping an NPC. Ico flopped in sales, but over time gained cult status.