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, Japanese, Korean, North American or Asian disc, or from the August 2001 preview disc or the June 2001 magazine demo. 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.

[!IMPORTANT] This project is not connected to Sony Interactive Entertainment or Team Ico. ICO is a trademark of its owners. The game itself is not included here or in the downloads. You need your own copy of one of the seven discs in The seven discs: the European disc (SCES-50760), the Japanese disc (SCPS-11003), the Korean disc (SCPS-56001), the North American disc (SCUS-97113), the Asian disc (SCPS-55001), the August 2001 preview disc or the June 2001 magazine demo (SCUS-97158); the number is printed on the disc and on the case. Save it as a disc image file, and the program reads the game from it. More in the project's legal notes (written for developers).

What you need

• Your own disc image of ICO: the European release (SCES-50760), the Japanese release (SCPS-11003), the Korean release (SCPS-56001), the North American release (SCUS-97113), the Asian release (SCPS-55001), the August 2001 preview disc or the June 2001 magazine demo (SCUS-97158). The number is printed on the disc and on the case (the preview disc has none). 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, North American and preview discs are CDs, so their images are most often a .bin and a .cue. The magazine demo is a big image, because the magazine disc holds other games too: the program needs the whole image once, at the first start. 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 8 or later and Vulkan 1.0 graphics, usually one from 2017 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.

Supported platforms

Device	Download	Status
Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, with a graphics card from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel	-win.zip (or -win-portable.zip)	The main test machine. Draws with Vulkan, or Direct3D 12 or OpenGL if you choose it in Options > Graphics (how). A Direct3D 11 choice is there too but has not been tried on any computer.
Linux PC, 64-bit x86: Debian 13, Ubuntu 24.04 or newer	-linux-x86_64.AppImage, or -linux.tar.gz (or -linux-portable.tar.gz)	Built and checked by the automatic tests for every release. Draws with Vulkan, or OpenGL if your graphics driver has no Vulkan (how); OpenGL has only been checked on a software renderer.
Steam Deck	-linux-x86_64.AppImage or -linux.tar.gz	Supported; Steam Deck tips.
Linux handheld or board, 64-bit ARM: Debian 13, Ubuntu 24.04 or newer	-linux-aarch64.AppImage, or -linux-arm64.tar.gz (or -linux-arm64-portable.tar.gz)	Built for every release.
Android phone or tablet, 64-bit, Android 8 or newer with Vulkan 1.0 graphics (usually 2017 or newer)	-android.apk	Supported. It can be slower than on a PC. Graphics driver packages need Android 9 or newer. The Android guide.
iPhone, iOS 15 or newer, through LiveContainer	-ios-unsigned.ipa	The maintainer has no Apple device, so these builds are not tested here; problem reports are welcome.
Apple-silicon Mac, macOS 12 or newer	-macos-arm64.dmg (or -macos-arm64.zip)	Not tested by the maintainer either. The first time, right-click ICO and choose Open (how).

Not supported: 32-bit systems, Windows 7 and 8, Intel Macs, and any disc other than the seven in The seven discs. Every download plays all seven.

Install

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

Moving up from a previous version: the plain download finds your saves by itself; the portable download keeps them in its own userdata folder, so copy that folder next to the new program (how).

Windows

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.

Linux and Steam Deck

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.

Android

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.

Mac

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.

iPhone

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 for your disc (the table in The first start lists the names; the ending can be .iso, .chd, .bin or .cue). 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 start

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 for your disc. The ending can be .iso, .chd, .bin or .cue; for example Ico_PAL.iso for the European disc.

Disc	Name (before the ending)
European	Ico_PAL
Japanese	Ico_JPN
Korean	Ico_KOR
North American	Ico_USA
Asian	Ico_CN
August 2001 preview	Ico_AUG6
June 2001 magazine demo	Ico_JUN26

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 seven discs

The game plays seven discs: the European release of ICO (SCES-50760), the Japanese release (SCPS-11003), the Korean release (SCPS-56001), the North American release (SCUS-97113), the Asian release (SCPS-55001), the August 2001 preview disc and the June 2001 magazine demo (SCUS-97158). The disc image you give it at the first start decides which one you play. The first five 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, the Korean disc has Korean, the North American disc has English, and the Asian disc has Chinese menus.
• Buttons. On the Japanese, Korean and Asian discs, Circle confirms and Cross goes back, as on those PS2 releases, and the menus this port adds do the same. The European and North American discs confirm with Cross. More in Controls.
• Video mode. The European disc offers 50 Hz or 60 Hz; the other discs are always 60 Hz.
• Options the disc's game does not have. Options only shows what the disc's own game has. Game language is there with the European disc only. On the North American disc, the August 2001 preview and the June 2001 demo there is no Film effect row, as on those discs' own Options screen. Players (a second controller for Yorda) and Hold type are there on every disc, though those three discs' own game has neither. Hold type starts on the disc's own way (on those three discs, press R1 once to take Yorda's hand and again to let go). The June 2001 demo has no Credits under Extras, since its disc does not hold them. More in Options.
• The port's own menus (Options, the extras, photo mode) can be shown in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean or Traditional Chinese, with the Menu language row on the first page of the Options menu (more). On the Asian disc they start in Chinese.
• The August 2001 preview disc is a pre-release version of the game, from before it came out, with English text. It is not the finished game: it can differ from it in places, as the original disc does.
• The June 2001 magazine demo is a playable demo that came on a magazine's disc, which holds other games and demos too. Only ICO's part is used. The program needs the whole disc image once, at the first start (about 4.4 GB), and keeps only ICO's part afterwards (about 280 MB).

The model viewer (under Extras) is not right yet on the North American disc and the preview disc: it can show the wrong model there. On the magazine demo, a model from a part of the game the demo's disc does not hold does not open.

Each disc keeps its own saves, so you can set up more than one on the same device. The North American disc and the August 2001 preview share one folder for texture packs and one for model packs, since a pack made for one fits the other: see Can I play more than one disc?

Questions people ask first

• 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. To make one, Options > Extras > Export textures saves the game's own pictures to start from.
• Can I turn off the blur or the glow? Yes, in Options > Effects. What each one does.
• Does Lossless Scaling work? It should, with Options > Display > Window mode at Borderless or Windowed; Windowed is known to work. How to set it up.
• Where are my saves? In a folder the game makes for you. Where that is.
• Which discs work? The European disc (SCES-50760), the Japanese disc (SCPS-11003), the Korean disc (SCPS-56001), the North American disc (SCUS-97113), the Asian disc (SCPS-55001), the August 2001 preview disc and the June 2001 magazine demo (SCUS-97158). The seven discs.

More questions and answers.

Guides

Guide	What it covers
Questions and answers	Short answers to the questions people ask most
Controls	Gamepad, keyboard and mouse, the model viewer, photo mode, touch controls
Options	Every row of the Options menu in plain words
Texture packs	Sharper textures made by fans
Model packs	Replacement 3D models, and how to make them
ReShade	Adding your own picture effects
Android	Playing on a phone or tablet
Saves and portable mode	Where your saves are, keeping everything in one folder, bringing a PS2 save over
When something goes wrong	The log file, error messages, the Steam Deck

Getting help

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, Japanese, Korean, North American or Asian disc, the August 2001 preview or the June 2001 magazine demo) 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.

How it differs from the PS2

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.

Building it yourself

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

Special thanks

• 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.

Legal and licence

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.