BGE S1: Shadow of the Colossus (Review)

Imagine a game where there are no levels (in the conventional sense), no bad guys to attack, and no background music for most of your playing time. For the vast majority of your experience you'll only have your horse for company as you ride and trot your way through a huge barren landscape, almost devoid of life and overwhelmingly lonely. Your only guide in this spartan wilderness is the disembodied voice of a dissected and vanquished god, whose fractured soul is trapped in sixteen large and unbreakable statues. It is your quest to decipher the cryptic clues given by this entity, point the glint of your sword towards the sun and find the greatest secret contained in this forgotten landscape: there are sixteen colossal beasts, creatures of varying size and temperament, and you must find a way to vanquish them all and cheat the death of your loved one.


"Raise thy sword by the light... and head to the place where the sword's light gathers... There, thou shalt find the colossi thou art to defeat."


At the time this game was released I remember being utterly blown away by the vastness of it's open world, as I'd never played a game that gave you so much freedom to explore and investigate. In open-world games like the Elder Scrolls or Red Dead Redemption the landscape is populated by side quests and NPCs with which to interact and lots of lower level baddies that stand in your way and provide things to do en route to your destination. Shadow of the Colossus has none of these. Your journey is incredibly lonely, and Team ICO did a fantastic job of creating scenery and landscapes that dwarf you and make you feel incredibly small and insignificant. This also infuses your surroundings with a sense of wonder, and by investigating the ruined buildings and shrines dotted throughout the land, you start to build up your own interpretation of the history and lore prefacing events in the game. Again, this was the first time I'd experienced anything like this, and in fact wouldn't experience anything like it again until Demon's Souls.

Whist exploring and navigating your way across the forbidden land, through mucky swamps, rolling tundra and rocky canyons where the wind howls in echoed sadness, there are some things to pass the time. It becomes addictive finding and hunting the right kind of wild lizard, eating their tails and gaining a bit of stamina in the process. Climbing trees and harvesting the myriad types of fruit to increase your health bar is also very rewarding, as is finding the different hidden save shrines scatted throughout the land, and occasionally messing about with a playful eagle who swoops down on you inquisitively. It is the carefully crafted isolation and sense of being alone in the wilderness that draws you to these things, as well as bonding you very strongly to your horse, Agro. He is your only companion on your quest and the AI controlling him is programmed in such a way that he is not a mindless tool or vehicle; sometimes he will wander off and eat/drink on his own, he won't always go exactly the way you want him to, he bellows when distressed, etc. Agro feels very much like a sentient companion and you really grow attached to your equine friend through the course of the game.

Eventually, of course, you arrive at your destination and lay eyes upon the colossus you are tasked to dispatch. This is where the meat and bones of the 'gameplay' take place, as the game is essentially a series of (what would be in other games) "boss fights", with each colossi being more akin to a carefully crafted puzzle, the solving of which is key to its downfall. It's not an easy task, to first work out exactly how you're meant to overcome these gargantuan beasts, and then to actually put it into practice (although sometimes the game will chime in with a cryptic clue to help you figure it all out). Suffice to say, slaying these creatures is very exhilarating and such a stark juxtaposition to the bleakness and serenity of your travels, but there is also an air of sadness to your actions. Through the slow motion collapse of these distinct beings, coupled with a melancholy musical score, you genuinely feel guilt at having slain them; especially when so many of them seem to be peacefully going about their business until you show up and stab them in their magical vitals. For the completion of these challenges, your character is punished and sent back to the large tower in the centre of the forbidden land, a statue shatters and your are sent forth once more with new quarry by the suspicious Dormin.


"I don't believe this... So it was you after all. Have you any idea what you've done?! Not only did you steal the sword and trespass upon this cursed land, you used the forbidden spell as well..."

By the end of the game, Shadow of the Colossus has tugged on every heart string and put you through an emotional roller coaster, especially in it's closing hour or so. You will cheer, you will cry, and you will feel incredibly moved by the whole experience. This was the first game that really made me quietly reflect upon what had happened for days after it had ended, and showed the world that not only were games not a mindless point-collecting shoot-things-in-the-face-fest, but they could also be art and actually say something deep and meaningful. That the designers of Shadow of the Colossus managed to use stark minimalism to tell such a rich and fulfilling tale is pure genius of video game design and is utterly unique to the medium. This is not a game that wants to be a film, or a quick way to pass five minutes and get an adrenaline rush, this is something special to be savoured - a story told uniquely and with great catharsis through an interactive experience wholly different to anything that came before it (and influencing many that came after).

As an addendum, a high definition remaster of Shadow of the Colossus was released onto the PS3, and I had the opportunity to replay this experience all over again but with a framerate and resolution closer to the designer's intentions. Even though some of the technology has aged slightly (the streaming open-world pops up more viciously than modern video games) the game itself is still timeless. If anything, in a modern video game climate where gun-violence and warfare dominate, Shadow of the Colossus is still a breath of fresh air and if anything its uniqueness is only magnified. Whenever I'm asked what I think the greatest video game ever created is, I always default to this game, and until something comes along with as much ingenuity and impact as this had on me (and continues to do so every time I play it), I've a feeling it will remain in the top spot for years to come.

"...Now, be on thy way."