Videogame characters we really care about

Yorda | Ico

Forever referred to as "The game that made us cry", Ico is a treat for artsy, melancholy gamers and platform lovers alike in the same fashion as its spiritual successor, Shadow of the Colossus. And us all but bursting into sobbing is down to Yorda, the game's delicate and fragile co-star.

Is she a spirit? A ghost from the past? Or something altogether inexplicable? While you'll constantly be questioning Yorda's origins, what is immediately and constantly obvious is that she's utterly dependant on you, despite 'you' being just a knee-high-to-a-grasshopper freak boy with a big stick.

Yorda's need for constant attention will make you smile, sigh and turn beetroot red in blazing frustration. But no matter how furious you might get with her clueless behaviour, when Yorda shrieks in fear you'll run and fight your heart out to save her from the smoky black nasties that try to drag Yorda away.

Yorda's need for constant attention will make you smile, sigh and turn beetroot red in blazing frustration. But no matter how furious you might get with her clueless behaviour, when Yorda shrieks in fearyou'll run and fight your heart out to save her from the smoky black nasties that try to drag Yorda away.

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.