Shadow of the Colossus

About Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus dropped on PlayStation 2 in late 2005 from Team Ico. You play Wander, who rides a horse named Agro into a forbidden zone to save a girl called Mono. The deal with Dormin requires you to find and kill sixteen massive statues hidden across this empty world. This is an adventure game where the puzzles are climbing monsters instead of solving riddles. It strips away typical RPG elements like shops or inventory to focus purely on movement and combat against giants. The visual style remains stark and minimal, relying on scale rather than cluttered environments to create atmosphere. You carry a single sword that only works against these specific targets.

Gameplay

Sessions revolve around locating giant beasts scattered across vast plains and ruins. You control Wander on foot or while riding Agro through open terrain to find the next target. Combat involves climbing their bodies to reach weak points marked by glowing light. You must dodge massive attacks, climb higher, and stab specific spots repeatedly to bring them down. The controls feel weighty as you navigate steep surfaces without a traditional UI. There is no map to guide you directly, requiring exploration of the landscape to spot towering figures on horizons. Each kill changes Wander's appearance slightly as dark marks spread across his skin. The horse serves as essential transport and can jump large gaps, though it cannot attack enemies.

What Players Think

PlayPile data shows a Metacritic score of 91 and an IGDB rating of 88.7 from 1260 users. Community moods lean heavily toward Emotional and Nostalgic vibes with four votes each. Casual players also favor this title, matching the emotional crowd with four votes. Three voters cite nostalgia as their primary feeling, while one person highlights the atmospheric quality. Players generally treat this as a long experience rather than a quick playthrough. The critical reception remains high across both major review aggregators. Many users return to the game years later specifically for the unique tone and lack of filler content. The data suggests a dedicated fanbase that values the artistic direction over traditional combat mechanics.

PlayPile's Take

This title is worth your time if you want a short but memorable adventure on PS2 or modern platforms via emulation. It lacks achievements in the original release so there are no extra collectibles to chase. You should expect to pay full price for the physical copy or find it through digital re-releases depending on your region. The game demands patience since finding each colossus takes significant exploration. Players who dislike vague direction or slow pacing will likely struggle here. Wander's transformation into a demon offers a grim ending that fits the narrative tone perfectly. Buy this only if you appreciate minimalism and emotional storytelling over constant action.

Storyline

The story of Shadow of the Colossus begins as Wander enters the forbidden land, traveling across the long bridge at its entrance on his horse, Agro. According to Lord Emon later in the game, prior to entering the forbidden land Wander had stolen an ancient sword, which is the only weapon capable of slaying the colossi of the forbidden land. Led to the massive Shrine of Worship at the center of the region, Wander carries with him the body of a maiden named Mono. A moment later, several shadow-like creatures with humanoid forms appear and prepare to attack Wander, but he easily dismisses them with a wave of the ancient sword in his possession, which emits strong beams of light. After vanquishing the shadow creatures, the voice of the disembodied entity known as "Dormin" echoes from above, expressing surprise that Wander possesses the weapon. Wander requests that Dormin return Mono's soul to her body, which it states may be possible, but only if the sixteen idols lining the temple's hall are destroyed. It explains that this task can only be accomplished by using the ancient sword to kill sixteen colossi located throughout the land. Each contains a portion of Dormin's own essence, though this is not revealed until late in the game. Despite a warning from Dormin that he may have to pay a great price to revive Mono, Wander sets out to search the land for the colossi and destroy them. In a sequence after the eighth's slaying, a deterioration of Wander's body is shown clearly—his skin becoming paler, his hair darker, and dark streaks growing across his face. After the death of the twelfth colossus, it is revealed to the player that Wander is being pursued by a group of warriors led by Emon. Urged to hurry with his task by Dormin, Wander soon heads off to defeat the sixteenth and final colossus. On the way to this confrontation, he travels on horseback across a long bridge, which begins to collapse as he is halfway across. As Agro jumps over the last gap in the bridge, the portion which is landed on begins to separate from its foundation, causing Agro to nearly lose footing. Sensing the impending fall, Agro jerks forward to throw Wander to safety on the other side, making a sacrifice for him and falling into the river hundreds of feet below as the bridge finally gives way. Wander goes on to defeat the final colossus, and Emon's company arrives in the Shrine of Worship just as the last temple idol crumbles; Wander appears soon afterwards, his eyes and skin now both entirely pale, and two small horns protruding from his head. Declaring that Wander has been "possessed by the dead", Lord Emon orders his warriors to kill him. While he struggles to reach Mono, one warrior shoots Wander in the leg with a crossbow, while another stabs him through his heart with a sword. Black blood sprays from the wound as Wander's body becomes covered in darkness and falls to the floor—a death identical to those suffered by the colossi. Afterward, Dormin's spirit possesses Wander's body, transforming it into a shadowy giant. Dormin, now speaking in its masculine voice, explains that it had been separated to sixteen pieces—the colossi—to seal away its power, and that by entering Wander, who absorbed physical form from defeating each colossus, it is now whole again. While his men flee, Lord Emon casts the ancient sword into a small pool at the back of the temple's hall, creating a whirlwind of light that consumes Dormin and Wander. Emon and his men flee the forbidden land as the bridge connecting to the temple collapses behind them. As they safely arrive at the entrance to the forbidden land, Emon expresses hope that if Wander survived, someday he may be able to atone for his crimes. In the temple, Mono awakens, restored by Dormin in accordance with its agreement with Wander, and Agro limps into the temple with an injured hind leg. Mono follows Agro to the pool into which Wander and Dormin were pulled by Emon's spell, finding a male infant with tiny horns on his head. She takes the child with her, following the horse to higher levels of the Shrine of Worship, and arrives at a secret garden within the shrine as the game ends.