The Electronics Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, is always a huge spectacle every spring. This year’s event has brought a lot of big-name projects to the forefront, which is a common occurrence at E3. Yet over the past few days, several uncommon announcements have taken place. We consumers have received several huge surprises during this year’s E3.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is “The Last Guardian.”

Sony’s announcement of the longstanding game due for release in 2016 is a monumental moment in video game artistry. “The Last Guardian” was first revealed in 2009 as a project by Team ICO and Fumito Ueda, the genius auteur behind “Ico” and “Shadow of the Colossus.” Both of those games were hugely influential when they were released in 2001 and 2005, respectively. “Shadow of the Colossus” is still considered to be one of the best games ever made because of its simplistic yet challenging gameplay, along with its incredible story and massive, puzzle-like foes.

Ueda is a master of bringing emotion into a game, making players connect with a story and creating memorable gaming moments. That’s why many gamers were incredibly excited to see a trailer for “The Last Guardian” six years ago.

Not much is known about the game, which features a boy and his giant griffin-like pet who assists him in exploring a ruin and running away from soldiers pursuing them. It’s beautiful graphic-wise, to be sure. It features what appears to be a giant, lovable cat-bird-monkey.

Yet no one has known much beyond that for six years.

Team ICO was famous for releasing its games on a four-year timetable, but this game has been in development for almost a decade. It was originally announced for the Playstation 3 in 2009, but it appeared to have been stuck in development for years, especially after Ueda left Team ICO and Sony in 2011. Ueda is still contracted to direct and design the game, but that didn’t stop people from speculating “The Last Guardian” was arguably dead as a project.

Obviously, things have changed. Sony dropped a trailer for “The Last Guardian” during the first day of E3, which caused massive excitement online. The game is now on Playstation 4 and will likely be a huge financial success when it’s released next year.

Yet the game has a lot of hype to live up to. Ueda and Team ICO are arguably responsible for influencing many smaller-scale developers who have hit it big with emotional, beautiful puzzle games such as thatgamecompany’s “Journey” or Minority’s “Papo & Yo.” Gamers have come to expect wonderful things from this particular genre, and many games have built upon ideas featured in “Ico” or “Shadow of the Colossus.”

So it’s important for “The Last Guardian” to be more than a financial success for Sony this time around. This is a game which left gamers in complete darkness for years when it promised an emotional story. This is a game which has built an expectation among gamers for being innovative and inspiring. This is a game which is expected to make people feel as good or as awed as they did in “Shadow of the Colossus.”

In other words, players expect to connect with this game on a deep level.

It remains to be seen whether “The Last Guardian” can compete with its spiritual successors on the market. Sony has captured consumer interest with this spectacle of a game, however. Even if Sony and Team ICO push the release date for “The Last Guardian” further back, last week’s announcement proves gamers are still eager for the emotional payoff this game needs to bring. The audience has become part of the story now, after all. They’ve waited a long time for this game — long enough to crave the emotional payoff everyone needs from “The Last Guardian.”