I love your content and dedication to ICO!

Hi! Thanks so much for asking! At the time of writing that entry into the Iceberg, all I knew was that "Torture Chamber" was written onto a concept sheet depicting an early stage layout for the game. Found only in the pages of Famitsu's ICO 20th Anniversary Issue (published Dec 16th, 2021) on Page 25.

Of course, I never would've picked out or accurately translated the text without help from Glitterberri, who shared my curiosity about this sheet when I shared it with her. It's specifically that large rectangle crossed out near the center. This concept likely marks the moment it was cut from the game. In this layout, it may have been near Stage 5b (now known as West Crag) and Stage 8a (now known as Trolley). Of course, those stages probably didn't resemble what they are in the final product. But since discovering this, I've spoken with the designer of the stage. And he revealed the following information and images, which will be cited where possible: - The Torture Chamber was actually one secret section of a room listed earlier in the layout: 11a, which we now know as the Dynamite Room. [1] This means it also bordered 1b (now known as Dark Room). - It moved in the Castle layout a number of times. Once being set beside the Chandelier room. [2]

Thanks to the above image, we know that the Torture Chamber is a secret room, with the door usually closed. [speculation] The implication of the stage layout concept changes when viewed with this information. Ico first visits 11a for the stated purpose of 11a: Dynamite. But later, as he traverses the Castle in the game's climax, he would be required to access the secret torture chamber in order to progress. [/speculation] - "What I had in mind when I made it was not to torture Yorda, but rather the imprisoning and torturing of traitorous soldiers, off-island invaders, and the like." - Various props, detailed in Lightwave 3D (the animation/modeling program that the team would design the rooms in, before porting to PS1 and PS2) were shared in an earlier Bluesky post. [3] And most of those near the bottom are set in the Dynamite Room.

In the far bottom left, you can see the torture chamber's ベッド ('bed'), as it was labeled in the earlier picture. (It's a very generous label if you ask me.) There's a short manacle attached to the wall by a chain, just beside it. Between the conveyor belt pictures is a glimpse of the 水道 (water supply), which we know is also located in the chamber.

I am reworking the aft section of my Miranda Class starships