Shadow of the Colossus. A game known for its breathtaking scope, gorgeous visuals, and gigantic monsters. It’s a game that’s proved its staying power over the years and is commonly called one of the greatest games of all time.
If you saw my review, you know I don’t hold it in that high of a regard, but the game is still fantastic in plenty of ways. It’s an incredible and original experience that everyone should try out at least once.
The thing is, while many have mentioned the storytelling, music, and graphics as the key factors to its success, I would attribute it to one additional element of the game- how well it handles the concept of minimalism.
Now while this might seem a bit ironic to say about a game known for its massive scale and colossal boss fights, in today’s episode of dissection I’d like to analyze why this style works for Shadow of the Colossus and how it stands out from nearly every other game on the market.
Nearly everything about this game takes a minimalist approach, so I’d like to put each aspect of the game into its own category. Those being the story, presentation, controls, and concept. While there is some overlap, I believe that taking a look at each piece individually will provide a better understanding of why the simplistic approach is most appropriate.
Starting with the story, it’s certainly unique, but it’s also incredibly basic. To give the bullet points, a boy on a horse carries a dead girl to a temple where a god tells him to kill the 16 colossi scattered around the temple grounds in order to bring her back.
The entirety of the game takes place as he fights and kills each of the creatures one by one. Before he fights the last one, his horse falls off a cliff. In the end his mission corrupts him and he grows horns, emits smoke, bleed black, and is generally pretty fucking metal.
It’s then revealed that he stole the sword used to kill the enemies from a shaman, who’s still kinda pissed about the whole thing and just as he’s about to kill the boy, the god announces that the colossi were each pieces of his body. He then possesses the boy who becomes a giant smoke monster.
The shaman and his guards run, but on their way out the shaman thinks his sword needs a dip in the pool which creates a wormhole that sucks the evil out of the kid and turns him into a baby. ...Yeah okay.
The world’s most inefficient bridge to the temple is destroyed, his girlfriend comes back to life, his horse is somehow alive (albeit on his way to the glue factory), and the shaman goes on to tell everyone to be a dick to kids born with horns. The end.
Phew, now that’s a crazy story. And the craziest thing about it is that almost none of it takes place during the actual playtime of the game. Between the intro cutscene and the ending, there’s really only the player going from one colossus to the next to beat the game. Normally this approach would ruin the pacing, but here it’s actually pulled off in a pretty clever way.
The entire story is about the boy’s single-minded journey to save the girl he loves. He steals from a religious figure, kills innocent and majestic giants, loses his horse, his innocence, and even his free will in the process. Does this sound like the kind of person to be interrupted by some idle chit chat with a side character? Of course not
Because of the nature and themes of the story, it makes sense that the boy would finish off one colossus and immediately move on to the next right after. He’s on a mission and he wants it accomplished above all else.
The intro gives us a good reason to fight the colossi thinking we’re the hero, while the ending gives us a satisfying conclusion and a twist showcasing the moral ambiguity of the situation while also providing one last spectacle to enjoy before it’s all over. That’s all the game needs to be successful.
Now imagine if the game had done something different. If it had interrupted the story between each boss fight to show some cutscene giving some additional motivation to continue on. It would have completely changed the pacing and as a result, the tone of the entire story.
Yes, there are a few cutscenes between colossi, but they’re all less than 30 seconds long. These simply add to the atmosphere or give us an idea of why Dormin wants the player to hurry up. Nothing intrusive and all working to bring the player’s focus back onto what’s important- the gameplay.
Working in tandem with this is the game’s presentation. The way this game works is that it gives the player a relaxing horse ride to each boss followed monumental challenge. This is portrayed brilliantly in its aesthetics and music.
Before reaching a colossus, there’s no music to be heard. Only footsteps, Agro’s hooves hitting the dirt, and the occasional sound of an animal or light breeze. It’s a relaxing time to compose yourself and think about what challenge lies ahead.
This minimalist approach is then highly contrasted by the symphonic score heard once a boss fight has begun. By having nothing before the battle and switching to a beautiful and atmospheric score when a colossus is found, the effect the encounter has is improved exponentially.
This is also seen in the visuals. The entire world design is pretty flat overall. Very few mountains to scale or buildings in the way aside from the central temple. This also makes the impact of the colossi even greater as they seem larger than they otherwise might due to their size contrasting with the flat terrain.
Even the world building is done in a subtle way. The world is mostly natural, but there are structures and shines littering the environment, many of which are either piles of rubble or completely overgrown with moss.
It heavily implies that these lands were inhabited decades, or even centuries ago. Given that these lands are now forbidden, it gives the player reason to think and theorize about what caused the civilization’s collapse.
Did the colossi have something to do with it? Or maybe they took over after those events took place. It’s just so impressive the game can inspire such questions by its environmental design alone. Even better is that if a player simply wants to jump right into the action, they have that option because of the direct paths leading to each new enemy.
Each of these decisions requires little effort in terms of execution, but a lot when it comes to planning and design. The empty world could have easily become boring to travel through, but the different environments and direct pathways prevent travel times from getting stale.
The lack of music could have come off as lazy, but the sheer majesty of the soundtrack once a fight begins counteracts this feeling and gives even more satisfaction when the score does kick in.
Up next is hands down the weakest element of Shadow of the Colossus- the controls. However, while your mileage may vary in terms of how much you enjoy their execution, I’d like to talk instead about the concept behind the control scheme.
When you really think about it, Wander’s arsenal of moves is pretty short. He can run, jump, dodge roll (oh god dark souls flashbacks), grab onto things and climb with his endurance meter, shoot an arrow, swing a sword, ride Agro, and swim both above and underwater. That’s it.
When it comes to the boss fights, the only real attacks at his disposal are the bow and sword. But when these are combined with the mobility and climbing mechanics, they gave the developers a ton of room to work with for creating original and entertaining boss fights throughout the game.
When you think of a typical game in this style, this moveset would normally be expanded upon over the course of the game. Granting new weapons and abilities to the player to allow for different challenges that test their proficiency with those new abilities. Think of games like Pokemon and Zelda to get an idea of that design philosophy.
This game takes a similar approach to that of games like Portal, wherein one central mechanic or moveset is kept pretty much consistent throughout the game, but with new and interesting applications of that concept to keep things fresh.
While neither philosophy is necessarily better than the other, the simple approach works wonders for this game in particular. Why? Because it keeps the each new colossus encounter from becoming stale.
Think about it. In Zelda, when you walk into a dungeon, typically you know how to beat the boss at the end because you know it’ll involve using the new weapon you found while exploring. In Shadow of the Colossus, you have no idea what the next beast will look like or how you’ll manage to take it down.
Instead of giving the player a new skill that will obviously be used to overcome the next obstacle, Wander only gains slightly more health and stamina to use in the upcoming fight.
Aside from that, you’re given the same arsenal to deal every new colossus, which requires thinking outside the box or utilizing those mechanics in a brand new way to accomplish your goal.
The same set of moves used to defeat the first boss is used to defeat the final boss. It’s not finding a new weapon or gaining a new power that allows you to beat the enemies, it’s your increase in skill and improved ability to utilize the tools available to you that makes each new task able to be tackled. And that’s the kind of growth most games can only hope to achieve.
With the controls covered, I’d like to conclude by discussing the overall concept of Shadow of the Colossus. And in that regard, this game is like good sex. I’m not kidding.
The entire idea of this game is buildup followed by a huge payoff. The world design and music are basic at first and then explode into grandeur once a fight begins. The boss fights begin on the ground and gradually bring you closer and closer to the sky until you finally reach the top of a beast and plunge your sword into its head.
The story is built up at the very beginning and then leaves you to ponder everything that’s going on until a breathtaking finale wraps everything up!
In short, this game loves to keep you in anticipation with what’s essentially gaming foreplay, teasing you over and over all to make that final moment when you finally accomplish your goal that much more satisfying. It’s climactic in more ways than one.
...Huh, I should see if my girlfriend wants to play this game if she existed. Anyway…
All of this anticipation is built up because of how simple and minimalistic everything is leading up to the next colossus. There’s no enemies in the environment distracting from the end goal. No arbitrary puzzles stopping you in your path before allowing you to proceed. It’s just buildup and payoff, plain and simple.
And that’s Shadow of the Colossus. A true gaming classic that, while flawed and slightly dated, is something just about anyone can appreciate and one that just about every gamer should play at least once. Simplicity at its finest.
I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, leave a comment down below telling me which game should be dissected next and be sure to subscribe for more dissections, mighty reviews and more gaming content. And as always, have a mighty nifty day today!