The Last Guardian

 PlayStation 4
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2785 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,068 out of 2785
  2. Mixed: 302 out of 2785
  3. Negative: 415 out of 2785
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  1. Ceej1979
    Dec 8, 2016
    3
    This game was averaging about 5/10 for a long time on Metacritic. It seems to me that Sony have unleashed their bots, to post fake reviews and boost the score a bit. There's a suspicious amount of consecutive 10/10s ..............if it's real reviews, why are none of the people who like it giving it in 8 or a 9? Always 10.

    Trust me, big publishers have bots that post fake reviews. As    This game was averaging about 5/10 for a long time on Metacritic. It seems to me that Sony have unleashed their bots, to post fake reviews and boost the score a bit. There's a suspicious amount of consecutive 10/10s ..............if it's real reviews, why are none of the people who like it giving it in 8 or a 9? Always 10.

    Trust me, big publishers have bots that post fake reviews.

    As for the game, if you want to waste $60 and be really dissapointed, buy this. It's really really boring, and annoying    … Expand
  2. Daveisonline
    Dec 6, 2016
    2
    Dear Team Ico

    You had EIGHT YEARS to optimise a game that was originally designed for the PLAYSTATION THREE!

    Hell the visuals still look like a PS3 game, and yet the framerate keeps hitting sub 20fps on the PLAYSTATION FOUR!
    I wanted to really like this game but this is simply unacceptable. I can look past the dated visuals but not when the game is running this poorly.
  3. dainotta
    Dec 6, 2016
    4
    Basic, nothing new for 10 years of performance, very ugly gameplay, graphics of ps3, this game should have come out for ps3 since in that machine could do less things, in ps4 that is so linear with such easy puzzles.
    ICO and Shadow of the Colossus were very good games and this one is not, you have to analyze it separately not with the fan rod!
  4. Sasuke_noctis
    Dec 6, 2016
    0
    What in the world did I just play? What a complete waste of time... If I had low expectations this game would have been decent... But for nearly 10 years I had good expectations and it didn't meet them... Camera was awful... Gameplay was boring and slow.
  5. Domvik
    Dec 6, 2016
    0
    LOL, what a lame excuse of a game. Short campaign, empty world and old graphic with bad performance.
    I would agree with those who say this all don't matter because it's a story based game, but the story is pretty forgettable.
  6. KittyKittykat69
    Dec 6, 2016
    1
    Camera sucks, Stupid dog doesn't listen to you. Just a mess. Jim sterling was right. Feels outdated. Its just so plain and boring. Why are critics giving this a 10/10? Are they blind?
  7. Madara_san
    Dec 6, 2016
    0
    I am very very displeased with the overall feel to this game, I did expect better and funner gameplay and was greeted with terrible camera and slow slow gameplay
  8. CzarSquid
    Feb 20, 2022
    0
    This game captures the fun of smashing your head against the wall and embodies it in a video game.
  9. screenit
    Apr 4, 2021
    3
    Amazing game UTTERLY ruined by the most truly god-awful control scheme it has ever been my misfortune to encounter in a game. Utterly vile. This is definitely game as "art" at the expense of playability where the lead developer forgot to get over himself and make a game playable. Your character will stumble, trip, and fall over constantly throughout the game, whilst the game's defenderAmazing game UTTERLY ruined by the most truly god-awful control scheme it has ever been my misfortune to encounter in a game. Utterly vile. This is definitely game as "art" at the expense of playability where the lead developer forgot to get over himself and make a game playable. Your character will stumble, trip, and fall over constantly throughout the game, whilst the game's defender might say it's "realistic" it wears out it's welcome VERY quickly, the boy is so unable to remain vertical you'd think he had an inner ear infection. The other utter screaming frustration is your creature, who most of the time won't do what you need him to do... the defenders again will say "well it's SUPPOSED to be like that, it's got a mind of it own" to which i say "bullsh*t", it's utterly frustrating and a poor poor POOR design choice, when you're presented with puzzles you spend FAR longer than you should have to trying to figure out if the fact you can't solve the problem is due to the fact that you haven't found the correct solution, or because you stupid creature won't do what it needs to... bad game design. Even when you know 100% what the solution to a puzzle is, you have to spend agonizing minutes trying to get the stupid AI of the creature to realize what it's got to do, and 9 times out of 10 it won't do it, because the creature isn't in the EXACT position and the EXACT rotation if needs to be to perform the action, and there's no way you can direct it to be, it's just blind luck when it gets itself into the right place.
    When you're constantly being forced to fight against the controls in order to play the game you know it's a failure.
    Such a shame because the premise, and the bond between creature and boy is lovely, but then the game utterly ruins the entire experience with trash controls that are beyond frustrating.    … Expand
  10. Phuz
    Aug 27, 2022
    0
    An average 82 score, citing contro, technical and input issues.

    These aren't little issues. The game is a **** unplayable disaster. It's janky, jerky, clunky, just awful gameplay. It is a technical disaster and yet another prime example of why reviews can't be trusted. Puzzles are one of my favourite genres but I am struggling to think of a worse game. From big story centric, or    An average 82 score, citing contro, technical and input issues.

    These aren't little issues. The game is a **** unplayable disaster.

    It's janky, jerky, clunky, just awful gameplay. It is a technical disaster and yet another prime example of why reviews can't be trusted.

    Puzzles are one of my favourite genres but I am struggling to think of a worse game. From big story centric, or adventure based games like Rime, Brothers and Flower, to £1 puzzles and hidden objects like Agent A, My Brother Rabbit and Lara Croft Go, I cannot think of a game this bad.

    It was horrible and unfinished to the point it is just plain unenjoyable. A total waste of time and an insult to the many great puzzle games scoring less.    … Expand
  11. Madtedon
    Apr 10, 2020
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Шедевр??? Полный бред. От начала до последнее секунды. Я в полном разочаровании. Никому не рекомендую....никому. 10лет потрачены в пустую. Если у вас есть домашние животные. Вы счастливый человек. Мои 9 часов жизни вашу. Ps. ****… Expand
  12. Prokopiou
    Jun 15, 2021
    0
    Terrible.Its the worst game i have played on playstation.Gameplay sucks the dog/cat/animal doesnt behave and the game has tons of glitches.The graphics are amazing but the rest of the game is shi*.Not worth it.
  13. conch_138
    Jun 15, 2021
    0
    I have been playing video games around 35 years. This is may be the worst game i have ever played definitely worst ps4 exclusive. It is nearly unplayable. Horrific controls,awful camera angles, broken pet AI ,extremely easy childish stupid puzzles,(if they are puzzles ..What is the point what you were thinking. ?) no story, no game play. There is no any element which can pass playableI have been playing video games around 35 years. This is may be the worst game i have ever played definitely worst ps4 exclusive. It is nearly unplayable. Horrific controls,awful camera angles, broken pet AI ,extremely easy childish stupid puzzles,(if they are puzzles ..What is the point what you were thinking. ?) no story, no game play. There is no any element which can pass playable threshold. I could not bear it and delete after couple of hours.

    What the hell just i played !!! Shame on developer which published such a garbage in this era...Congrats Sony to put it on market get good reviews and commercially sell it.    … Expand
  14. trayman
    Sep 4, 2019
    4
    I was expecting so much more looking at the reviews. First of all i'm not a big fan of Japanese games, enjoyed most of them when it comes to story in general, but the physics, AI and mechanics were usually poor in general. Honestly it is no different in this case. Controls are an absolute disaster and you will be fuming doing the most simple jumps/grabs. AI of both opponents and Trico isI was expecting so much more looking at the reviews. First of all i'm not a big fan of Japanese games, enjoyed most of them when it comes to story in general, but the physics, AI and mechanics were usually poor in general. Honestly it is no different in this case. Controls are an absolute disaster and you will be fuming doing the most simple jumps/grabs. AI of both opponents and Trico is sometimes so frustrating that it will make you confused during the playthrough (for example while giving orders to Trico to jump somewhere, he will hesitate and walk in circles sometimes, so you might assume that there is no way through. Guess what? You are going to waste lots of time searching for another route when you will finally find out that he just needed 10 minutes to position himself before making that jump, and you had to give him at least 5 orders. I have been through ICO, Shadow of the Colossus and unfortunately this is what I will remember more than the story - TERRBILE and frustrating controls.

    Second and maybe even worse thing mentioned already many times: how can a simple game like this, with simple graphics, nearly no in-game characters on the screen be so badly optimized? This is beyond imagination, I mean this is a software DEDICATED to one platform. This is an absolute joke when it comes to framrate in this game.    … Expand
  15. Near
    Jan 9, 2020
    0
    Playing it on PS4 Slim right now. It is a massive disappointment. I get nausea because of the camera and unresponsive control, paired with frame pacing issues and constant drops in framerate. The game itself is confusing. I get it: they wanted to make the stupid animal act like a puppy, but everytime I need him ti do something I have to wait 30 seconds to 3 minutes just to get him to doPlaying it on PS4 Slim right now. It is a massive disappointment. I get nausea because of the camera and unresponsive control, paired with frame pacing issues and constant drops in framerate. The game itself is confusing. I get it: they wanted to make the stupid animal act like a puppy, but everytime I need him ti do something I have to wait 30 seconds to 3 minutes just to get him to do stuff like jumping. This game is broken and boring.… Expand
  16. Key_Notes88
    Dec 18, 2019
    1
    Terrible game. Terrible design, story, and useless "Guardian" who specialized in getting beat down.
  17. agent13
    Dec 27, 2019
    3
    This game is so boring and confusing after a long time i had the chance to play it but after a few hours playing I found it uninteresting the artistic design of the last guardian is very nice but without a good gameplay and with clunky controls it doesn't worth playing
    Trico is adorable but it's like a big dumb cat who doesn't listen to you
  18. B-Bog
    Jan 26, 2020
    3
    There are things that this director and his team clearly excel at: Crafting an intriguing narrative, world-building, creating atmospheric and beautiful scenery, etc. Unfortunately, programming sensible and functional game mechanics is not on this list. Once again, your patience is being tested by the clunkiest controls and climbing mechanics and the jankiest camera there is to encounter inThere are things that this director and his team clearly excel at: Crafting an intriguing narrative, world-building, creating atmospheric and beautiful scenery, etc. Unfortunately, programming sensible and functional game mechanics is not on this list. Once again, your patience is being tested by the clunkiest controls and climbing mechanics and the jankiest camera there is to encounter in a modern PS4 era videogame (aside from maybe the Shadow of the Colossus remake which is originally from the same guy/studio). Going up or down a ladder, picking things up, throwing things, jumping off a chain, etc.etc., EVERYTHING is so much harder than it has to be. Sometimes, the camera just straight up clips out and the screen goes black for a second. All of which is compounded severely by an AI companion that doesn't always seem very intent on following your commands. So, in essence, the challenge in this game comes from TRYING to get your character and his doggo to do what you want them to, not from actual gameplay. If this sounds like fun to you, get this game asap. For me, it's just a giant test of patience. In my estimation, the game would probably be half as long (which isn't very long to begin with, but seems like much more because it's so tedious, slow, and drawn-out) if you could actually get Trico to do what you want within one or two tries every time, that is to say, if the game ACTUALLY WORKED, instead of it being a constant struggle. As the cherry on top of the sh*t-cake, there's also an INCREDIBLE amount of lag in outside areas (on a PS4 Pro, mind you).

    And this was in development for HOW many years? Ooooof... Maybe this studio should switch to making animated movies or short films instead.    … Expand
  19. Nan7_7
    Jun 22, 2020
    0
    Literally this game is not worth anyones time, money, or hype. I lost count how many years this game was in the making just for it to be utter garbage. Garbage is the only word to describe this game go pick up Horizon Zero Dawn or hell even go buy another GTA 5 copy over this game.
  20. Sheep_198
    Feb 17, 2017
    3
    This game is all about frustrations and patience. Never played any game with such bad camera angles and swings, makes me motion sick. Character control is very difficult. Command to Trico is testing your patience as he doesn't respond immediately, but in his time, so have command multiple times and wait a long time. Story didn't grab me, just can't wait to get out of the rubbles andThis game is all about frustrations and patience. Never played any game with such bad camera angles and swings, makes me motion sick. Character control is very difficult. Command to Trico is testing your patience as he doesn't respond immediately, but in his time, so have command multiple times and wait a long time. Story didn't grab me, just can't wait to get out of the rubbles and frustrating puzzles. Nothing about the game I enjoy.… Expand
  21. TiWi
    Mar 7, 2017
    4
    For me it is strange that most lower ratings are related to weak graphics, control and view port. Which is not really untrue, but is not the reason why I rated only a 4/10. Especially the graphics, even when it is "old fashioned" looks good, animation is very nice, and also the coloring. Conrol/Viewport .. sure that is very nasty from time to time ... but In my opinion the game play isFor me it is strange that most lower ratings are related to weak graphics, control and view port. Which is not really untrue, but is not the reason why I rated only a 4/10. Especially the graphics, even when it is "old fashioned" looks good, animation is very nice, and also the coloring. Conrol/Viewport .. sure that is very nasty from time to time ... but In my opinion the game play is really horrible. There is no clear game process, while playing it around 4-6 hours it seems some of the "trainigs" of the chimera works only a specific spots, and if you miss them, it does not work anymore to force/train him to do something ... without any information you walk silly around and trying "stupid" things. I can imagine that Tamagotchi Fan might like this "cute thing" and others like to watch it for hours (which explains the success of cat videos), but for me thats not enough to play it for hours, especially if the other problems which are mentioned in comments has to added… Expand
  22. Acnesss
    Oct 31, 2020
    0
    Bad AI - Character Control - Optimization and more... The worst exclusive game.
  23. jcarrieres
    Jan 9, 2017
    2
    I got this as a Christmas gift and well, I'm glad I didn't shell any money for this. I'll tell you the good news to start with:

    - Great, great visuals - Interesting story (though it only shows up at the very end of the game) - Beautiful mood, music and audio design And that's all the good I have to say about the game. The controls, camera, AIs, and collision management are so    I got this as a Christmas gift and well, I'm glad I didn't shell any money for this. I'll tell you the good news to start with:

    - Great, great visuals
    - Interesting story (though it only shows up at the very end of the game)
    - Beautiful mood, music and audio design

    And that's all the good I have to say about the game. The controls, camera, AIs, and collision management are so abysmally bad and frustrating that about halfway through the game, I gave up and pulled a walkthrough off the internet to get through this as quickly as possible. Climbing on top of this creature and getting off its back (something you need to do constantly and casually throughout the game) is like pulling teeth--only far less successfully. I've stopped counting the number of times I've plummeted to my death because the controls didn't respond the way they should have. Giving direction to the creature (Trico) is incredibly try-and-error. You can do the right thing, but you'll need about 10 repetitions of the command before it finally does something. Waiting for the inevitable downtime that this game forces upon you led me to play another game on my iPad while this was happening--I'm not kidding, it was that bad.

    But I'll admit that the ending is touching and relatively well done. I hadn't expected the twist and it was a positive experience--sadly, one of the rare ones.

    I get what they were TRYING to do. They failed. Miserably.

    This should have been a movie, not an interactive experience.    … Expand
  24. aradimis
    Apr 6, 2017
    3
    Mere annoyment of unfinished and unrefined gameplay. Autistic one way soultions with catastrophic graphics and control. The character animation technique is from the last century. Shockingly overrated.
  25. julkeris
    Mar 16, 2019
    0
    That controls really pissed me off and the camera and the stupidity of the beast. I registered on this site just to write this and put its deserved "0".
  26. DogeWowIsBack
    Mar 15, 2019
    3
    Eight years in development and countless delays, only to match Duke Nukem Forever level of disappointment. This game was originally designed for Playstation 3, it looks like a one of early Playstation 3 game and yet it's framerate on a Playstation 4 and Playstation 4 Pro is horrible beyond believe. Not only that, it has typical for Team Ico awful controlls, really weak story and it'sEight years in development and countless delays, only to match Duke Nukem Forever level of disappointment. This game was originally designed for Playstation 3, it looks like a one of early Playstation 3 game and yet it's framerate on a Playstation 4 and Playstation 4 Pro is horrible beyond believe. Not only that, it has typical for Team Ico awful controlls, really weak story and it's pretty short.
    The whole game tries it's hardest to be emotional and make you care about that flying rat-dog thing, but Trico is just so dumb to the point where you won't feel anything but hatred with a burning passion towards him.    … Expand
  27. Clanet
    Mar 19, 2019
    2
    The AI was horrible, my animal friend got stuck in the wall all the time and wouldn't listen to me, making the game harder than it had to be.
  28. jmpaley
    Jan 2, 2017
    0
    Disappointing. It's basically a more annoying-to-play version of their first game ICO, with better graphics. The puzzles are nearly all solved by riding on Trico, unless you have to feed him or open a gate. You seemingly wander around in endless circles with no objective or sense of accomplishment. Trico is annoying to control, and will occasionally sit and do nothing while you're spammingDisappointing. It's basically a more annoying-to-play version of their first game ICO, with better graphics. The puzzles are nearly all solved by riding on Trico, unless you have to feed him or open a gate. You seemingly wander around in endless circles with no objective or sense of accomplishment. Trico is annoying to control, and will occasionally sit and do nothing while you're spamming commands repeatedly because he's turned ever so slightly the wrong way. The gameplay is slow and tedious and lacks anything to draw you into the game other than graphics. Most game developers today don't seem to have any idea what actually makes a game fun to play, they must think if graphics sell movies, they can sell games.… Expand
  29. madno
    Jun 7, 2017
    4
    El juego esta bien, pero esta lleno de fallos, errores y problemas de control, se salva por Tico que es encantador, pero es un juego de ps3, no de ps4, una tomadura de pelo clásica de Sony. Merece la pena alquilarlo un finde y pasarlo, comprarlo ya a decisión de cada uno.
  30. doug_quaid
    May 9, 2017
    4
    Shadow of the Colossus is easily in my top 10 games of all time, making this review a bit of a sad affair.

    The Good - It's an interesting concept, combing Ico with Shadow of the Colossus, tag-teaming with a giant creature to try and solve puzzles and navigate a crumbling ruin. - The graphics, while overall looking very PS3 instead of PS4, occasionally have their moments and can    Shadow of the Colossus is easily in my top 10 games of all time, making this review a bit of a sad affair.

    The Good
    - It's an interesting concept, combing Ico with Shadow of the Colossus, tag-teaming with a giant creature to try and solve puzzles and navigate a crumbling ruin.
    - The graphics, while overall looking very PS3 instead of PS4, occasionally have their moments and can occasionally be beautiful. The physics feels pretty cool, things bounce around and smash nicely.
    - The animation on the creature is spot-on. The animators did a really good job of bringing it to life and giving it personality.

    The Bad
    - It's clear this game languished in development hell for years. There's hints of a solid concept here, but it looks like the developers couldn't actually make things work to match with the creator's vision. The result is a glorified tech demo.
    - Many puzzles are so obtuse you will literally never figure them out without consulting a walkthrough. Puzzles are repeated a dozen times, i.e. 'oh another eye mirror, how do I smash this one?' Several puzzles just aren't that interesting to solve anyway, less 'aha!' and more 'are you kidding me, that's what you wanted me to do?'. As your frustration increases, halfway through the game you'll give up and just have the walkthrough open on your phone anyway. A few play-testing sessions watching actual players get permanently stuck would have cleaned all this up immeasurably.
    - The game is *extremely* linear. I get the impression after years of failed attempts to create an interactive, exploratory experience with the creature/code failing to fulfill it's end of the bargain the team was forced to cut back to something extremely short, linear, repetitive and largely based on cutscenes. Expect 20-25% of the game to be waiting patiently until you can play again. There is one way through and if you can't find it you will simply wander around in a room until you do. In some cases you're not supposed to be wandering anyway, the creature will simply hop to the next section for you, much to your frustration.
    - The boy's controls, presumably in the interest of showcasing his fluid animations, making the game feel tense and/or your character feel a bit helpless, are extremely sloppy. Halfway through the game you're still getting tutorial prompts because you still need them.
    - If you need a Japanese voiceover with subtitles to tell you what to do every other puzzle or so you've completely failed at prompting the player to solve things on his/her own. Go back to the drawing board and clean up the level design and cues/clues so that the player feels like they're figuring things out on their own.
    - Mashing buttons to make glowing shapes go away every time you die is such a poor design decision I can't believe it actually shipped in the final version of the game. This makes me wonder if nobody on the team is able to even give the creator feedback anymore, or if everything is subservient to his 'vision'.

    The Ugly
    - The creature's AI is a nightmare of indifference, ineptitude, confusion and irritation. The creature failed to catch me a half dozen times leading me to fall to my death, but suddenly caught me once, long after I'd assumed I was doing the wrong thing and explored every avenue for another route. I also sat in a tree for about 20 minutes mashing the 'help' button until it decided it was ready to save me. That's beyond ridiculous. That's not gameplay. It's more like if you took your dog to the supermarket and tried to painstakingly teach him to shop for groceries over days or weeks while it looked at you in confusion. After hours of begging, pleading and cajoling, and occasionally screaming at it, I actually grew to hate the stupid thing. I'm assuming this was not the studio's intention, lol.
    - The 'cinematic' camera is one of the most frustrating things I've experienced in a video game. The only explanation here is an underpaid, irate programmer who was hell-bent on creating something that would literally nauseate players.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

51
#51 Best PS4 Game of 2016
8
#8 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2016
10
#10 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 110 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 82 out of 110
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 110
  3. Negative: 1 out of 110
  1. Vgames
    Mar 8, 2017
    84
    After 7 years in what seems to be development hell, Team Ico finally introduces us to the majestic Trico and its heartfelt relationship with a young protagonist. While the long development cycle does show its age in certain parts up to a point of some frustration. The experience as a whole is one of the most unique ever.
    Read full review
  2. BaziCenter
    Feb 10, 2017
    100
    The Last guardian is indeed suffering from some technical and control input issues, but its warm, beautiful adventure filled with countless touching moments is something we’ll never forget for the rest of our lives. The Last Guardian is not just a game, it’s an absolute work of art.
    Read full review
  3. Edge Magazine
    Feb 8, 2017
    90
    The Last Guardian doesn't just live up to its forebears' legacy, it goes further. Despite the callbacks to Fumito Ueda's previous works, it is a unique creation. Outside of indie experiments, we don't get to say that about modern videogames often enough.
See all critic reviews »