nathanialf/ico-pc

This is ICO (Sony Computer Entertainment, 2001) made to run as a normal program on a Windows or Linux PC, the Steam Deck, 64-bit ARM Linux handhelds, Android phones and tablets, iPhones and Apple-silicon Macs. It runs the game's own code, so it plays, sounds and feels like the PlayStation 2 game, from the European disc or the Japanese one. There are extras, such as a sharper picture, widescreen and smoother motion. The sharper picture, widescreen and the other picture extras stay off until you turn them on, and the frame rate is not held to the PS2's unless you choose Original. The mouse camera starts on.

• Your own disc image of ICO: the European release (SCES-50760), the Japanese release (SCPS-11003) or the Korean release (SCPS-56001). The number is printed on the disc and on the case. A disc image is one file that holds the whole disc. It ends in .iso, .chd or .bin (a .bin usually comes with a .cue file, which also works). The Japanese release is a CD, so its image is most often a .bin and a .cue. The American release and other editions do not work. Which disc to pick.
• Something to play on:
  • a 64-bit Windows 10 or 11 PC, or a Linux PC, with an up-to-date graphics driver (any recent NVIDIA, AMD or Intel graphics card works);
  • a Steam Deck;
  • a 64-bit ARM Linux handheld or board with an up-to-date graphics driver;
  • or a 64-bit Android phone or tablet with Android 10 or later, usually one from 2022 or newer. More about Android;
  • or an iPhone (iOS 15 or newer) or an Apple-silicon Mac (macOS 12 or newer); see Supported platforms.
• About 1 GB of free space for the game's files, which the first start copies out of the disc image.

Not supported: 32-bit systems, Windows 7 and 8, Intel Macs, and any disc other than the European release (SCES-50760), the Japanese release (SCPS-11003) and the Korean release (SCPS-56001). Every download plays all three discs.

The easy way: the download page picks the right file for your device. Or download the file for your device from the releases page.

1. Download the file whose name ends in -win.zip.
2. Right-click the file and choose Extract All, then pick a folder you can write to, such as Documents or a Games folder. Keep all the files together.
3. Open the x64 folder and double-click ico_pc_x64.exe.

The simplest way is the AppImage, the game in a single file:

1. Download the file whose name ends in -linux-x86_64.AppImage. Put it in a folder of its own in your home folder, such as Games/ICO: the game keeps its settings file ico-pc.ini and its logs folder next to it.
2. Let it run as a program: right-click the file, choose Properties, and turn on the option that lets it run (called Allow executing file as program or Is executable, depending on your desktop; it may be on a Permissions tab). Or, in a terminal, run chmod +x followed by the file's name.
3. Double-click it.

Your saves and settings go to your user folder (~/.local/share/ico-pc/ico-pc/), so a newer AppImage finds them. To keep everything next to the file instead, for example on an external drive, make an empty folder named userdata beside it (portable mode). Options > Extras > Add to Steam adds the AppImage to Steam. If it does not start, see Linux.

Or use the archive:

1. Download the file whose name ends in -linux.tar.gz.
2. Right-click the file and choose Extract (or Extract Here), into a folder in your home folder.
3. Double-click ico_pc, or run it from a terminal. If your file manager asks, choose Run or Execute.

The Linux version needs a fairly new system: Debian 13, Ubuntu 24.04 or newer. On a Steam Deck, put it in a folder in Desktop Mode and start it once there so it can ask for the disc image, then close Steam (right-click its icon in the taskbar and choose Exit Steam) and choose Options > Extras > Add to Steam on the title screen (or add the AppImage or ico_pc by hand with Steam > Add a Non-Steam Game) and play in Game Mode. Steam Deck tips.

On a 64-bit ARM Linux handheld or board, download the file whose name ends in -linux-aarch64.AppImage (or -linux-arm64.tar.gz) instead and follow the same steps. It also needs a fairly new system: Debian 13, Ubuntu 24.04 or newer.

1. Download the file whose name ends in -android.apk on your phone or tablet.
2. Open it. Your phone may ask you to allow installing apps from your browser or file manager first. Say yes.
3. Open ICO from your apps.

The Android guide explains the first start, the touch controls and where your saves are.

1. Download the file whose name ends in -macos-arm64.dmg (or the one ending in -macos-arm64.zip, which holds the same app).
2. Open it. Open a second Finder window on Applications (Go > Applications) and drag ICO into it.
3. The first time, right-click ICO and choose Open, then Open again. Apple has not checked this app, so a plain double-click only shows a warning the first time. If your Mac still will not open it, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down and choose Open Anyway next to ICO. After that, open it like any other app.

The Mac keeps your saves, your settings, ico-pc.ini and the logs folder in a folder of its own, usually ~/Library/Application Support/ico-pc/ico-pc/. To get there, open Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder, type that path and press Return.

The iPhone version is not in the App Store. You run it inside LiveContainer; set that up first with its own instructions.

1. Download the file whose name ends in -ios-unsigned.ipa on your iPhone.
2. Add it to LiveContainer and start ICO once. It says the game data is missing and closes. (The message names a game data file; you do not need it: your disc image does the same job.) That is expected: it has not seen your disc image yet.
3. Copy your disc image into ICO's Documents folder through LiveContainer's data-folder access, and name it Ico_PAL.iso (or Ico_PAL.chd, Ico_PAL.bin or Ico_PAL.cue) for the European disc, Ico_JPN.iso (or Ico_JPN.chd, Ico_JPN.bin or Ico_JPN.cue) for the Japanese disc, or Ico_KOR.iso (or Ico_KOR.chd, Ico_KOR.bin or Ico_KOR.cue) for the Korean disc. With a .bin and a .cue, copy both, rename only the .cue, and leave the .bin with the name the .cue gives it. The iPhone version does not ask for the disc image, so it has to be there with one of those names.
4. Start ICO again. It copies the game's files out of the image, as described in The first start.

Your saves (the memcard folder), your settings (config.toml) and the logs folder are in that same Documents folder.

The first time you start the game, it asks for your disc image (an iPhone uses the one you copied in, as above). Choose the file and wait while it copies the game's files out of it. This takes a minute or two and happens only once. From then on the game runs without the disc image, so you can move or delete it. On Android, the screen says what the game is doing the whole time (the Android guide has the steps).

On Windows and Linux you can skip the question. Put the disc image beside the program and name it Ico_PAL.iso (or Ico_PAL.chd, Ico_PAL.bin or Ico_PAL.cue) for the European disc, Ico_JPN.iso (or Ico_JPN.chd, Ico_JPN.bin or Ico_JPN.cue) for the Japanese disc, or Ico_KOR.iso (or Ico_KOR.chd, Ico_KOR.bin or Ico_KOR.cue) for the Korean disc. With a .bin and a .cue, put both there, rename only the .cue, and leave the .bin with the name the .cue gives it. On Windows, "beside the program" means inside the x64 folder.

The game plays the European release of ICO (SCES-50760), the Japanese release (SCPS-11003) and the Korean release (SCPS-56001). The disc image you give it at the first start decides which one you play. All three are the whole game; the differences are the original releases' own:

• The game's text. The signs, menus and subtitles are the disc's own. The European disc has English, French, German, Italian and Spanish; the Japanese disc has Japanese, and the Korean disc has Korean.
• Buttons. On the Japanese disc and the Korean disc, Circle confirms and Cross goes back, as on those PS2 releases, and the menus this port adds do the same. More in Controls.
• Video mode. The European disc offers 50 Hz or 60 Hz; the Japanese disc and the Korean disc are always 60 Hz.
• The port's own menus (Options, the extras, photo mode) can be shown in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese or Korean, with the Menu language row on the first page of the Options menu (more).

Achievements, the music and models galleries, photo mode and the model viewer work with all three discs. Saves, texture packs and model packs are kept apart for each disc, so you can set up more than one on the same device: see Can I play more than one disc?

• Ico walks when I push the stick all the way. Why can't he run? The original game only runs in eight directions. Turn on Options > Gameplay > Analogue stick fix to run in any direction. The full answer.
• How do I use a texture pack? Copy it into the textures folder that comes with the game (on a Mac or an iPhone, the guide says where to make one). Step by step.
• Can I turn off the blur or the glow? Yes, in Options > Effects. What each one does.
• Where are my saves? In a folder the game makes for you. Where that is.
• Do the Japanese and Korean discs work? Yes, the European disc (SCES-50760), the Japanese disc (SCPS-11003) and the Korean disc (SCPS-56001) all do. The three discs.

More questions and answers.

When something goes wrong, the game writes what happened into a file named ico-pc.log, in a folder named logs. Where that folder is:

• Windows and Linux: beside the program (on Windows, inside the x64 folder; for the AppImage, beside the AppImage file). If the game cannot make the folder there, it uses the logs folder in your user folder (where that is).
• Mac: in the game's folder, usually ~/Library/Application Support/ico-pc/ico-pc/logs.
• iPhone: in ICO's Documents folder.
• Android: in the game's folder, Android/data/com.defnf.icopc/files/logs (how to reach it).

When the game closes with an error it also writes a report file in the same folder, named report- and the date, ending in .zip. Open a report on the issues page, say which disc you play (the European, the Japanese or the Korean) and attach the newest report file, or ico-pc.log if there is none. When something goes wrong explains the error messages and what to try first.

The title screen has an Options line and a Quit to desktop line (Quit game on a phone); starting a New Game shows one more screen, with Mirror mode and New Game+ (more about them); the language and 50/60 Hz questions the European PS2 disc asks at first start live in Options instead, and the language can change in the middle of a game; the ending credits have one more heading and name, for this project; and the pause menu shows your journey's numbers. Everything else is meant to match the PS2: if the picture or the timing is different from the console, that is a bug worth reporting. The full list of differences, written for people who work on the code, is in docs/port/DIVERGENCES.md.

See docs/BUILDING.md. You do not need the disc image to build it. How the port works, for contributors: docs/port/ARCHITECTURE.md.

• Sad Origami, for the ICO PAL HD texture pack, for the support and blessing to test the port with it, and for suggesting the download page.
• katsifolis, for the iOS support (through LiveContainer).
• braito4, for the Apple-silicon macOS app.
• neetgon, for the second player's gamepad.

The code in this repository is MIT licensed (LICENSE). The licence covers the code written for this project and grants no rights in the game, its data or anything else owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment or Team Ico. docs/LEGAL.md says what may and may not be in the repository, and docs/THIRD_PARTY.md lists the third-party code the program uses. The game code began as a fork of the ICO project, which rebuilds the game's source code from the PS2 release.