Last week, I had the wonderful opportunity of completing The Last Guardian.

It’s one of those games where the more you reflect after you play it, the more you appreciate its plot, gameplay mechanics, atmosphere and characters, as well as its subtle nuances. One of the things I love about this game is that it is an extremely introspective experience.

The Last Guardian is not like other games because it delicately gestures you forward rather than blatantly showing you what to do. It treats you with respect and emotional intelligence. In fact, I’d daresay this is a game about emotional intelligence; a game about empathy, intuition, introspection and love; qualities often undervalued in today’s society; values that modern civilisation needs now more than ever.

You play as an unnamed boy who awakens from unconsciousness to find that he is in a cave alongside a mysterious feathered creature whom he names Trico. The creature is severely wounded and can’t get up; its body is pierced with spears; its head and neck restrained with a broken helmet and collar which is shackled to the ground. It is so agitated and in pain that it is terrified of you and lashes out in aggression to protect itself. It is at this point that the player has to exercise empathy and sympathy for Trico in order to move forward; it is empathy for his suffering that compels you to remove the spears, nourish him with barrels containing a mysterious blue liquid, and take off his heavy armour. Once you have freed him from the shackle, there is an inherent sense of satisfaction not because you can progress further, but because you have cured his suffering. You can stroke and pet Trico at any time in the game, a move that is often necessary to comfort him in times of distress. At all times in the game, empathy drives you forward.

Trico’s AI is exceptionally well done, so much so that he feels like a living, breathing creature with his own thoughts and feelings rather than an engineered non-player character. He has the pluckiness and loyalty of a dog, the eccentricity and inquisitiveness of a bird, and the agility and capriciousness of a cat.

Another interesting thing is that the game never fully explains everything about its beautifully pieced-together world; leaving unsolved mysteries to the player’s own imagination and sparking a deep sense of curiosity that immerses you further. “What are the sentinels? What civilisation created this place? Who and what is Trico?” It seems incredibly apt that we play as a curious child, for Fumito Ueda is asking us to explore and sense this world with child-like inquisitiveness and wonder.

The in-game graphics are really a sight to behold, largely thanks its beautiful art direction. The labyrinthine environment with its temple-like structures has an Indonesian aesthetic, and the buildings contained within bear a strong resemblance to architecture seen in ancient Hinduist temples of old. Technically as well, the game is visually impressive. When Trico steps into a shallow body of water, the in-game shaders actually make it look as if his body is wet. (And no, I’m not talking about typical water effect shaders where the entire body looks slightly damp.) The shaders are actually specific to different parts of Trico’s body, meaning that when the end of his tail is in water, only the end of the tail looks wet. It’s an incredibly remarkable feat of modern gaming, thanks in part to the PlayStation 4’s powerful hardware capabilities. Water has never looked so damn good.

The animation and lighting effects are also incredible. Dust mesmerizingly glitters in cascading rays of light which permeate from the cracks above. Feathers, grass and cloth delicately whisper in the wind. Trico’s feathers puff up when he is frightened or injured. Buildings collapse convincingly so. The effects are so good, that I often asked myself, “Is this a game or a movie?” when playing.

The only cons I can think of are the slight issues with the framerate at times. The Last Guardian’s visuals really push the PS4’s hardware as far as it can go, so when you are playing in areas with a lot of detail, (for example foliage) the framerate will dip slightly. This only happens on the standard PS4; if you play the game on the new PS4 Pro, it will consistently run at a steady 30fps throughout the experience. But all in all, the lag in framerate at certain points in the game does not detract from the experience whatsoever.

Before I go on to discuss anything else about The Last Guardian, I must give this game’s score extremely high praise. The music is sweeping, delicate, melancholic, heroic, uniquely idiosyncratic and emotionally poignant. Takeshi Furukawa seriously deserves a BAFTA for his work. I’d highly recommend giving the soundtrack a listen; in my personal opinion it’s one of the greatest video game soundtracks ever written.

I don’t really want to give much else of the game away, because The Last Guardian is in many ways, a game that has to be experienced first hand without knowing anything prior about the story, puzzles or gameplay mechanics. It is very much an experience. Without revealing too much, this game actually made me tear up on more than one occasion. I cannot recommend playing it enough, I would argue that this game is a work of art.

Granted, this game might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Narrow minded folks have already tried to badmouth the game online, complaining that the game doesn’t blatantly explain itself and that Trico has a mind of his own. Ahem, that’s the entire point. This game isn’t easy, or straightforward, and it’s certainly not for ignorant or impatient people who want a simple, straightforward game.

If you like heartfelt and sincere storytelling, play this game. If you like listening to beautiful music, play this game. If you like intelligently challenging puzzles, engaging characters, and breathtaking animation, play this game. Most importantly, if you appreciate great art, please play this game. It is one of PlayStation’s greatest titles to date; an instant classic.