The Last Guardian: Fumito Ueda's quest for epic minimalism

Finally confirmed by Sony, the latest adventure from the creator of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus marks the return of a singular talent in gaming

When the Japanese game designer Fumito Ueda was a child, he loved to capture and care for wild animals. He was obsessed with the way they moved; and later as a young game designer he imported a copy of the Amiga classic Lemmings, seeing in it something other than a colourful puzzler. "I sensed life on the TV screen for the first time in my life," he said.

Since then, he has become famous for games that explore humanity and companionship. After joining Sony Japan's development studio in 1997, he oversaw two of the most fascinating and beautiful action adventures of the PlayStation 2 era: Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. These doleful, reflective titles, with their hazy visuals and vast silences, showed us new ways to tell stories and invoke emotions through games. The moment in Ico where the eponymous lead character takes the hand of Yorda, the princess he seeks to rescue from an evil queen, has become one of the great images of the medium.