This review contains spoilers
As I have just finished this game, I wanted to take the time to write about how wonderful it is. I wasn't expecting a 16 year old game to compete with today's best titles but wow, it blew me away.
First, the gameplay. Usually, my mindset going into an older game is: "The gameplay won't be as polished but that's fine." SOTC, however, still holds up today. There was never any time that I felt I was being held back by limitations of controls, or mechanics.
Wander, the main character, feels wonderful to control. He's agile, yet not slippery; light, but not weightless. Climbing around the colossi and performing whatever maneuvers are required of you felt challenging, but still possible. It's a wonderful use of the mechanics.
And the design of each colossus plays well into that. They're all meant to provide you with a trial and error challenge, requiring you to resolve ways to defeat each one individually. They work so well, and not a single one made me feel it was "too hard" or "cheap".
Lastly, this game (I feel) is the perfect example of minimalist storytelling. Not much information is presented yet it tells an in-depth story. You get a brief background, introductions to Dormin, and you're on your way to kill colossi.
It's only through the game that you realize the bleak reality that's been set and continues to unfold. Wander is doing this work, presumably with a stolen sword from his tribe, to revive this woman. Dormin tells him he has to kill the colossi for his goal, yet it seems misleading.
As Wander kills each colossus, you see tendrils of darkness enter his body from the corpses. He absorbs the darkness in each one and it slightly affects him, slowly changing his physique every few times he reawakens in the temple.
That's one of the main themes of this game, light and darkness cannot exist without the other. Where there's abundant light, there exists minimal darkness, and vice versa. It's very subtle through most of the playthrough but you're constantly being reminded.
By the time you realize that the darkness is taking over Wander, it's too late. Taking out the colossi was just Dormin's plan to have himself revived, as the statues and accompanying colossi were binds that kept his form from being physical.
Dormin's voice changes here too. In his invisible form, he had two voices, one male, one female, representing the forces that were oppressing him to that state. To bind his overwhelming, even evil masculinity, they added a feminine presence. Tiny but great addition
Now when member's of Wander's tribe take out Dormin, seemingly killing him, the story seems as it is going to be a win for no one. However, right before the credits, we see Mono, the woman Wander had brought with him, arise from the table.
She walks to where Dormin was put to rest, and finds a child with horns. Without any way to know, we can only presume this is the remaining physical form of Wander, being reduced from his body being a host to Dormin. Now even this short scene portrays a LOT.
Mono has been radiating light the entire time. While she was just in the sun beforehand, she's even glowing in dark places now. I presumed this to be because of the last bit of good in Dormin's heart used to revive Mono. Especially being attached to a caring woman.
Wander's form now has horns, representing the last bit of evil, or even just presence, inside him from Dormin. Reduced to this form, it's easy to see the true characteristics of Dormin, childish and immature.
All this being another allegory for two polar opposites not being able to exist without each other. Dormin's caring side couldn't exist without his evil side, and vice versa. Light cannot exist without darkness and the opposite.
To conclude, SOTC is a beautiful tragedy telling the realities of life. Positives cannot exist without negatives and the reverse is true. We encounter them all the time yet it's up to us to determine which is which and allow those we want to enter out hearts before it's too late.
First, the gameplay. Usually, my mindset going into an older game is: "The gameplay won't be as polished but that's fine." SOTC, however, still holds up today. There was never any time that I felt I was being held back by limitations of controls, or mechanics.
Wander, the main character, feels wonderful to control. He's agile, yet not slippery; light, but not weightless. Climbing around the colossi and performing whatever maneuvers are required of you felt challenging, but still possible. It's a wonderful use of the mechanics.
And the design of each colossus plays well into that. They're all meant to provide you with a trial and error challenge, requiring you to resolve ways to defeat each one individually. They work so well, and not a single one made me feel it was "too hard" or "cheap".
Lastly, this game (I feel) is the perfect example of minimalist storytelling. Not much information is presented yet it tells an in-depth story. You get a brief background, introductions to Dormin, and you're on your way to kill colossi.
It's only through the game that you realize the bleak reality that's been set and continues to unfold. Wander is doing this work, presumably with a stolen sword from his tribe, to revive this woman. Dormin tells him he has to kill the colossi for his goal, yet it seems misleading.
As Wander kills each colossus, you see tendrils of darkness enter his body from the corpses. He absorbs the darkness in each one and it slightly affects him, slowly changing his physique every few times he reawakens in the temple.
That's one of the main themes of this game, light and darkness cannot exist without the other. Where there's abundant light, there exists minimal darkness, and vice versa. It's very subtle through most of the playthrough but you're constantly being reminded.
By the time you realize that the darkness is taking over Wander, it's too late. Taking out the colossi was just Dormin's plan to have himself revived, as the statues and accompanying colossi were binds that kept his form from being physical.
Dormin's voice changes here too. In his invisible form, he had two voices, one male, one female, representing the forces that were oppressing him to that state. To bind his overwhelming, even evil masculinity, they added a feminine presence. Tiny but great addition
Now when member's of Wander's tribe take out Dormin, seemingly killing him, the story seems as it is going to be a win for no one. However, right before the credits, we see Mono, the woman Wander had brought with him, arise from the table.
She walks to where Dormin was put to rest, and finds a child with horns. Without any way to know, we can only presume this is the remaining physical form of Wander, being reduced from his body being a host to Dormin. Now even this short scene portrays a LOT.
Mono has been radiating light the entire time. While she was just in the sun beforehand, she's even glowing in dark places now. I presumed this to be because of the last bit of good in Dormin's heart used to revive Mono. Especially being attached to a caring woman.
Wander's form now has horns, representing the last bit of evil, or even just presence, inside him from Dormin. Reduced to this form, it's easy to see the true characteristics of Dormin, childish and immature.
All this being another allegory for two polar opposites not being able to exist without each other. Dormin's caring side couldn't exist without his evil side, and vice versa. Light cannot exist without darkness and the opposite.
To conclude, SOTC is a beautiful tragedy telling the realities of life. Positives cannot exist without negatives and the reverse is true. We encounter them all the time yet it's up to us to determine which is which and allow those we want to enter out hearts before it's too late.