Returning to Shadow of the Colossus - A 1UP classic from September 23, 2008

Apologies for the tardiness of this blog my friends. There are multiple workshops going on. I'm even lending my chair out to a student and typing this blog on my knees in front of the screen. I'll keep it short before the circulation to my legs gets any worse. I just got Shadow of the Colossus back from my cousin. I lent it to her a year ago after I let her borrow God of War and GoW II. Her and her boyfriend were feeling pretty confident in their game playing skills so I told her I had something equally epic yet more artistically presented. I lent them SotC yet after a year they couldn't pass the second colossi. So I just told her to give it back so I could play some more.

It says a lot about the state of game design. We take games and the ability to play games for granted. The button combinations and boss strategies are second nature to most of my friends. But for those that aren't die-hard gamers then a title like SotC is simply confounding. My cousin is no slouch, she plays games all the time including Guitar Hero but I am wondering if both GoW titles are really that much "easier" or that they are simply more forgiving in their challenges. With GH it is easy to see that repetition and button memorization gets non-gamers through the levels. But what of SotC? What is the challenge there? Perhaps it is a right brain versus left brain struggle. Minimalist cues are used to help gamers locate and defeat each of the colossi. Those that explore the game and learn the nuances of control are rewarded for their efforts. A gamer that isn't used to experimenting in such a way, while at the same time being able to control Wander and target moving colossi would be stumped. Those more casual are used to being "spoon fed" the next location or strategy for defeating bosses. Somehow they get the same sense of accomplishment for beating the title as a core gamer would. OR do they? I'm not sure.

Shadow of the Colossus is a game layered in detail. A tremendous visual and emotional treat for those that are willing to go completely into Fumito Ueda's world. The more you look the more you will see, even year's after the game's release. These things may be coincidence, glitches or programming oversights but many fans have convinced themselves that Ueda and team left a lot of clues about the game's relationship to Ico hidden throughout the level. For example there is a beach in SotC named Ico Beach by fans. It was named after the ending location of Ico. There is even a "Secret Garden" with gems that tie the universe of SotC and Ico together.

One thing debated amongst fans is the existance of the Queen's castle from Ico in SoTC. There is a large blurry texture, tucked away in a far corner of the map and not visible from the rest of the world. Are fans seeing something that is not there? A texture that was supposed to represent a mountain range perhaps?

I think it's a stretch to say that it's the same castle featured throughout Ico but if we were to run it through a Photoshop motion blur and stretch it a little then it becomes more apparent. Perhaps the Queen's castle won't materialize from magic to reality for another few centuries so it is distorted? What do you think?

Or perhaps the charm of SotC is seeing how the world is set to evolve and how the icons and magical totems would change between games. It's all reasonable if you stop and think about it.

When I first got the game I used to imagine what each of the colossi would look like. As great as they were I was kind of let down with the final one. I thought that Ueda had set us up from the get-go and the final colossi was actually in plain site the entire time. From a distance the castle and temple that Mono is lying in looks to me like a throne with a colossi sitting atop.

This stone man would have been even larger than the final colossi and had he stood from his throne and walked about the forbidden land for the final showdown then my head would have exploded from the awesomeness. Although that never happened I can always wonder can't I?

A game that is filled with tremendous wonder and a feeling that the universe is infinitely larger than the story we are presented. It allows our imaginations to run wild and fill up the spaces in between. That is the legacy that Ueda has left us with. Now, if only he could be so kind as to drop a hint for his next project. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!