![]() As you climb up the ancient beasts the spectacle becomes even grander: getting up close to their mottled, rocky flesh and thick brown fur, watching in wonder at the sheer force they’re exhibiting trying to shake you off. Rocks crumble from cliffs and Colossus alike with each thumping step. Flocks of birds cast their own shadows in sun rays. Two console generations have certainly made a difference: texture detail has increased substantially, with temple walls, distant cliffs, vegetation and of course the Colossi themselves all looking crisp and defined. Bluepoint, the studio behind this remake, created all the game’s assets from the ground up and boy does it show. ![]() Playing on the PS4 Pro in 4k and HDR, I can safely say that Shadow of the Colossus is visually showstopping all over again. It’s genius and purposeful game design: they want you to feel responsible for every part of this process. You press square once to raise your sword, you press it again to plunge it into your enemy. Every step of the process is done by the player, you press a button to grip the Colossus’ fur, you stop pressing that button to let go. There’s no quick-time-events or flashy finishing moves, you have to climb the creature’s body inch by inch and slowly stab it to death. There’s no targeting or lock-on system, you have to work out how to make the enemy vulnerable. There’s no quick travel or quest markers, you have to navigate the terrain, sometimes retreading familiar ground, to find each individual beast’s lair. Something that is as impressive and powerful now as it was in 2006 is the amount of player agency involved in each step of this process. When you emerge victorious you’re sent back to the temple you started out from and are given a clue to the next Colossus’ whereabouts and the cycle begins again. Others still involve traversing the landscape in order to get the creature into a vulnerable position. Others require you to think a little more creatively: hiding in an underground chamber until the beast leans down to try and find you, then jumping on it’s lowered tail, or getting a winged Colossus to swoop you and then jumping on it’s back as it flies past. For some, it’s just a matter of climbing the stone platforms the Colossus is wearing as armour and then locating it’s weak spots (signified by glowing runes) and stabbing it without getting shaken off. Each of these battles is a puzzle in and of itself. Even once you find the creature it’s never as simple as just hitting it until it runs out of health. You may have to climb up to a giant platform that towers over a lake or travel through a dense forest, for example. Sometimes finding them is as simple as getting from A to B, but for the most part, there’s a little more work involved. You venture out from the temple on your trusty steed Agro, using the light that emanates from your sword to guide you to the next Colossus. Shadow of the Colossus is cyclical in nature. In 2018, Shadow of the Colossus has been remade with all the graphical prowess the PlayStation 4 can muster but does it offer more than a fresh coat of paint? So begins Wander’s journey and, for a lot of people, one of the most memorable video game experiences of all time. The entity tells Wander that it will do as he asks, but only if he kills the 16 Colossi that inhabit this vast land. In 2006, players took control of a boy named Wander who travels to a temple to ask a bodiless entity to bring a mysterious girl back to life. Releasing only a year before the launch of the PlayStation 3, it was the swan song for the absolute juggernaut that was the PlayStation 2. The original Shadow of the Colossus is considered by many to be one of the greatest games ever made.
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