Shadow of The Colossus or the art of telling a story without words.
MAJOR SPOILERS FOR SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS FOLLOW. If you wish to play this game just know that it is widely regarded as art in video game form with an engaging story, fantastic game play and a wonderful soundtrack and if you haven’t played it yet I highly recommend the PS4 remaster.
Shadow of the Colossus is without question my favourite game of all time, I’ve played and completed it countless times in its various forms since it was first released in 2005 and I’m almost over a third of the way through the Playstation Four remaster. Some of the reasons I love it are summarised above but its greatest strength is its ability to tell its story without words. The main character, an unlikely hero called Wander speaks only one word throughout the entire game, the name of his faithful horse Agro and yet he is one of the most expressive characters I’ve ever seen. The game begins with Wander carrying the body of an unknown girl into an inhospitable land with only an ancient temple at its centre.
He lays her onto an altar and beseeches the ancient dual voiced deity called Dormin that the temple was built for. Wander asks for one thing, the girl’s life back. Dormin states that this is usually impossible, however it notices that the boy stole their villages ancient sword in order to gain access to the forbidden land and states that he must use its long forgotten magic to slay 16 giant monsters and thus absorb their power giving him the means to bring back his lost love.
This entire conversation takes place in an unknown language (a combination of backwards and remixed Japanese with various other languages).
Wander never talks about the girl within the game it’s HOW his love for her is brought to the forefront that’s so captivating. The longing glances he gives her as she lies prone on the altar, the way he reaches for her then pulls his hand back knowing he has more to do on his journey and when things begin to go wrong he looks to her for the resolve to continue.
The only other thing Wander interacts with barring Dormin and the Colossi is his faithful horse Agro. She’s so much more than a way to get from A to B, she’s loving, courageous and dedicated to Wander. All of these are shown at different points in the game. After Wander returns to the temple drained and rendered unconscious by whatever dark force leaks from the defeated Colossi she nuzzles his body until he awakes, she’ll surge underfoot of a enormous monster to spirit Wander away from danger and gives him a loving nuzzle when Wander calls her into the temple to set out on his next quest. You spend the entire game with Agro as the only thing you can trust in this desolate wasteland and without her, there is no way Wander could even beat the first Colossus let alone the sixteenth. By the time you reach Colossus sixteen, you know her, you know how she moves, know how and when to call for her aid in certain fights and know that she will help you without hesitation despite overwhelming odds. She is there for Wander from minute one and that makes the ending of the game that much more emotional.
Wander himself has often been compared to Link from the Legend of Zelda and while I am a great fan of the Zelda games, (Majora’s mask and A Link Between Worlds being two stand outs for me) I think Wander fits the ‘boy must journey to stop evil story line far better than Link. Unlike Link Wander is prophesied to become a hero, he’s not the latest in a long line of reincarnated young warriors destined to bring peace back to the land, he’s just a boy. He doesn’t slash enemies with practiced ease, his strikes are clumsy, stumbling, slashes or stabs, he runs with gangly strides and while you can roll away from danger it’s obvious that he just barely gets out of the way. He’s not incompetent however and shows remarkable skill with a bow, even being able to draw and fire from horseback while also having remarkable climbing abilities. Yet, when the first Colossus lumbers into frame and you see just how massive it is in comparison to our hero you know that its going to take a LOT to complete your journey. The strange black tendrils that infect Wander after each Colossus is defeated. The Colossi themselves are an intriguing mix of animal, stone, magic and machine and they are never really explained.
They seem like living parts of the landscape rather than creatures in their own right and when Wander destroys one of them the game lingers on their death throes often accompanying each stab and death with mournful cries of pain. By around Colossus six or seven you start to question what it is you agreed to in order to bring back your love and if you even want to continue.
I’m obviously biased but if anything I’ve said makes you want to experience this get the PS4 remaster (it’s only £20 on Amazon). I hope you love it as much as I do.
