Shadow of the Colossus Retrospective

I remember two things about this game: sore thumbs and the tagline, "Some mountains are scaled. Some are slain." That, and I know few other games that look so bleak yet beautiful.

Matthewmatosis on a stream awhile ago: "SotC was enjoyable on multiple levels as it was not just a 'Team Ico Game' but also the 'Big Epic Boss Fight Game'. The Last Guardian though is just a 'Team Ico Game' where you have to have a certain mentality to really enjoy it. And that mentality is patience."

Shadow of the Colossus is so in depth that there's a channel on youtube (Nomad Colossus) entirely dedicated to exploring various aspects of the game. One of my favorite things that I never found on my initial playthrough was the hidden garden. It's briefly seen in the final cutscene but can actually be accessed by climbing up the side of the main temple area. But in order to do it, you need multiple playthrough's worth of grip gauge. When you finally reach the top, you find trees full of fruit. Astute players know that eating fruit increases your maximum health, but the fruit in this garden actually reduce you maximum health. It's a very interesting thing most players will probably never notice.

i never noticed this until watching this video but the 11th Colossus has webbed feet. This is just another subtle way of telling the player that the dried up land past its little temple was a lake. Jesus the detail.

Ok so here's a funny reflexion/theory (don't know if it really deserves to be called that) I've had while watching a SotC playthrough : doesn't the world where the story takes place (the forbidden lands or whatever you want to call it) have a lower gravity than the one we experience on earth ?    This idea came to me at first when I saw Wander moving. I have never seen a character moving like this in any other games (and I really like it honestly)... I have no idea of how the motion is coded whatsoever, but somehow Wander seems to "ragdoll" a little bit while running, which overall gives me the impression that he is very light and almost floating.    This 'floaty' feeling is even reinforced when you see the character jumping and climbing. He seems to have very little difficulty to wall jump from a point to another - like most video games hereos you might say. When you watch him perfom a simple jump, the physics seems sort of wrong according to our habits. Wander can go much higher and further than any person on earth, and the jump looks a bit like it's in slow motion... (of course you could argue that the developers simply struggled to code motions that "look real")    More clues : the falling damages are really low. Wander can litterally fall of a giant colossus without dying. Similarly, [spoiler alert] Agro falls down the collapsing bridge and manages to survive, only having a leg broken or something.   Even more clues : if you grip a pidgeon in the temple, it will carry you in the air for a short distance... That is definitely weird according to our terrestrian habits, and this surely was coded on purpose by the developpers.    Finally : a lower gravity could justify the existence of giant creatures such as the colossi (some of them even being able to fly despite their massive proportions). Basically, our gravity field prevents the existence of such gigantic creatures, because past a certain size the body starts to collapse by itself since the resistance of the internal structure (that depends on the typical surface of the body) cannot compete with the exploding mass (that depends on the typical volume)... (there are probably a ton of articles discussing this out there if you are interested) There you go, if you managed to read through all this, you deserved this virtual cookie ! Take it :) (btw, sorry about poor phrasing or eventual grammatical mistakes, I'm french)

I remember playing this back to back with Chrono Trigger after playing some PS3 games and really getting a new appreciation for older games and when “art” is a design intention set out by a team as opposed to just “fun”.

I got this game in 2005 because I've always loved Godzilla and giant monsters as a kid. I had no idea I would be analyzing and exploring the symbolism and mystique for hours after I initially beat it. I made many of my buddies play it just because it doubled as a fun puzzle game (like your conclusion implied) where you can watch the thrill of climbing together. But I've always valued the emotionally resonant aspects of SotC a bit more. Many of the design/aesthetic choices blew my mind in years ago and still do today upon repeat sessions in HD. The paling skin of Wander, the light pillars across the land, Agro's fall, the vacuum pool at the end, and the fact that some colossi don't even attack you first. Not to mention unintrusive easter eggs, like grabbing onto birds/doves for brief flight, standing on Agro, increasing your grip with Lizards, and the Secret Garden I never got to, SotC quickly became one of my top 10 favorite games of all time, and encouraged me to look at the potential of games differently. The opening is beautiful, the ending is bittersweet, the music is sweeping, and the visuals are grand. Nearly everything was unforgettable. The hardest thing to say about Ueda's games is whether or not to recommend Ico or SotC first to gamers unfamiliar with them. Like you said, Ico requires a specific mindset to enjoy (especially through some clunky controls), one that may only be acquired by some gamers if they enjoyed the more accessible SotC first. Yet Ico is also the predecessor, not to mention arguably less epic or powerful than its successor (and I tend to save the best for last). Regardless, I think the absence of a tight, sequential storyline between the two benefits both games, and I'm glad Ueda and his team have received the positive recognition they deserve over the years.

Atmosphere was key in this game. Very haunting, making you feel very lonely and suspenseful.

This game is truly a masterpiece.

You should be making a living off of this, unless you're not about that lifestyle. Either way you are incredibly talented at analyzing and likewise explaining the strong points and shortcomings of a lot of different styles of games.

God the soundtrack for this game is so remarkably beautiful, it alone makes this game worth playing Can't wait for the last guardian.

13:46 This is such a great point, and many developers should take note of it.

Hadn't played this in about 5yrs and just replayed it the other day. Thought the "awe" factor would definitely be gone, but those emotional moments in the end still had me holding back tears. A timeless masterpiece.

One of the first games that made me realize that games really could be art.

16:00 yes, such a weak attempt that only took away one-third of the wanderer's health.

I've had the Ico / Shadow of the Colossus HD collection on my shelf for 2 years now, still sealed. Think I'll play through it this weekend, my gaming backlog is immense!

I'm watching this while eating doritos and crying

This video was uploaded 8 years ago. When this video was made, Shadow of the Colossus had released 9 years ago. Time flies.

Legendary Game. Absolute Masterpiece for generations to come

Incredible game imo. I met my best buddy in middle school trying to tell kids about this game when it came out. He just happened to play it too; we hit it off and hung out every weekend until we graduated high school. He took his life last year. RIP BRYCE, LOVE YOU BROTHER.