The final guard brought the best moment of the PlayStation 4

Popular game editor Fumito Ueda, director of Ico, Photo by Colossus, and The Ultimate Guardian, it is rare for his games to be entertained.

That sounds good, doesn't it? GenDesign games (formerly known as Team Ico) live on in our emotional memories. If I think Ico, it is the strongest bond between the two main characters that comes to mind first. More than any other information about Photo by Colossus, I remember what it was like to find myself in the news headlines.

But the games themselves do not always deal directly with these themes. A few lines of conversation in Colossus never acknowledge the feelings of the characters' motives. While the two children spend many hours together Ico, have never shared a joke or smiled.

Ueda's third game, The Ultimate Guardian, the same. The game was built on your relationship with Trico, your best dog-cat friend, but never he tells you are dating your colored friend.

Your relationship is made for small organic moments, a trust built through instant animation and diegetic interaction. You were never told that you were both close; you are given the opportunity to grow closer to playing. A change of mood occurs in the player's heart – the game itself hopes to get there.

But before its climax, The Ultim ate Guardian

This story The Ultimate Guardian was recorded as a video clip in the video above, also produced by Jacob Geller.

I do not blame anyone for not coming to a conclusion The Ultimate Guardian. Unlike most games, which puts the ability to succeed or fail directly into player control, The Ultimate Guardian instead it asks you to control uncontrollably another creature: a large, stubborn, and stubborn beast called Trico.

The experience would be a breeze if Trico wasn't directly controlled. It would turn the game into a fantasy of power – you, a powerful and heavy creature, encircling the ancient ruins. Instead, the game puts you in the shoes of a young boy and asks you to train this angry creature. You are powerless, but certainly out of control.

Trico, respectively, is determined and distracted as a puppy passes through the listening stage. Simply repeating instructions doesn't usually work; you will have to learn the best ways to work with Trico in order to continue through the many obstacles of the game.

It is this balance of your encouragement and behavior in Trico that makes the animal feel like that he is alive. You have to learn how to prepare the beast with its mind and heart, and they must learn to accept it. It's like the frustration and rewards of training a real pet, the story of The Ultimate Guardian it is one of illusion.

The controls of the game show this: You are always able to shout instructions at Trico, but the response of the beast varies over time in the game. At first, it totally obeys you. In the middle of the story, you can count on Trico to find out what you are asking for right away. For the last few hours, Trico is rarely even educated. Your obligation goes beyond words. It is not that you have humbled Trico in humility; instead, simply understand each other's needs.

According to trademark Ueda, nothing in the game tells you exactly this. There is no cutscene where Trico makes you look at you and say "I love you". In fact, the last few hours of the game have given you time to breathe, let alone express your love for each other. Set piece after piece of set-piece rockets to you at the end, including the biggest battles and bitter jumps. During these last few hours, you have no opportunity to appreciate how strong your bond with Trico has been. However, just as you include the great tower in the center of the earth, before the climax –

Nothing happened. About a minute.

I think at this very moment. At the level of beauty, it's almost unmatched; the wind blows across thousands of Trico's feathers, white marble shining orange in the only light, hot sun blazing the line out there. Details fall into silhouettes on top of the building, and there's no music to distract you from anything you hear. The splendor of this time is astonishing, especially the game that has so far prevented so much illumination.

But there are many video games with good sunsets. What elevates this moment beyond its visual appeal is that it simply allows it be and Trico. In about a minute, nothing else needs to be done. You can stop and tickle Trico's ears, or tickle his stomach, or just sleep with your friend in the air and the only light. For a moment, you can be just a boy and a friend. So many games tell you how to feel. So few give you the time and tools needed to get those feelings done physically.

Image: SIE Japan Studio, GenDesign / Sony Interactive Entertainment

Long ago The Ultimate Guardian appeared, the Internet was ready for the predicted heartbreak. In 2009, seven years before the release of the game, Penny Arcade a joke that there were only two ways the game could end: "Boy Dies" … or "Baby Gryphon dies."

While the true fate of the game was not a guess, the big encryption was right. This is not the kind of story where Trico and the boy can live happily ever after. Their world is very different.

So even in my first play, when I got to the top of the tower, I understood the end of this time. Nothing in the game tells you this; there is no warning message about the point of no return.

But for Fumito Ueda, whose earlier games cut off our friends without a trace, this moment is very interesting. It can be noted by the game that the bond between you and Trico is an integral part of the whole experience. As it is, the most gracious thing ever The Ultimate Guardian he can give us just the time to deliver on that obligation. We don't have to tell, or even ask, that we are good. We knew what we were doing.

There is no shortage of in-view The Ultimate Guardian. Lightning bolts, monsters battle, towers collapse. But even now, many plays and hours later, I know which part I'm most looking forward to. When I close my eyes, I can see it: the boy and his beast, bowing under the fireplace, for the last time to comfort one another.