Whether you’re gazing into the distance from a colossus’ shoulder or getting lost in the maze of the fur on its hide, it’s hard not get swept away. ![]() In a game that draws so much from the awe and beauty of the natural world, that makes a world of difference. If I didn’t know any better, I’d have said this was a brand new PS4 game, such is the visual fidelity this time around. This isn’t a simple remaster rather, all the game’s assets have been remade from the ground up, giving everything a level of detail that would never have been possible on older consoles. The PlayStation 4 remake takes that all to another level. There’s a religious angle in Wander’s appeal to a higher power to cope with his grief, and in Dormin’s apparent inspiration from the biblical Nimrod.Īny way you look at it, Shadow of the Colossus is a masterpiece of a game, and one of the best examples of the medium’s artistic power. There’s an existentialist angle in Wander’s seemingly futile efforts to undo the past and find meaning in his life. There’s a clear environmentalist angle: you’re destroying the natural world, in the most literal sense, out of a selfish desire to unwind fate, and you’re destroying yourself in the process. Put this all together, and you’ve got a piece of art that’s overflowing with metaphor and things to think about. This happens after the cutscene’s ended, so you can try to outrun the plague, but you’ll never succeed-the dark cloud always catches you, and each time, Wander grows a little bit more sickly. It’s hard not to feel like the villain in this story, and that’s precisely the point.Įach “victory” also sees a strange black mist fly out of the colossus and infect Wander. There’s this slow collapse of the felled titan, the light gone from its eyes, and all that’s left is a mountain of rock, flesh, and fur. Where a typical action game would see its boss fights conclude with plenty of fanfare and excitement-a sense of achievement, of victory, of conquest-in Shadow of the Colossus, there’s a profound sense of sadness. That’s something similarly emphasised at the end of each fight. It feels like a land on the verge of fading into nothingness, and with every colossus you take down, you’re contributing to that erasure of life itself. Beautiful as the forbidden lands are, they’re also desolate, with little in the way of life. You’re not simply fighting monsters you’re driving a species to extinction. The world is serene and beautiful, and the many extended moments of quiet the game affords you, there’s plenty of time to ponder exactly what it is you’re doing. And it’s in these empty, thoughtful moments that Shadow of the Colossus is at its most powerful. There are ancient, crumbling ruins dotted around the landscape and curious geographical features, but there isn’t really much to do, per se. Instead of a map full of things to do and things constantly vying for attention, the world of Shadow of the Colossus is sparse, even empty. ![]() Before you can slay a colossus you have to find it, which means spending long stretches of time travelling across a huge expanse of wilderness on horseback. In a sense, this is an open-world game from a time before they were so overplayed. Combat makes up only a small fraction of the game, and it’s everything else-the stuff that gives those fights context-that really pulls the whole game together. It’s not about taking down the colossi so much as the adventure of facing off against them.Īs brilliantly realised as those fights are, they’re not what makes Shadow of the Colossus the masterpiece that it is. Shadow of the Colossus isn’t some fast-paced action game or methodical Souls -like it’s a game about the grandiosity of it all. The scale of the colossi is a sight to behold, and that’s all the more apparent when you’re clinging to the fur on their back, a great many storeys high. ![]() Even though you’re fighting these colossi, mechanically they’re more like platformer puzzles you have to figure out where, when, and how to climb so that you can safely make it all the way up. If Wander can slay all 16 colossi, the god-like Dormin will bring his friend back to life, so he sets about to take down these giants, one at a time.įighting each colossus involves scaling their giant forms, managing your stamina as the beast tries to shake you off, until you can reach its weak point and pierce it with your sword. On paper, Shadow of the Colossus is simple: in an effort to resurrect his friend, a young boy called Wander travels to a forbidden land that’s home to giant beasts. And it remains true today, with the PlayStation 4 remake once again reminding the world of how important this game is. It was still true in 2011, when it got ported to PlayStation 3 alongside its predecessor, Ico. That was true in 2005, when it first came out on PlayStation 2. Shadow of the Colossus is one of the most remarkable achievements of the video game art form.
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