"The age of gameplay mechanics has already passed," says ICO, Shadow of the Colossus director

The director behind ICO and Shadow of the Colossus believes the days of creating new and innovative gameplay mechanics “has already passed”.

In an interview with To a T and Karamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi earlier this year, Fumito Ueda praised To a T, commending Takahashi for “not relying on unique gameplay mechanics”.

Talking to Denfaminicogamer, Ueda said he called up Takahashi when To a T was revealed, wanting to know if the unusual game involved any new or complicated mechanics to play. When Takahashi revealed it did not, he responded with a simple: “That’s great!”

Reminded of this exchange during his interview with Takahashi, Ueda joked “ah, these are the words of a professional”, but then expanded on the comment, explaining that what he meant was that contemporary games felt over-concerned with gameplay (thanks, Automaton).