Hey now everybody, hope you're having a great day, and welcome to my review of the Shadow Of The Colossus Remake! Back in 2005 when the PlayStation 2 was king of the land, a special game quietly came out that took me, and countless others by surprise. This was unlike anything I had ever seen before, and I had been playing videogames for a long time. I had such an amazing experience with it that I felt compelled to show it to as many of my friends as I could, and they all had the same thoughts about it as I did. We all enjoyed playing through the game over and over, until we finally had enough and moved on to other new releases. Of course I'm talking about the original Shadow of the Colossus, and since then there have been few, if any, titles that I've played that stayed with me the same way it did. Now the whole thing has been remade from the ground up for the PlayStation 4 and I've had the chance to play it again after all these years, so let's get into it.
Shadow of the Colossus is an action adventure game that was originally released for PlayStation 2 on my birthday October 18th, 2005, I actually forgot about that until looking it up for this review, and has now been remade for the PlayStation 4. The game was developed by Team Ico, and is part of their trilogy that features Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Guardian. All three of those are fantastic, but my favorite has always been Shadow of the Colossus. This Remake completely remade the entire game very faithfully, keeping all of the magic while making the visuals up to par by today's standards. As someone who played the original many times, it's pretty amazing to see this new version look so good.
Throughout the game you receive very little information as to what the hell is going on right up until the end, and even then some people might be left wondering. If you pay attention to all the subtleties you will probably be able to guess by the end what's really happening though. All I will tell you are the basics so that nothing gets spoiled, you should just play it for yourself to get the full experience anyway. You play as a man named Wander who is carrying a dead maiden named Mono on horseback. The horse is your trusty companion, and pretty much the only living thing you interact with throughout the game, Agro.
Wander is on a journey to try and resurrect the dead maiden by bringing her to a Forbidden Land that is closed off from the rest of the world. The southern half of the Forbidden Land is surrounded by the ocean, and the rest is blocked off by a steep mountain range with only one treacherous path leading into it. Wander rides for days along this mountain path until finally he crosses the massive bridge leading to the main temple. Once he arrives he places the girl on the alter and then suddenly a disembodied voice begins to speak. The voice tells Wander that if he wants to bring her back to life then all he needs to do is kill the 16 Colossi that roam the land.
You get a clue to where you can find the first Colossus and then you're off on your own. That's all the information you get, you don't know who Wander is or where he came from, you don't know who this girl is to you, and you don't know what this voice is that's helping you. All that's left to do is climb aboard your faithful horse Agro and begin the search for the first Colossus. To find it all you need to do is hold your sword up by pressing R1, and a beam of light will shoot out showing you where to go. Now the real game begins and you're free to roam the Forbidden Lands as you wish, taking in all of the beautiful scenery.
Part of what makes this game so incredible is the sharp contrast in gameplay and tone that you will notice as you play through. As you ride around searching for the Colossi you will notice that there are no other enemies in the open world, nor are there any NPC's. The whole place is vacant, except for a few birds and lizards here and there. It's very peaceful and serene with so many beautiful places to take in that when you do find a Colossus it's shocking. As soon as you locate the first one and you see how awesomely huge it is the whole tone of the game changes. Dramatic music starts playing, and the ground begins to tremble under your feet as the giant moves closer and closer.
Now you have to figure out how to take one of these down, and each one is like a puzzle that you need to solve. All you have is your sword, your bow and arrow, and your ability to climb. If you shoot a few arrows at the Colossus that should get it's attention, then you need to look for a place to start climbing up. You can climb up their fur so look for a place with fur to grab hold of and begin climbing. As you make your way up this enormous thing it will start to thrash around desperately trying to fling you off. This makes for an incredible experience, especially the first time playing the game. Then all you need to do is find the glowing blue sigil, usually located on it's head, and keep stabbing it until the beast finally falls.
The first few Colossus, while still very intimidating, are basically the game's tutorial, teaching you the fundamentals of gameplay. But after that they get progressively more difficult, and the solution to the puzzle might not be obvious at first. Some of the Colossi you face after the first few are some of the most memorable game bosses I've ever seen, and now that they're done in such high definition they look absolutely amazing. Going from the tranquil, serene landscape, to holding on for dear life as you fly through the air atop a massive Colossus that's trying to fling you off as though you were a bug, is a feeling I just can't describe in a way that does it justice. Once you figure out how to take it down, and then you successfully climb up and kill it, you get a rush that not many games have ever given me before.
Every time you destroy one of them you become engulfed in a black smoke of some kind, and wake up back in the central temple where you started. Then you get another clue to where the next one will be, and head out again until all 16 of them are gone. It's a very simple premise that's executed perfectly, and this minimalistic nature is what makes Shadow of the Colossus so special. It's not padded out with a bunch of repetitive side quests, or some convoluted story that makes no sense, it's a beautiful world filled only with menacing giants, and the only friend you have to help you is Agro your horse. It's a piece of art that you get to play through and experience first hand that has stayed with me since the first time I played it back in 2005.
The only thing that might throw some people off is the wonky controls. Getting used to controlling the horse, or climbing, might take a little while if you're new to this game, but please don't let that stop you from playing it. There are a lot of subtleties in the controls that you need to figure out, but keep in mind that they are done deliberately and add to the feeling of realism while climbing the Colossi. It all makes perfect sense, just keep practicing and you should get the hang of it in no time. It's really not a big deal I just needed something critical to say about this magnificent game, and that's really the only thing I could come up with.
There are also shrines scattered throughout the map to unlock that refill your health, and be on the lookout for lizards with blue glowing tails. If you shoot them with your bow you can pick up the tail and it makes your stamina bar permanently bigger. Some trees have fruit on them that you can shoot off, and these will make your health bar permanently bigger. I think that's about it, what more can I say about such a unique and wonderful experience. This is truly of one the best games ever made, it's a work of art that's also just a joy to play though. Everybody should try this out for themselves, especially now with this Remake it's better then ever and I had a blast reliving such a masterpiece. I give Shadow Of The Colossus Remake a grade of.......................................
A
Thank you for reading my review of Shadow of the Colossus Remake, I hope you enjoyed it!