I've always felt conflicted about Ico. It helped validate videogames as an art form with minimalist storytelling that explores concepts around connection and loneliness, but the combat is dog shit boring and escorting Yorda around the castle is like herding cats. Fumito Ueda, the creator, has always attempted to craft an immersive experience that evokes an emotional response from the player, asking them to take an introspective look from open ended tales. Shadow of the Colossus is the spiritual successor to Ico and in some capacity a prequel.
The game opens with Wander, a young man entering forbidden lands, carrying a deceased girl, Mono, into the lone temple. Laying the girl upon an altar, Wander strikes a deal with talking sunlight that if he kills the Colossi roaming the land, Mono will be revived. This sparse introduction and quick reluctance to accept an impossible proposition are the slow mechanizations Ueda uses to gradually engross the players psyche. With the stage set, Wander traverses a massive, barren world to slay the giants. Traveling on horseback and using a mystical sword to guide his path, it becomes apparent that no other life encompasses the changing terrain. From deserts and beautiful shimmering bodies of water to the decaying remnants of civilization past, the echoes of hoofs on the ground become a reminder that you are alone until the next showdown.
The titan encounters build upon the feeling of insignificance in the presence of still nature. Towering over Wander, the slow, heavy strikes of goliaths seek to crush him with unstoppable force as he hangs on for dear life scaling their looming limbs in search of the Achilles heel. When found, brutal stabbings form the method of execution as the behemoths cry in agony before their thundering fall. The initial killings as you extinguish the last remnants of life in the area bring doubt to the morality of your expedition, weighing the unwarranted sacrifice against selfish desire, but with each slain Colossus reservation is replaced with justification.
The intentionality of each component and Ueda's focus on an open-ended fable offers a deep well of meaning that endures fifteen years later. The malleable impression of the game molds to the individual as we ask what we're willing to undertake for personal desire, our place in the cycle of life, and our struggle to defy the inevitable in nature and ourselves. The measured descent is a captivating experience that culminates into gargantuan proportions of intensity as your gunning it down the back of a Colossus to land the fatal blow. Just as the spirit of a fallen hulk envelops Wander, staining his hands and transforming his soul, so too does Shadow of the Colossus immerse the player. But...
Fuck these clunky, shitbag controls that constantly rip you out of the experience as you wait for the dumbass AI to realize it's supposed to do something. Scaling these giant assholes can create epileptic camera angles that further contort your movement as Wander freezes in place unsure if up means up or down or now up again Jesus Christ just let me move. I saw a comment once that said the bad controls actually made the experience because it hammered the point of insignificance and inability in ourselves to combat the overpowering will of the universe, which reminded me of the time me and a friend discussed an exit door as an art installation piece in the Art Institute of Chicago causing one man listening to our conversation to stand in utter confusion for a solid ten minutes unsure if what he was looking at was actually art or if we were completely full of shit. It's the latter, which is what that cockamamie horsehocky of a comment is.
The emotional powerhouse of Frankenstein's David and Goliath is still a tour de force in pushing the boundaries of what a videogame can be, and the remastered version finally gives it the graphical accomplishment it deserves, but it's hindered by the outdated controls that muddle the full effect it can have on someone. Shadow of the Colossus is truly a work of art, and stabs a big boy down to its doom.