ANIMAL MAGIC

It’s no accident that the first image you see after TheLast

Guardian’s short prologue is a single feather and a set of thick chains: a juxtaposition of fragility with immense power. It’s telling, too, that during the game’s masterful opening credit sequence, Takeshi Furukawa’s sumptuous score shifts to a low, ominous piano note and rolling timpani when the camera alights on an illustration of Trico. Clearly, this is a beast to be admired, but not to be underestimated. Before that, we see black-and-white drawings of real-world animals before a shift to otherworldly creatures, such as unicorns and gryphons. This tells us exactly what Trico is: something fantastical, but informed by nature. Everything that comes afterward only serves to bear that out.