Playing A Game Shadow of the Colossus (2018) PS4

I'll walk back some of my previous sentiment about Shadow of the Colossus "recapturing" the original game's charms and quirks. That is to say, not all of this game has aged well -- the open world really wore on me.

It's pretty, for sure. The environment's beauty is very impressive ... for a few seconds. Then what? I have to ride this dumb horse all the way around the map, occasionally re-plotting my route to get around a mountain or a ravine, and there's nothing else to do* except continue trying to find that next colossus. This world feels too big, for how little is in it.

(* There are some character-boosting pickups that you can collect, although I didn't even know about the majority of them until I'd finished the game. And really... fruits and lizards don't feel like they're adding anything worthwhile to how the game works.)

The contents and structure of this oversized world don't even contribute to the game's lackadaiscal story. That story is nothing but bookended cutscenes, an overlong, tedious intro matched by an overlong, tedious ending; neither of which meaningfully connect to anything that happened during the game. (All the ending really does is make oblique reference to Ico.)

The last decade's worth of open-world games have gotten better and better at weaving content into their maps -- most poignantly (and recently), Breath of the Wild struck a really elegant balance between beautiful, serene landscapes and diverse videogame activities. (When I was riding out to meet a colossus, I often wished that I'd find a bokoblin camp or a circle of suspicious-looking stones.)

I don't think that the stark emptiness of Shadow of the Colossus's map is critical to its overall theme. If this wasn't a remake - that is, if it was a wholly original 2018 production - I'd really have expected, at the least, some extra bits of lore to dot the landscape.

I'm picking on it a lot, but Shadow of the Colossus still isn't a "bad" game, or even an unremarkable one. Even today, there isn't much out there that can out-do its "colossus" feature; progressively hunting, evading, solving, climbing, taunting, and slaying such uniquely intimidating bosses.

And I can't get away with not mentioning the epic, awe-inspiring soundtrack. The thrilling score feels like a vital part of that colossus-climbing gameplay.

But while back in 2005, the colossi were the highlight of an inventive, fascinating package of a game; now, they feel a bit more like pearls resting in a crusty old clam.

Better than: Brütal Legend, Grow Home (and the original)
Not as good as: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Toki Tori 2+
There is a New Game +, but...: I'm not that interested in doing all the same fights over again. Maybe in another 10 or 15 years.

Progress: Finished on Normal.

Rating: Good