You play ICO first (pronounced EEko btw, for RL convos).
SOTC came second and it's a better game, so going backwards by playing SotC 1st wouldn't be to your best gaming interest. You could lose interest in ICO doing that. Also, chronologically, it makes sense to play ICO first because it came out first. Both games are connected to the same mythos believe it or not, so if you like the universe, it's nice to have completed both games and playing SotC you may decide to never finish ICO after starting it and finding it not as exciting. They are not in the same genre, one is more puzzle platformer and the other being more a more action platformer/Boss Rush Mode on steroids. Both are revered games, but SotC is considered the better game and rightfully so. Playing SotC first is sort of like eating pie with ice cream first and then finishing your meal with broccoli last.
I enjoyed both games, but I'm certain I would have a different opinion if I played them out of order by playing SotC first. Then again, playing them over a decade later, maybe you won't enjoy them as I did back in 2001's ICO and 2005's SotC, who knows.
I recently went through those games with my lady last year or the year before, and enjoyed the HD experience, but part of that was because it was hang out time for both of us. She enjoyed herself, but I did wonder back then how she would have felt back when these games were technical wonders, as they are dated by today's gaming graphics standards.
I don't know if the HD collection will live up to the HYPE generated over the years by the cult following, but best of luck to you. When I bought them, there was literally no HYPE, I was one of those gamers trying to expose those niche gems back then. In my experience, HYPE can have disastrous effects on my movie going/game playing/book reading experiences, so I try to get to these forms of media to prevent that effect, but not everyone is wired like that. Too many times I've seen threads like, "XYZ was TERRIBLE, why is it SOOOO Overrated." I usually think those complaining should have tried whatever game/book/movie/tv show was before it was overrated, they may have enjoyed it instead of instantly critiquing it.
It's funny, I remember posting here in System Wars about Shadow of the Colossus prior to it's release in 2005, and trying to explain why people should give it a shot. When I would bring up, from the creators of ICO, they didn't know what that was either. Those were the days. I doubt I sold a single copy, lol. I miss talking about and exposing neat new IPs / niche games like Phantom Dust, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, Maximo, Eternal Darkness, Zone of the Enders 2nd Runner, Pac-Man Vs., Viewtiful Joe, etc. It's comical because here I am talking about ICO and SotC now in 2014 on the same forum and website, it blows my mind. I never fathomed I would be chatting about those very same games with my same opinion all these years later. I'm grateful that ICO/SotC were given an HD collection for modern gamers, there is not enough of those HD collections for some forgotten games. A lot of games got skipped for the HD roll call, like Onimusha series for instance.
I actually bought both ICO and SotC on their PS2 launch days having had reserved each one, so I recall having had to wait years for SotC. It's nice to be able to have both games side by side for first timers.
That's a lot more than I wanted to type, but I'm just making some conversation. My recommendation is play ICO first, besides making conversation I wanted to give you background on where I'm coming from. My gaming roots. It's possible this background would be the exact reason why you may never touch either game after reading, which is also fine. As long as it helps in some way, lol.
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