Media Analysis: Shadow of the Colossus (2005)
A desolate, mystical land inhabited by nothing but the occasional birds, lizards, and sixteen colossi seemingly guarding against intruders of the land. The time and exact place is unclear although it seems to be either in the distant past or distant future where supernatural powers are fully in play.
A single male wanderer tasked with killing each of the sixteen colossi in order to save his loved one from dying.
The player explores the vast land, searching for each colossus and killing them. Each colossus has a different weakness point. The player must figure out the weakness point of each colossus (each has a different one) and attack at that point. This includes climbing, holding on to, and exploring the enormous colossi themselves in order to find the weak spot.
Shadow of the Colossus (created by Team Ico) is an amazing, immersive game that immediately caught the eye and hearts of gamers around the world since its release. It featured many interesting and ingenious ways of connecting the player into the game that many games have aspired to but few have actually achieved.
First of all, the entire premise of the game was very simple. The game basically consisted of sixteen “boss battles”, one for each colossus. This was very different from most games that usually featured going through some levels and enemies before facing a “boss” that must be defeated to progress to the next level.
This concept provided a very special experience to gamers in two different ways: exploring the land to find the colossi and defeating the colossi. Finding each colossus made the player explore the vast land in the game’s world. The player had to go through desolate plains, swim through a lakes, and explore open grasslands with his trusty horse. This search was made special by the world’s beautiful design and atmosphere. While desolate and seemingly barren, the land was beautifully wide and open that gave the player a sense of freedom and abandonment that to this day remains unmatched in other games.
Meanwhile, defeating the different colossi was another unique experience, purely because of their size and scope. Each colossus was gigantic and the player literally had to climb up to most of them just to find their weak spot. This was not the first game to pit players against gigantic enemies, but this was probably the first one to feature all enemies to be this gigantic. The sheer size and scope of all colossi made this such a memorable experience for those who played the game.
So beautiful was the entire experience for gamers that this game (together with the studio’s other work “Ico”) is often considered the leading argument for games functioning as art. That in itself proves its amazing impact on the world of gaming and the players.
This game connected so deeply with gamers with its beautiful, immersive world, unique gameplay, and powerful story.
The story itself was so moving that dealt with love, hope, loss, and tragedy. And it did so amazingly despite using a fictional language! The studio deliberately used a fictional language for the characters in the game to further give the players a sense of wonderment and detachment from reality. But even with this fictional language, the game managed to tell a story better than most other games that used a real language. Such was the beauty of the game’s design and execution.
Whenever games as art are discussed, Shadow of the Colossus is always brought up as the leading example, and rightfully so.
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