Shadow of the Colossus is first and foremost a puzzle game. A good puzzle should be difficult to solve but never tedious to execute. Unfortunately, Shadow of the Colossus is the living definition of the word tedious. Every technical aspect of this game, from the camera to the controls to the collision detection to getting stun locked in boss fights to redoing phases in boss fights multiple times, is frustrating. There is not a single colossus that isn't groan-inducing in at least one way.

The most disappointing thing about this game is that it is a remake that remakes absolutely none of the shitty PS2 programming of the original 2005 game. For as much effort was put into making this world and the colossi within it look absolutely gorgeous, any effort that was made to make the play experience better is absolutely unnoticeable.

That being said, Shadow of the Colossus is still one of the most brilliant and beautiful games ever made. It is so easy to see Fumito Ueda's singular directorial vision. The story, world design, and gameplay all contribute to the one central idea that nothing else matters. Wander's journey to resurrect this girl is the only thing that is important. There are no distractions, no side quests, nothing in the world to explore, hardly any collectibles, no extra lore, nothing other than Wander, Agro, and the next colossus that stands between Wander and his goal. Any other game would be as bloated as possible with content, and that was true of the state of the industry back in 2005 just as much as it was in 2018 and still is now. It isn't necessarily a bad thing to have content, but the fact that Shadow of the Colossus has the balls to be as empty and boring as possible is a testament to how much Ueda was concerned with delivering his own unique experience and not conform to any standards, and that is immensely respectable.

The question then becomes: does the frustration of the game's technical incompetencies contribute to this central theme that nothing else matters? It's undeniable that the frustration associated with this games makes the narrative and the ending especially all the more delicious; had it been a cakewalk, or simply a movie, the experience as a whole would be much more forgettable.

That being said, I still stand that the answer to the question is no. The idea of using frustration to make a game more immersive or to call attention to a different, much more interesting aspect of it is certainly a fascinating topic that many games have explored, but almost all of its frustrating elements serve to take the player out of the immersion more than contribute to it. Nothing about being stunlocked by Cenobia until you die, or having the camera bug out against every wall in the game, or Agro's refusal to run in a straight line as you travel from colossus to colossus benefits the experience or the narrative. In fact, it works to the contrary. A huge element of this game is how it attempts to make you feel guilt and sorrow at the fact that you selfishly and cold-heartedly murder these innocent creatures for your singleminded goal, but more often than not the relief you get from finishing a boss and not having to deal with it's unpolished mechanics anymore supersedes those feelings of guilt and sorrow.

I would say that I'm conflicted on this game, but really I'm not. It's an absolute piece of shit that is worth playing beyond a shadow of a doubt. This is an undeniable work of art despite its arguably unfinished state. This might be one of the best stories in all of gaming, it's incredibly respectable for its unadulterated vision, the music is beyond incredible, and even though Bluepoint did nothing to fix the technical problems, they unquestionably enhanced the sense of scope that this game has. The animation of the colossi are jaw-dropping, and no other work of art in any medium comes close to the feeling of scaling them.

10/10 story
10/10 vision
really shit game

It's a frustrating reality, and would easily be one of my favorite games if it weren't for that fact. I hope that we see Bluepoint go on to do even better things, and I hope we see a fan project to fix this games technical problems and turn it into something wholly spectacular.

What a great game, the visuals, the environments, the sheer scale of the colossi as you fight them, the vast open lands as you ride towards the next foe. It surely is not as action packed as other games where you slay giant enemies, but it wouldn't feel well in a game like this, it's only natural that the Forbidden Lands feel as peaceful as they do until you enter an arena, and that's simply beautiful, that's the most correct word to define the game, just beautiful. Slipped very quickly into my Top 3 all time favorites as I played it in PS3, and its (second!) remaster was one of the main factors for me to get a PS4. Directors like Fumito Ueda are the ones that people think about when talking about videogames as an art

I don't get it. This is the second time I have given this game a chance. I tried the PS3 version of the PS2 original about a decade ago, and I figured that maybe this newer version would remedy the problems I had. I feel like I'm being gaslit in to believing it's a good video game. This has got to be the biggest discrepancy in terms of critical acclaim vs. how I feel. I legitimately think it's a bad one. Without exaggeration, I'm giving it a 1/5. The only redeeming qualities are the lovely music and the sense of atmosphere/scale it provides. Outside of that, there's nothing to enjoy here.

The only feeling I felt while playing was frustration. And no, I don't think it's due to it being 'difficult'. It's just annoying. I got through the first 3 colossi without much issue. I just have no desire to continue on.

Agro is one of the worst controlling horses in all of video games. Imagine the absolute horror of using this thing after experiencing the perfection of the double-jumping horse that can turn on a dime in Elden Ring.

Jumping feels bad. Climbing feels bad. Orienting the camera is a pain. It constantly wants to shift the camera to behind you to give you a cinematic view. I want to put the camera facing behind me as I run away from the giant beast, game! Why can't I do that without it fighting with me to re-center?

This game is nothing but a lump of frustration covered in a thin layer of intriguing aspects like the world/ambience.

Yes, I know it's "intended" for things to be frustrating but that doesn't excuse it. That's a bad decision. Nothing should feel intentionally bad - this is a video game. If something is going to feel "intentionally difficult to perform" it should still be fun to try to figure out and overcome. There's no fun to be had here. That would be like someone sitting beside me as I play a Zelda game and punching me in the face every time I try to use a weapon against the boss. "It's immersive, bro!"

Like I said, this second attempt at playing this has solidified my opinion even further. This has got to be the single most overrated game of all time. It's not like other games such as Pikmin, Animal Crossing, or Microsoft Flight Simulator where I can look at it and go "you know what? That's a great game - it's just not for me." No, this is not a great game. I refuse to accept that people genuinely feel that way about this. It's bad.

Sorry for such a negative rant, but I don't know how else to put it. LOL

"hey you know the game that had like 30 bosses cut due to technological limitations of the time?"

"yeah?"

"we should totally remake it"

"what you mean we include at least some of those cut bosses that the fans have been dying for and even modding into the original game themselves, and utilize more of the vast world without sacrificing that empty desolate feeling that the ps2 game evoked"

"what no i just mean lets keep it almost exactly the same but butcher the art style, and add like a new sword and time trials and ubisoft collectables"

"oh thats way better than what i was thinking"

SPOILER FREE REVIEW
I'm struggling a lot to define my stance on this game. On one side, I fully understand the appeal. It completely deserves all the praise it's gotten because it's utterly unique and beautiful. It presents itself as a work of art to be admired, and on that front, it largely succeeds. On the other hand, this has to be one of the least fun and most frustrating experiences I've had with any game.

I first played the PS3 version some 5 years ago. I stopped at the 2nd colossus because I was getting extremely frustrated with the way the game handled. I didn't want to ruin the experience anymore, so I decided I wasn't ready to play it. Only now did I play the PS4 version, hoping I'd have a better mindset, yet it still took me months to beat what is really an incredibly short game. Why? Partly because I didn't want to rush through it, but mostly because I dreaded the thought of what the next colossus could be, and whether it would mean an hour of frustration for little payoff like so many others before it.

There are two major issues I take with the game's design:
First one is the way it handles. 3D games are a lot more prone to aging badly in this regard. However, I hadn't and haven't since encountered a game more at odds with the player in its control. Getting a grip on the camera is a never ending struggle, the climbing is extremely finicky and at times you can't even move because Wander just loses his grip or his balance again, and again and again...
Getting on your horse isn't any better, as it seldom listens to your commands without any hickups. All this works to create a feeling of unending awkwardness; movement is never pleasent. The one thing I'll give it is that it feels very organic. It's quite grounded in reality, as in it tries to portray the struggle of really climbing and toppling a living thing. Now THAT has appeal, I guess it's simply too much for me.

The second major issue I take with the game is how each Colossus encounter is structured. Basically, each fight presents itself as a puzzle to be solved, and no two colossi are defeated the same way. You often have to discover their weak points, or use the environment to your advantage. This is really awesome, and I encourage everyone who plays this game to turn off Fermin's hints to enhance the feeling of accomplishment after figuring out how to defeat a colossus.

However, despite all colossi sharing the same basic structure, not all are entirely succesful at it. The issue comes when there are multiple hints pulling you in different directions. There's always one part of the colossus that looks grabable enough for you to spend 15 minutes fruitlessly trying to hang on to it. Pretty much all colossi look to have multiple paths to climb through, but you're always wrong to think that. The game's extremely strict and there's really only one intended way to beat any colossus. This means you can spend an hour trying multiple solutions that in all honesty SHOULD work but don't because it's not strictly what was intended.

At this point, I gotta mention the awkward handling again, because it seriously aggravates this situation. You can waste your time at a dead end and not even know it because MAYBE you're just not meeting the game's extremely precise standards to make a jump, or to grab a ledge. "Maybe", you think, "I was at an awkward angle and I gotta try again." Worse is when this happens at the end of a long climb sequence. You could be one jump away from the colossus' weakspot, and there could be two equaly likely solutions, but if you choose the non intended path, you're punished by havig to climb aaaaaall the way back up to potentially make the same mistske because the path you took didn't look like a wrong path, it just happened to not be the INTENDED path.
Absolute worst case scenario is when you've already mapped out the correct path to the weakspot, but the controls cause you to fall, and fall, and faaaaaaallllll... This happened to me on the last colossus, and it's such a shame because its atmosphere is so brilliantly crafted. I though it would be my favorite of the bunch, and I ended up hating it thanks to the broken control.

I've rambled enough about the colossi that don't succeed on the formula, but even some of the ones that do aren't much better. There are some very pleasant but extremely short encountes. Sure, figuring them out is fun, but they barely have any meat to sink you teeth into. As soon as you figure out how to kill them, you're done.
As it stands, there were at most 3 colossi that were both fun to figure out, but also offered more than a single step for defeating them. Those fights were amazing and made me see why everyone considers this game a master piece. I just wish I hadn't gone through all the rest to get to them.

In conclusion, this game has a lot of beauty that I think everyone should appreciate at least. The music, the atmosphere, it's all unmatched. However, as a game it really left a bitter taste in my mouth, and I'd advise caution to anyone who wants to play it thanks to all the high praise it's gotten.

Something about the remake of Shadow of the Colossus always rubbed me wrong.

I just can't quite put my finger on it.

It feels... wrong. Insincere. It does not give off SotC vibes.

Maybe you can explain it to me in the comments. Or tell me I am wrong.
But I know for sure I am not the only one who feels it.

Beautiful, epic story, it truly feels like you're gaining just a glimpse into another world full of eons of history, lost civilization and tragedy right when the game begins. This is my first Team Ico game, I spent a lot of time wandering around the map trying to get as many fruits and lizard tails as possible, it was a very atmospheric experience and I think I went quite a big longer than the average playtime. Of course, the setup is quite simple but the defeat of each colossus is a mini-movie in itself and strategizing to figure out the unique weaknesses kept it refreshing each time.

I will say, my only issues were technical ones, some unresponsive and frustrating controls (the camera is wonky too), or glitches where Wander got stuck or spun in motion and I had to reload. It's a shame about those, because my largest challenge in battles always tended to be related to that aspect. Nevertheless, it didn't deter me enough to give up, and the payoff at the end is immense.
This game leaves you with a lot to ponder in its ambiguity, and there's universal themes that relate to fables, prophecies, acts of love, that made the emotional engagement so strong. I'm planning to play Ico next, because I heard that takes place in the same world, even if it's not an exact sequel/prequel. I crave the type of storytelling that leaves enough to your imagination to be filled with wonder about what's beyond the perspective you're playing in, this captures that perfectly.

I'm obviously a bit late to the party here. There's a lot that's been said about Shadow of the Colossus, and it deserves a lot of the recognition it gets. However, there's also a lot of things that don't hold up very well playing it for the first time now. You can see its influence all over modern games, but that doesn't mean that going back to the source of some of those inspirations is necessarily fun. The core idea here is great, a boss rush with a puzzle slant to the boss design, and a beautiful open world to explore. Unfortunately both of those aspects kind of fell apart for me by the end.

The bosses start out very easy, and you can run through them comically fast. Difficulty ramps up later on, but not in a way that's very fun or engaging. Whenever I got stuck, it was due to a puzzle solution being obtuse, and whether I eventually figured it out, or it was one of the handful of times I ended up looking up how to do something, it almost never felt satisfying to figure out or to actually execute. The last two were especially egregious, and both took way too long to climb back up if you did the wrong thing. The only kind of mechanical difficulty comes from the poor controls, or falling off of a colossus and having to repeat a section, either due to running out of stamina or getting tired of holding the grip trigger. They seemingly decided that you should really feel like you're hanging on for your life by giving you hand pain through the controls. Also while you're on the colossus, it trying to shake you off often seems random or glitchy, and leads to a lot of just holding a direction and hoping it gives you a second to climb, or mashing the button trying to figure out when the opening for your attack is supposed to be. It looks nice, but the gameplay doesn't really line up with that experience. Beyond having to hold down a trigger for 90% of the game, this does a lot of other things with the controls that game devs have mostly learned just not to do anymore, even on the supposedly improved "modern" controls in the remake. The colossi and their environments are suitably impressive visually, and the scale of them is communicated very well. That at least was good enough to keep me going.

The struggles with the controls continue in the open world, where you have far and away the worst controlling horse in any video game and a camera more concerned with cinematic angles than letting you see where you're going. I can understand the idea behind wanting more weighty, realistic, and less responsive horse controls, but they went way too far with it here. If Agro is within 50 feet of even a slight bump in the terrain, much less narrow walls, he'll often refuse to move or go at a glacial pace, and turning feels like you're playing with over a second of input delay. Doing things on horseback like using your sword's guiding light or the bow is also a pain with the way the controls are laid out. The light showing you your next objective is an interesting idea I suppose, but combined with the way the world is laid out and how long it takes to traverse it, it ended up just being an especially annoying objective marker with a lot of trial and error of going down long narrow passages between mountains to find out a full minute or two later that it wasn't the way to go. The world looks nice, but you'll quickly realize there's not much to do or see here. I love exploration in games and am totally fine with it being mostly self-motivated, I definitely wouldn't expect this to be littered with side quests and collectibles like many modern open world games, but it just never really motivated me to explore here. There are collectibles, but they just never really caught my interest and I have no idea what they do. The map feels like just empty padding for the already short runtime.

I'm conflicted on the story, I think the simple setup is cool and worked well, but being given nothing over the course of the game that adds to it starts to feel repetitive, and being taken back to the hub feels like a missed opportunity to add basically anything here. Then at the end there's the big story dump, and I don't know that I really liked where it went. Maybe I would have been more okay with it if there was any kind of natural build up there, or hinting at what was happening, but it's just a long cutscene after the game is over. The pacing felt really off, and I would have been much more okay with the game just ending before any of that and leaving it up to interpretation more.

This review is pretty negative, but I really had an alright time overall. The game kept my attention and I finished it pretty quickly, it just has a lot of issues that I haven't seen talked about much, while its praises don't really need repeating by me. Still worth a try, if for nothing else, at least to see how important it is to gaming history.

GAMER BEWARE

"yooo big monsters to fight with a sword...? epiic gaming time for me" - falsely misled and misguided gamer

WRONG

this is NOT cool slashy epic gaming time - this is arthouse gamers TRICKING you into playing an AESTHETIC PUZZLE game

DO NOT FALL FOR THEIR TRICKS

in this game you will use your THOUGHTS and BRAIN SYRUP to progress - NOT your gaming skills - THIS IS HOW THEY GET YOU

at some point in your playthrough you might even feel tempted to attempt to understand something about the "real world" or perhaps think about "what the author meant by these things"

WARNING: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES DO THIS - THIS IS THEIR ULTIMATE GOAL

there is ZERO quips about beating monsters in this game NOR can you even do a gaming combo on the big bosses, and despite me grinding for hours i didnt level up even once

IF YOU ASK ME, THIS GAME SHOULD BE CALLED SHADOW OF MY COLOSSAL PENIS

Shadow of the Colossus left me asking a myriad of questions because the game invites you to. Its worldbuilding and minimalist storytelling offer the player a narrative that intentionally lacks direction to make the player feel like an interloper. The vague plot and largely desolate world had me wondering why it was this way. What happened to this land? What was there before? Why are the colossi here? What are the colossi? The deeply layered world of questions provide meaning to the hero's plight.

Shadow of the Colossus does Setting better than any other video game I've ever played.

The world is dark, dismal, and dystopian. The player is lost and confused, surrounded by, at times, non-sensical architecture. I still remember that aqueduct running to the desert. What happened to this world? How did it get so destroyed?

Those are questions that I never really got an answer to, and that's fine. The game invites you to create your own fiction, your own narrative. You want to search for answers, dig for clues, find out some shrivel of Truth. But you will never find it.

It reminds me a lot of Dark Souls, but it's not exactly an accurate comparison. The world of Dark Souls, with it's weird geography and architecture, is Explained. You have to dig, and read, but there are truths about the world that are certain. I'm not sure that's the case in Shadow of the Colossus. You are the Wonderer, a stranger, someone who doesn't belong here. You can't even begin to understand the history of this place or why it exists. The world is constantly telling you that you don't belong here.

It's such a fucking vibe.

And all that stuff ties into the gameplay and story too, in ways that are pretty apparent. I could spend more words saying why that is, but I think I'd rather just say that it all feels Realized.

I guess playing the game is good too, like climbing on the Colossi and riding your horse around was fun. I really liked looking at the Colossi, and solving the puzzle on how to defeat each one was enjoyable.

I never know how to end these things, so I guess I'll just sum up my thoughts: Shadow of the Colossus is pretty neat.

Shadow of the Colossus is the ultimate style over substance videogame. Enjoy the giant wonderful open world that doesn't have shit all in it other than esoteric collectibles and healing shrines in a videogame where damage heals over time. Enjoy grandiose, epic battles with hulking monstrosities that never become as complex as they maybe should. And then on top of awkward controls, enjoy a camera and a horse whose main function is to wrestle control away from you. While these gripes permeate the game's 7 hour runtime, it's never bad enough to drastically spoil the gameplay experience. Except for the final boss though, that shit blows.

Que remake MARAVILHOSO, extremamente competente e conseguiram levar o legado de um jogo marcante pra frente, particularmente pra mim a versão de ps2 me marcou mais (provavelmente porque era a primeira vez que eu estava jogando o jogo e eu acho que a estética do ps2 por algum motivo adiciona muito na experiência) por isso ela é a minha favorita mas esse remake com certeza substitui o original sendo a experiência definitiva de Shadow.

O quanto eu fiquei maravilhado com esse remake na questão gráfica não tá escrito, literalmente um dos jogos mais lindos que eu já vi na vida, Forbidden Lands com certeza atingiu o seu ápice nesse jogo, a vegetação dessa porra é de cair o queixo, aonde no original tinha uma floresta com algumas arvores e só, nesse remake tem 10 vezes mais vegetação, com muito mais variedade, arvores caídas, pedras espalhadas, a vegetação tomando conta do ambiente e deixando aquela floresta um dos cenários mais magníficos que eu já vi num jogo, sem dúvidas nenhuma esse jogo conseguiu trazer esse sentimento de um lugar mágico e magnifico, como se fosse um paraíso proibido mesmo. Os pelos dos colossos são literalmente a pelagem mais linda e realista que eu já vi em um jogo, são poucos os casos de cabelos e pelos que eu consigo citar que chegam perto do trabalho INCRIVEL que é a pelagem desses colossos, muito lindo de ver cara meu deus.

Eu não manjo muito do conteúdo extra do ps2, sei que tinha bastante coisa pra fazer mas de certa forma na época não tinha os troféus e toda essa historia de platina que é bem valorizada hoje em dia, mas ainda sim desde o ps2 esse jogo parece que tem uma magia de te fazer querer explorar cada canto daquele mundo, não sei o que acontece mas eu não ligava nem um pouco de ficar perdido e ver um pouco mais da perfeição desse mundo, os extras do remake é extremamente divertido e eu acho que ele te incentiva demais a explorar o jogo inteiro, repetir o game, como já rolava no ps2, fiquei muito tentado a fazer a platina dele, não sei se vou mas eu acho muito legal o quão incentivado você se sente a fazer ela, fica um valor de replay muito bom.

Pra mim esse remake conseguiu muito bem mostrar o que é Shadow of the Colossus e porque esse jogo é tão importante, única coisa nele que eu achei meio esquisito é o rosto do Wander humano, não sei, não consegui me acostumar e achei meio esquisito, o de ps2 amassa esse ai kkkk, mas de resto é perfeito, não colocaram nada inédito e eu até acho certo porque não se mexe em time que ta ganhando, era um risco muito grande a correr alterar o jogo assim, só de ter uma forma de jogar o Shadow mais "acessível" e mais bonita já tá perfeito. QUE JOGO BOM

Unlike my other reviews, I don't have any story to tell about how I found out about Shadow of the Colossus, aside from just generally knowing that it is a game that is known for great boss battles and terrible controls. That's all I was expecting when I first booted up the game, but what I got was so much more than that.

Right off the bat, one of the most notable things about Shadow of the Colossus is its one-of-a-kind atmosphere. The gorgeous visuals and music make playing the game and traversing the decaying landscapes feel melancholic and beautiful, along with a sense of scale that simultaneously feels small and grandiose. That sense of melancholic beauty is also carried over to the terrific boss battles, as their unique design (Both visually speaking and mechanically speaking) makes fighting them feel fun while also making you feel sorry for killing off the only life that is left in this world. I was surprised with just how well Shadow of the Colossus managed to tell its story, as it threw a lot of great emotional punches while never feeling stagnant or losing its steam.

A lot of people have mentioned how terrible the controls are, and while they are undeniably janky and occasionally frustrating, it didn't detract from my experience with the game very much. If anything, it added to the satisfaction of beating the colossi and having a sense of mastery over the controls by the end of the game, at least for me. Overall, Shadow of the Colossus was a phenomenal and wholly unique game, and I'm now even more excited to eventually play Ico thanks to it.