5 Games That Went Through Development Hell and Came Out the Other Side
The Last Guardian
For all of his talent as a video game director, Fumito Ueda has proved he can be overly meticulous when it comes to developing a title in a realistic window of time. Case in point: The Last Guardian, a title which saw itself loom over the gaming consciousness for over seven years as it was teased, delayed and rumored to be in development time and time again.
To be fair, it had its reasons. Striving for an experience where players would empathize with Trico, the game’s baby monster companion, the same way they would a real pet, Ueda and his team spent months and even years nailing down behavior patterns and animations that made the adorable behemoth seem lifelike. Likewise, it found itself delayed into a new console generation, forcing the team to adapt what they’d done to new hardware while also capitalizing on the new opportunities it offered to the game.
Luckily, the end result was largely worth the wait. An adventure unlike anything gamers had seen before, it was a title that received widespread praise for its graphical fidelity and storytelling, albeit alongside criticisms for Trico’s behaviors being too close too that of a disobedient baby animal. Regardless, it left fans excited for what will come from the director and his team next.
