The Last of Us director reveals his favorite moment in the game

September 2001, Fumito Ueda Iko Released on PlayStation 2 and left a huge impression the last of us Co-creator and director Neil Druckmann. Even 25 years after the game's release, Druckmann still points to ICO's late scenes as his favorite moments in video games. There are some spoilers for this quarter-century-old game.

“My favorite moment in the game. The one that made my jaw drop when it happened was the ICO game,” said Druckmann British Academy of Film and Television Arts in a recent interview. “We talked about how within this mechanic, you hold Yorda's hand and guide her forward…and she feels like this helpless character that you're guiding.”

“And then there's a moment toward the end of the game where you're standing on this bridge and the bridge slowly separates and Yorda is on one side of the bridge and you're on the other side and you don't know what to do,” Druckmann continued. “All you can do is run towards that gap and jump towards her and it looks like you're not going to make it and you're going to fall to your death. At the last second, she reaches out and grabs you. It's such an exciting moment because you don't expect it. She hasn't done that at any other point in the game.”

Druckmann went on to say that it was a truly inspiring moment and that he felt the handheld mechanics made him care about Yorda like no other game character before him.

“I got this twist and evolution of this character and this relationship, and I don't know how you can play this character and not feel emotional. I think every game I've made since then has been chasing that feeling.”

Druckmann has previously praised ICOs during their time. 20th anniversary of the book's publicationwhich he called his favorite game of all time.

Until earlier this year, Druckmann was a co-producer on the HBO series The Last of Us. However, he resigned from the role At the end of the second season, he turned his attention back to game development. His next project is for Naughty Dog Interstellar: Prophet of Heresywhich will be exclusive to PlayStation consoles. Druckmann hasn't ruled out making The Last of Us Part 3but it’s unclear if or when it will continue.