Shadow of the Colossus: A Game that can’t be forgotten
This game has the best introduction I’ve ever seen in a game. The opening cut scene of our hero’s journey to the edge of the world is masterfully done. The music, the scenery, the art style, the simplicity of the world everything comes together to immerse the player in the dreamlike, lonely atmosphere that permeates the entire experience.
All these aspects of the game hold up throughout the entire experience. All the credit in the world should be given to the Bluepoint Games for the upgrading the visuals. And to Team Ico’s credit for the story-line of the game, they got a lot of things right with the original design of the game. The unique look of the game world remains a strong point from start to finish, the music always suits the game-play perfectly (though the repetitive nature of some of the pieces wore on me during the longer boss fights), and the atmosphere never wavers. My earlier description of the world as “dreamlike” was purposeful; the game really does give the player the sense that he or she is trapped in a dream, fighting a Sisyphean battle with only the faint breeze of the afternoon and the occasional lizard for company. In short, the presentation is top-notch. Aesthetically, Shadow of the Colossus offers an experience you won’t get anywhere else, and for that reason I can understand why the game is remembered fondly by so many.
Dark Souls is one of my favorite games of this decade, but it must be said that the game’s mechanics are probably its weakest point. The combat is deep and customizable enough to keep replays interesting, but that’s not why I come back to Dark Souls. I love Dark Souls because the world is organic and detailed, and filled with characters whose motivations and goals make sense to me. I love Dark Souls because it drenches the player in the lonely atmosphere of a crumbling world. I love Dark Souls because when I play it, I feel the burden of being horribly under equipped to save the world all alone.
The point I’m trying to make is that I understand games that stand up more on the strength of their story than their gameplay. But for me, what makes these games work is the fact that their gameplay is competent. Gameplay-wise, Spec Ops: The Line is just another drop in the tidal wave of third-person shooters that the early 2010s spat out, but the gameplay does its job well enough that I can enjoy the story unimpeded. Dark Souls’s hitboxes blow chunks sometimes, but the core gameplay works well enough that I don’t lose interest in seeing what else the world has to offer.
Like everything else in Shadow of the Colossus, the gameplay is deliberately minimalistic. You get from Point A to Point B on horseback, and you climb the colossi to stab their weak points. That’s it. Conceptually there’s nothing at all wrong with the gameplay. Heaven knows that plenty of games have exploration and boss fights, and stylistically it makes sense for Shadow of the Colossus to keep its gameplay simple. The problem is in the execution: your horse handles like trash and the game is very bad at judging whether or not you’re holding onto a given colossus. The camera is constantly fighting the player in both sections of the game, as it seems to be more concerned with showing off the world than it is with helping you to see where you’re going.
There was one point late in the game you’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve played it where the player has to go over a crumbling bridge, and I spent a solid 30 seconds glitchily falling to my death because the camera moved in such a way that I was no longer pointing my horse in the direction of safety. It also seems to be random as to whether or not your horse will understand your request to go faster, and navigating the thing around any sort of obstacle is a fool’s errand. Things don’t get much better once you’re in combat, either, as the colossi have an irritating habit of shaking you off in such a way that you’re still technically holding onto them but have no choice but to drop off and start over again.
This game has a great concept, just imagine you’re just a normal knight armed by a sword and shield and a mission to kill those 16 colossi. These colossi are not just a giant like from a famous fairy tale “jack and the beanstalk” let’s just take a look of these colossi.
The First Colossus
The player’s first target in Shadow of the Colossus.
The Second Colossus
A gigantic quadrupedal golem resembling a mammoth in Shadow of the Colossus.
The Third Colossus
A stony giant resembling an armored knight in Shadow of the Colossus.
The Fourth Colossus
The guardian of a verdant burial mound in Shadow of the Colossus.
The Fifth Colossus
A large flying golem perched above a flooded ruin in Shadow of the Colossus.
The Sixth Colossus
A bearded giant that guards an underground temple in Shadow of the Colossus.
The Seventh Colossus
A giant eel-like creature residing in a deep lake in Shadow of the Colossus.
The Eighth Colossus
A lizard-like creature that can scale vertical walls in Shadow of the Colossus.
The Ninth Colossus
A titanic tortoise-like golem shrouded by steam in Shadow of the Colossus.
The Tenth Colossus
A stony serpentine creature that dwells in a large cave in Shadow of the Colossus.
The Eleventh Colossus
A fierce golem with a fear of flames in Shadow of the Colossus.
The Twelfth Colossus
A large creature that resembles a living, floating island in Shadow of the Colossus.
The Thirteenth Colossus
A massive flying serpent that soars above a desert in Shadow of the Colossus
The Fourteenth Colossus
A canid-like golem that guards an ancient city in Shadow of the Colossus.
The Fifteenth Colossus
A cleaver-wielding giant that guards a fortress in Shadow of the Colossus.
The Sixteenth Colossus
Wander’s final foe in Shadow of the Colossus.
As each colossus falls, the released spirits of Dormin inhabits Wander’s body, changing his features more and more drastically with each felled colossus. Lord Emon arrives just after the last colossus, Magus, is defeated, to witness Wander return successful in his quest. Yaddi yadda, Wander gets stabbed, Dormin, now fully unsealed, takes control of the boy’s body and attacks the others. Yaddi yadda, sword gets thrown into well, and the only known entrance is destroyed.
Mono awakes, Dormin having fulfilled his end of the bargain, and finds an injured Agro meeting her. Agro being unafraid of Mono suggests that he knows her, not surprisingly, and at the well, she finds an infant with horns. While it could be Wander reincarnated, he has been inflicted with Dormin’s essence or curse, so it’s not so much a second chance for Wander as it is for Dormin. Shadow of the Colossus is considered the spiritual successor (albeit more of a prequel) to another game by the same folks, ICO, which is about a boy with horns. However, around forty generations of horned boys have passed, and in this game, these children are considered cursed. This also means that Mono and the boy had found a way out, along with some other theories that are potentially spoilers for ICO. For what it’s worth, because ICO is considered the sequel, I find its ending more worthy of discussion because you don’t have a game after it to give you a better idea as to how it ends like you do for Shadow of the Colossus. So it opens itself up to more interpretation.
Wander, the boy, rides away to the Forbidden Land with the body of a dead girl, Mono, who was killed due to having a “cursed fate”, and a very special sword that he stole. After him is Lord Emon and a group of men who wish to retrieve the sword, knowing what lies in the Forbidden Land.
The Shrine of Worship is supposedly where Dormin reigned before committing an “unforgivable act” which led the people who lived there to not only seal him but also leave the entire area (leading to all the abandoned ruins).
Wander enters through the one known entrance, and is greeted by the voice of Dormin, a powerful spirit who was split up and sealed into sixteen colossi. A deal is struck where Wander will defeat these colossi in order for Dormin to revive Mono.
I know a lot of people love Shadow of the Colossus. If you’re a fan of the game and you’ve come this far, props to you for hearing me out. I recognize that there are a lot of things to like about Shadow of the Colossus. But all the things that the game does well don’t gel with my definition of what makes a good game. I don’t regret playing Shadow of the Colossus, and I’m going to remember it as a good, unique story. But I just can’t concede that it’s a good game.
