Shadow Of The Colossus (2018): Whatever It Takes

Shadow Of The Colossus is an action-adventure game developed by Bluepoint Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. It is a remake of the 2006 game of the same name originally released for the PlayStation 2.

The video game focuses on a young man named Wander who wants to bring back to life a girl named Mono. To do this, Wander and his horse Agro enter a place named the Forbidden Land and makes a deal with a creature called Dormin: Wander has to kill sixteen creatures called colossi and Dormin will revive Mono. Meanwhile, a mysterious party led by someone called Lord Emon is tailing Wander. 

Regarding the gameplay, you control Wander. He can attack by using his sword or bow and arrow, he can also jump and climb obstacles and walls. As said before your main goal is to seek out and kill each colossus. You can find them by raising your sword in a sunlit area and it will show you the right direction, then you use your horse Agro to travel the Forbidden Land and explore and escalate ruins and buildings to reach them. 

When facing a colossus you have to find its weak point and kill it; every enemy has a different strategy to be defeated and has a unique weak point. You may have to scale the colossus to reach its weak point and stab it with your sword. While scaling you have to remember that Wander has limited stamina and if you do not climb fast, he falls. After you slay each colossus, you return to where Mono is laying and a cutscene appears and then Dormin tells you where the next foe is. All of these is repeated until you annihilate the sixteen colossi.

It sound simple, but finding each weak point of every boss is difficult and to win the battle you need to be strategic. All sixteen colossi are different: Some are gigantic beings made of stone, looking like moving antique constructions, while others have animal-like characteristics; some use weapons and other use elemental techniques like thunderbolts to defend themselves. Each one is unique, and require different methods to defeat them, and it's up to you to know how to triumph. 

Another interesting point is the minimalism the game presents, since you do not encounter NPCs throughout the whole game, there are no other enemies than the colossi and despite being an adventure game there are no towns, dungeons or palaces to be explored and most of the constructions are in ruins, and the only other living creatures you encounter are some animals that inhabit the land. Moreover, you don't talk to anybody, but Dormin and your horse, and that makes the game really immersive while you traverse the areas. The desolated and vast land gives you a sense of loneliness and melancholy in this emotional and larger-than-life journey to bring back a loved one back to life. 

SOTC has been regarded by many as one of the greatest video games ever made and I wholeheartedly agree. The mind behind SOTC is game designer Fumito Ueda (Ico, The Last Guardian) and his games are usually noted by having a fantasy-based setting with their own mythology and language, accompanied by mysterious and symbolic characters and plot, beautiful music and visuals, and often require a deep analysis.

To try to grasp what SOTC means as a whole implies taking every part of the game and analyze it separatedly. There are many theories and stories surrounding the plot of the game, the characters and its setting. Who or what is Dormin? Who is Wander? Why is Mono dead? What are the colossi? Why is the Forbidden land called that way? Who is Lord Emin really? Many questions arise and some have answers and some not, but I think it is for every player to discover them.

The music is simply beautiful. The bittersweet songs really add a different feeling to the battles and without them, SOTC would not have the same impact. The OST can be calm, epic, sometimes sad... Wherever you are you will remember these symphonies, because they will leave a mark.

Compared to the original game, this remake is a huge improvement; it has enhanced basically everything, except for some issues with the camera and controls, but they are not something that can completely ruin the experience. We can notice the difference by the level of detail of the landscapes, Agro and the colossi; a sight for sore eyes.

All in all, the great influence Shadow Of The Colossus has made in the gaming industry is huge, and with reason, since you will never encounter another game like this. Shadow Of The Colossus is an epic journey into the unknown, a story about love and companionship in which the only thing that makes you keep going forward is to challenge life itself in order to be reunited with a loved one once again.

PS: In here I leave some images comparing the original game and the remake.

Journey (2012): Between Heaven And Ruins

Journey is an indie adventure game co-developed by Thatgamecompany and Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Originally released in March 2012 for the PlayStation 3, it was later ported to PlayStation 4 (2015), Microsoft Windows (2019), and iOS (2019).

Journey is a video game in which you control a mysterious robed figure in a vast desert and your main goal is to reach a mountain that appears in the distance. 

Regarding the gameplay, Journey is based on exploration and you have to reach a specific mountain by walking and jumping through the obstacles you encounter. Moreover, through a special scarf you wear, you have the ability to temporarily float. In addition, during your travel you can encounter another player and help each other. You can't communicate with them, except through music and you get to know the other person's name after you finish the game. The game's lenght is approximately between 2-2 and a half hours.

Journey has to be one of the most interesting and beautiful experiences I have experienced in a long time when playing a video game. The cryptic story, told through images, gameplay and without a single word uttered is intriguing to say the least. You are this robed figure, this wanderer who, for unknown reasons, has to travel through a desert and reach a special mountain. This desert is full of ruins of an ancient civilization and there are strange characters who appear before you to help or slow you down in your journey.

What happened to the world? How do you fit into the story? Why communication through music? Who are the other characters you encounter? There are many questions and you have to do some research to get some answers, since the video game doesn't tell you everything. Is that a bad thing? Not for me, since I love having to look for hidden meanings, symbols and metaphors in a story.

The mind behind this gem is Jenova Chen, who has worked on video games like Cloud, Flow, and Flower. All of them in a similar vein, and Journey also shares similarities to them and transmits this sense of peace and melancholy. Wandering through this desolate land is a priceless adventure that accompanied by its breathtaking scenarios and incredible music composed by Austin Wintory makes a great piece of entertainment and art.

Words are not needed while you venture into the desert, and despite that, you can still create a bond between you and another stranger. You can help an unnamed individual and reach the ending together like lifelong partners. Isn't this how life is supposed to be? Going through a long hard road, avoiding and overcoming obstacles and perils?

All in all, Journey is a masterpiece and can be classified as an artsy game, that despite having a short lenght, the story, gameplay, graphics, and music make up for it by showing a mysterious and perfectly crafted world in which kindness is essential. Journey is an experience that can touch your soul, showing that in life you don't have to be alone, and going with a friend along the way, everything gets a little easier, even if we do not know what the ending might be.