I do not remember what my first Fumito Ueda game was. I played the remake of Shadow of the Colossus before the original, and it was the only game I have ever been frustrated at. The controls and some obtuse colossi puzzles made it very frustrating. This is by design, to make the player feel small, weak, and meaningless, and perhaps at the time, I was not ready for this. This combined with the normal, modern visuals did not make for an experience that I was eager to revisit.

I played both Ico and SoTC via the Japanese Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection: Limited Box. Upon revisiting this with Ueda's signature art style and lighting, and also being familiar with the colossi, made for a significantly better experience. I do not speak Japanese, and not knowing what is being said improves the atmosphere in my opinion. Similarly, with the Japanese version of Ico, the Runic language is untranslated on the first playthrough, leaving it up to the player to form an idea of what is being said and the story. Upon a second playthrough, the Runic language is translated.

Without going into a lengthy review of a game where everything has already been said, this game is a miracle in all aspects of game development.