A Game Called Wanda

Update - Here's a movie of the game from the SCEJ web site. Looks awesome!

The second game by the Ico team is Wanda and the Colossus.



And the details from Quarter to Three's Japanese wunderkid, Kitsume:

In the game there are only three characters the designers characterize as "living" (and one of them they do so vaguely). The rider of the horse, the horse and a girl found in a wasteland altar, who they say of, "Is she living? Is she asleep? It looks like a girl who has completely lost her soul..." So the main character wants to resusciate here somehow and determines to fight the "colossus."

The horse will form an important support role and by pressing the R1 button, you'll be able to get a grip onto a colossus. Then you'll be able to try and climb it and find its sweet spot. The designers say they want to make the giant golem-like creatures seem less like monsters and more like mysterious entities, as well as they aim to create the field out of the colossus themselves. (Though there will be several locations they stomp around, such as a desert, ruins and a prairie.) The colossus will have very different feels to them, with some of their bodies being more like a maze, others incorporating action elements and still others being conveyed in a more puzzle-like sense. The emphasize the colossus creatures will never stay still, they'll always be moving.

They felt when they started to follow up ICO, at first they chanced upon something that felt too much like a sequel so then they challenged themselves to do something quite removed from the first game and the concept gradually unfolded. Wanda and the Colossus is aiming for more scenes of riotous action, but in a desolate, loud way. The team stresses they are no more eager to tell the story with words and such, and are pushing all their energy in trying to do mostly with images like the first game. That it will be like an action game, definitely weird, but not so strange that its hard to understand.

Not what I expected, but I'm happy that the development team wasn't complacent to deliver a mere sequel. I dearly hope this game gets a US release.