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.
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.