ICO

This 2001 game for the PS2 was an underground sensation. It was never a massive commercial hit, but the sheer, lyrical beauty of it swayed a devoted audience.

Ico is a young boy, born into a village that periodically produces a child with horns; the child is regarded as a curse and is taken to a castle to be entombed alive. Ico escapes his death due to the decrepit nature of the castle, but the hundreds of similar tombs speak to the fate of the horned children that preceded him. He finds a strange girl called Yorda locked in a cage, who speaks an unknown language, and together they must work to escape. Ico must defend Yorda from the shadows that pursue them and seek to capture her, and Yorda is host to a mysterious power that, alone, can unlock the path to freedom. Neither can leave without the other, and their alliance is the only spark of hope amidst the vast emptiness of the hostile edifice.

Images:

Ico being brought to the castle
Ico and Yorda
The castle courtyard
Light through the windows
The game trailer