The player controls a young boy who befriends a giant half-bird-half-mammal creature, Trico, and the two work together to evade guards that are after them both. The player must manipulate Trico as they would a real animal, such as luring it with food, to use it to reach high platforms or other remote places, while evading enemies.
The Last Guardian has been in development since 2007 by Team Ico, and was announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009 with a planned release in 2011 exclusively for the PlayStation 3 console.
The game has since suffered from numerous delays, Ueda and other Team Ico members departed Sony, and hardware difficulties forced the game to be transitioned to the PlayStation 4 in 2012. Ueda and his studio genDESIGN, which is composed of several former Team Ico members, remain as creative consultants, with Ueda continuing as director and Sony's internal Japan Studio handling the programming and technical aspects. The Last Guardian was reintroduced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015, and is scheduled for a worldwide release on 25 October 2016.
