Japan Studio and Team Ico’s Ico remains a classic and one of the best games of the PlayStation 2 era. The developers would later go on to make the even more popular and beloved Shadow Of The Colossus, but have you ever wondered what Ico would have looked like if it released just a bit earlier?

Wonder no more.

genDESIGN has released an early development video of Ico in celebration of the game’s 20th anniversary on 6 December 2021.

In a statement (via Gematsu), they said:

“This is an early development video of the PlayStation 2 title ICO, which was released on December 6, 2001. This was created around 1998 to share the game’s concept with the development team.

This video was a breakthrough for the team, the light at the end of the title, when the staff, including [director Fumito] Ueda, were groping in the dark, not knowing what kind of game ICO would become. Despite video and sound imperfections such as scanlines and noise, as well as the debug display, we didn’t dare alter or edit the footage as to express the atmosphere of that time.”

Check it the video footage below: