SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS

Okay, so, uhm, this game has always been on my radar. Haing pirated it on my chipped PS2 back in the day, only to have it be one of the few games that for some reason did not work.

However, being without a PC has made me move more towards console games.
Shadow of the Colossus is one of those highly appraised titles that always comes up in conversations of the best games evvver.

And I just don´t see it.

Now, let it be known that I played the PS4 remake by Bluepoint games, which is considered a 1:1 remake.
So, the visuals and music is all remastered etc, and the controls are modernized. That being said, the controls are still a bit wonky.

That aside, the game starts with Wander, Agro and Mono riding over a massive bridge across a canyon The first being our protagonist. The second our trusty steed, and the latter a dead girl. Wander confronts a god-like voice to have them resurrect Mono. The gods claim this is not a feat for mortal beings to be given, and that it is not possible. However, as Wander has a forbidden sword or something, it may actually be done. He just has to complete a trial which includes slaying 16 colossi first.

You can already sense where this is going. Sort of.

You use the sword as a guide to locate the first colossus. A giant. But a gentle one at that. After climbing it, you find a weak point, and penetrate it for the first kill. Fairly easy, but you get the gist of how it´s done. After that, you wake up in the temple at the end of the bridge. A shadowy figure stands you as you wake up. A statue representing the colossus is destroyed. The godly voice tells you about your next foe.

And then, that´s sort of it. The story is completely absent until you defeat the 6th colossus. And then it´s not really a story beat, more of a possible future, and it´s about 10 seconds long.

Again, rinse repeat is the name of the game as you slay these unassuming(and some assuming) beasts. Not until Beast 12 has been defeated are you given more of the story.
And while the game is not very long(I used 5 hours and 20 minutes), the scarce, drip-fed story is too little for me. Yes, the world is gorgeous, the art design as well. And the music is absolutely fantastic, sure, but I don´t see the hype.

After the 16th and final colossus(Okay, that fight was pretty damn epic, I will give them that), the story ends. On a predicted, but melodramatic and dark ending. All very much open for interpretation, which is fine, but unless you are a die hard fan of this game, and it´s predecessor "Ico" (which is supposedly set in the same universe some 100-ish years later), my interpretation is thusly:

It´s fine. It´s not great. It´s fun enough for 5 hours, but had it been 5 more, I may have called it quits.
The ending,

SPOILER ALERT: is that the godlike creature sent you on a fools errand. They had been split into 17 entities. 16 physical and one spiritual. Buy destroying the 16 physical manifestations, the entity is free, and claims Wander as their host. The guys from the second drip of the story from colossus 12 seem to know what is going on, and promptly re-seals the bad guy, and it seems like all hope is gone for Wander, who is definitely killed in the process, after getting radiant eyes and a couple of horns.

Then, after the credits, Mono wakes up, Agro greets her, and they find a newborn infant with horns.

.. Okay. That, was and ending alright.

SPOILERS OVER

I don´t know what I expected going in, apart from boss battles with bosses that mainly won´t try to kill you or anything, but it certainly wasn´t a story like this. It feels artsy for the sake of being artsy, and that´s just not me.

Mediocre+, as it was fun enough to keep going, but nothing more. Took me a fairly short amount of time, and will not be going back to it for any additional trophies and/or upgrades or collectibles.

-Tom out.