After beating ICO, I could easily pinpoint what made the game special to me. Even with it’s fair amount of experimental elements, it was a much more straightforward experience, and describing what makes it great, even with my own amount of personal impressions about it, was not an issue.

I can’t say the same for Shadow of the Colossus, though. I can feel what I’m feeling after finishing a game and instantly putting it in my top 5 favourite games EVER, but to translate it into words is a completely different story. I believe it’s one of those instances in which you simply have to play it and experience it in order to understand the greatness of this work of art - or, better, in order to form your own set of feelings towards it.

SotC is a game that slowly grows up on you through the course of it’s - extremely minimalistic - narrative. In the beginning you may think it will be a game about crossing large and empty plains, kinda grey-ish in tone, mindlessly fighting giant after giant… but once you step in a new environment, completely different from what the game’s first impression gave beforehand, it’s hard not to stand in awe. In my case, it was Autumn Forest, at the southwestern part of the map. The amount of green, of details, everything in it was what hooked me in.

And, as you keep exploring these Forbidden Lands, you realise how much it’s been masterfully crafted. Every inch of it. A fully realised world, as much as ICO’s castle, even though being conceived within an enormously different scope. I kinda think about it (especially regarding it’s “emptiness”) as Ocarina of Time’s Hyrule Field, but done right. You may think the only thing contained in this world are the Colossi you have to fight, but the game would NEVER be as impactful if it weren’t for these environments. I lost count of how much I moved the right analog stick, just to check around my surroundings, every mountain, every green plain, every dune in a desert, every piece of broken ancient architecture… and the list goes on and on.

I think the game’s mechanics can end up being what most people would complain about. Controlling Wander can be frustrating. A LOT. Some fights can provide you enough frustration as well… But, I think it contributes to what I felt whilst playing this: it is far more an interactive experience than a proper game, so to speak. I really FELT like a tiny little man going against these gargantuan beasts. I felt how little could I do with my physical traits alone. And, in a sense, it kinda felt like a giant-killing simulator, much more than any other game I’ve ever played. This feeling is an integral part of how the game presents it’s plot, which led to one of the most unique, touching and everlasting endings in the history of this medium.

Could you, dear review reader, notice how much I mentioned FEELING in these brief paragraphs? Trying to objectively express how great Shadow of the Colossus is can be a tough task for some. And, personally, I think it’s impossible. Play it, let it grow on you, let your own feelings guide you towards your perception about this title. You’re in for something really special.

Sempre amei esse jogo, a ideia, os mistérios e amei ele mesmo sem nunca joga-lo durante anos, só pude experimentar esta obra prima depois de comprar meu Ps3 e foi incrível porém, abandonei a ideia de escalar o jardim secreto na época, pensei q seria mt difícil e eu não queria me esforçar, meses depois em novembro de 2023 coloquei minha namorada para jogar, ela matou alguns colossus até ela cavalgar em volta do santuário e perguntar pra mim:"Da pra escalar?"
Naquele momento um brilho passou pelos meus olhos, ela tentou escalar por um tento mas logo desistiu porém, eu peguei o controle e passei a caçar cada um dos lagartos para aumentar minha estamina, depois descobri que podia matar os colossus para conseguir estamina e passei a caça-los novamente, cada colosso derrotado era uma tentativa de escalar o santuário, fiz bugs da versão de ps3 mas ainda necessitava de muita estamina, depois de horas tentando eu finalmente consegui, cheguei ao topo e pude eu mesmo observar as terras proibidas, a sensação foi incrível e finalmente senti que havia feito tudo que deveria e senti de novo a sensação que foi descobrir tudo sobre esse jogo, as pessoas que jogamos podem despertar e fazer-nos experienciar momentos incríveis.

Shadow of the Colossus still displays Ueda's signature approach to minimalist and subtractive design, and it benefits greatly from that still. There’s a lot I still love about Shadow of the Colossus. The character dialogue is excellent at painting a picture of this haunting world and the characters within it, suggesting character motivations and themes to chew on.

I love the narrative setup of Shadow of the Colossus. A man, Wander, has come to a forbidden place bearing the body of a seemingly dead woman. He wants to heal her, and in his quest he gets the direction of a mysterious entity who tells him to slay the colossi that roam the land. Immediately this setup suggests a lot of really compelling themes. There is the contrast between life and death, or life that comes about through death. If Ico is a game about the strengths of human bonds, SotC asks what people will do to restore bonds they have lost, and the price that can come with that. And the game pays all of this off really well with its conclusion. I won’t spoil its ending, but it brings these ideas and themes which have been simmering over the course of the game to a close.

In between it’s exceptional start and end, is a middle which is good, but feels like a lot. Maybe it’s a bit absurd to complain about the size of an adventure in a game literally about confronting foes of gigantic proportions. I certainly felt the size of the adventure! Where Ico was very compact, very tight, SotC has you fight 16 of these giants, and the structure doesn’t really change in between each one. The voice tells you to kill a beast, you ride across the land to find its lair, you kill it, and then you repeat. This is the structure of the game, and it doesn’t deviate from this path for a single moment. I found that this made the pace drag a bit. Where Ico would have you bounce between combat, exploration, platforming, and puzzles very regularly, SotC has riding to the fight, maybe hunting some lizards or exploring parts of the environment, and then doing a fight. I just found it a bit more tiring, which again, maybe that’s the point. Still, maybe if the game was slightly shorter I’d be more inclined to replay it.

The world itself is still lovely and haunting. The Forgotten Lands are gorgeous and full of nature, but there is a history etched into the rocks. You can only observe fragments of old structures, with very little ability to comprehend their original purpose and meaning. The land can’t be understood, but its atmosphere is felt.

The battles are also memorable. Each is unique, with their own personality, and that lends itself to a very unique form of puzzle combat where defeating a Colossi isn’t about matching their raw strength, but in outsmarting and outlasting them.

There is a lot to love about Shadow of the Colossus. Its narrative setup injects this adventure with such potent and complex themes that leave players with few simple answers. To play Shadow of the Colossus is to accept that it won’t be an easy experience, not just with the gameplay but in the questions the game forces you to answer. I have immense respect for it, even if the compact beauty of Ico is just slightly more to my own personal taste, but honestly, after writing this I could maybe convince myself that Shadow of the Colossus is the better game. Maybe.

I have been wanting to review this game forever, and now I have the chance. I played this back in 2005 when it first came out and it was just unreal. SotC still has some of the best graphics to grace the PS2, it almost looked next-gen at the time. Of course, it suffered from massive slowdown, but now we can play it with some extra graphical effects and at 60FPS. There’s not much of a story here, there never is with Famito Ueda’s games. You are a boy named Wander who brings a girl to a temple, a cursed land and vows to destroy all 16 colossi in order to bring her back to life. The game has one of the most touching endings I can remember.

The game is very basic, you just head to each colossus and slay it. There is a huge open world, but it is very barren and void of life, but that’s the way it is supposed to be. You feel very alone and helpless in this land of brown and gray. You have two weapons, a sword, and a bow. You can hold the sword up to the light to guide you to the next colossus which really isn’t that hard. Once you find it you have to figure out how to get on top of it and that’s the tricky part. Each colossus is completely different. Some are tall, some are fat, some are the size of a lion. These lumbering beasts will attack, but you need to find their weak spots. One colossus has weak spots on the bottom of its feet. When it walks you need to use your bow and shoot it. It then falls over and you can jump up and grab its fur and start climbing. Some aren’t so easy, in fact, there are no hints on how to get on top of these beasts. One tricky water serpent requires you to swim over him and then his tail will come out of the water so you can grab it.

The best part is when you get on these things. Each colossus is like a level in itself. You can to climb around and hold the R1 button to stay on. They will try to shake you and your window to actually stab the glowing weak spots is really small. You have a stamina meter and when it depletes you let go and fall back down. This can be really frustrating if getting on top of the Colossus is already frustrating or a long fiasco. As you slay these monsters your stamina and health increase, but you still need to watch out. The worst part about the game is the God awful controls. They just suck and the game mechanics are sluggish and unresponsive. If it weren’t for this the game would be perfect. Wander’s animations are a bit jerky and when the colossi shake you and your stamina is dropping you just want to charge your stab and kill it, but sure enough, you get shaken again right as you start to charge. Wander flops around and it just feels sluggish. When you try walking on the colossus Wander will fall and tumble, sometimes right down to the ground. I almost threw my controller several times because of this. You will mainly die because of the mechanics, not your skills.

Let’s talk about your horse. Aggro is the main character, but I felt like I was driving a Mac truck. He won’t move if you push the stick forward, instead you have to mash X and it takes forever for his momentum to get going. You can only tap the stick left and right to steer him, but he moves too quickly and runs right into walls, which he then stops on a dime and turns completely around. Maneuvering through tight areas is a serious pain. The horse controls are just terrible. This is probably the only bad part of the game, there is nothing else like this game out there. The colossi themselves look fantastic and are just gigantic. You really feel helpless and wonder how you are going to take this thing down. It all adds to the foreboding atmosphere of the game, the loneliness, and helplessness that you feel throughout.

The graphics are superb even to this day. The PS3 version adds some texture filtering, anti-aliasing, and of course, the frame rate is 60 now. There’s also some extra bloom added so the lighting looks great. However, despite all this greatness, the game is pretty short and you can beat it in about 5-6 hours. All you do is slay all 16 colossi and you’re done. However, it is a very memorable experience.

Overall, Shadow of the Colossus was a milestone for the PS2 and is still one of the best games ever made. The frustrating controls and game mechanics keep this game from being as perfect as all the rest. Have patience and just deal with it. Every PlayStation fan should play this game.

SotC is a genuine masterpiece of a video game. The story is a great example of letting the gameplay control your player's emotions without much dialogue. The bosses are living puzzles that really tesr your patience and resolve. The world is incredible somber and lonesome. But the biggest stand out is the incredible soundtrack. This was the first OST I bought physically and it will forever be my favorite game soundtrack of all time. Some may complain about the controls, but I personally never had any issues with it. The 2018 Remake is also great and definitely worth playing due to its QoL fixes, but Fumito Ueda's original vision will always be one of my favorite games of all time.

In short: this is kino at its finest.