Shadow Of The Colossus
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''Shadow of the Colossus'' is a 2005
action-adventure game The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a story ...
developed by
Japan Studio Japan Studio was a Japanese video game developer based in Tokyo. A first-party studio for Sony Interactive Entertainment (formerly Sony Computer Entertainment), it was best known for the '' Ape Escape'', '' LocoRoco'', '' Patapon'', ''Gravity ...
and
Team Ico Team Ico was a Japanese video game development studio led by game designer Fumito Ueda. It was part of Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Studio's Product Development Department #1, and had developed the games ''Ico'' and ''Shadow of the Colos ...
, and published by
Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
. It takes place in a
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
setting and follows Wander, a young man who enters an isolated and abandoned region of the realm seeking the power to revive a girl named Mono. The player assumes the role of Wander as he embarks on a mission that might entail Mono's resurrection: to locate and destroy the colossi, sixteen massive beings spread across the forbidden land, which the
protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
traverses by horseback and on foot. The game was directed by
Fumito Ueda is a Japanese video game designer. Ueda is best known as the director and lead designer of '' Ico'' (2001) and ''Shadow of the Colossus'' (2005) while leading Team Ico at Japan Studio, and ''The Last Guardian'' (2016) through his own development ...
and developed at
Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
's International Production Studio 1, also known as Team Ico, the same development team responsible for the acclaimed PlayStation 2 title ''
Ico is an action-adventure game developed by Japan Studio and Team Ico, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, released for the PlayStation 2 video game console in 2001 and 2002 in various regions. It was designed and directed by Fumito U ...
'', to which the game is considered a spiritual successor. Сonceived as an
online multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
game titled ''NICO'' directly after ''Ico''s completion, ''Shadow of the Colossus'' underwent a lengthy production cycle during which it was redeveloped as a single-player title. The team sought to create an outstanding interactive experience by including a distinct visual design, an unorthodox gameplay template, and
non-player character A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...
s with sophisticated
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
such as the colossi and Wander's horse, Agro. Cited as an influential title in the video game industry and one of the best video games ever made, ''Shadow of the Colossus'' is often regarded as an important example of video game as art due to its
minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...
landscape designs, immersive gameplay, and emotional rendition of the player character's journey. It received wide critical acclaim by the media and was met with strong sales compared to ''Ico'', due in part to a larger marketing campaign. The game won several awards for its audio, design, and overall quality. A remastered version for the
PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
was released alongside ''Ico'' as ''
The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection ''The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection'' (known in PAL regions as ''Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Classics HD'') is a video game bundle that contains high-definition remasters of two PlayStation 2 games, ''Ico'' and ''Shadow of the Colossu ...
'' in September 2011, developed by
Bluepoint Games Bluepoint Games Inc is an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2006 by Andy O'Neil and Marco Thrush, the studio is known for video game remasters and Video game remake, remakes, such as ''Uncharted: The Nathan Drake ...
, who later produced a high definition remake of ''Shadow of the Colossus'' for the
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
in 2018.


Gameplay

Described by several commentators as an
action-adventure game The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a story ...
, ''Shadow of the Colossus'' takes place from a
third-person perspective Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...
in a
three-dimensional Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informal ...
(3D) graphic environment and involves combat-based gameplay sequences, as well as platforming and
puzzle game A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzle ...
elements. The game's environment is largely presented as a seamless open world. Progression through ''Shadow of the Colossus'' occurs in cycles. Beginning at a central point in an expansive landscape, the player seeks out and defeats a colossus, and is then returned to the central point to repeat the process. To find each colossus, Wander may raise his sword while in a sunlit area to reflect beams of light, which will converge when the sword is pointed in the right direction of the next encounter. The player's journey to a colossus seldom follows a direct route: stretches of varied terrain often require that a detour be taken along the way. Most colossi are situated in remote areas, such as atop cliffs or within ancient structures. Once a colossus is found, the player must discover its weaknesses to defeat it. Each colossus dwells in a unique lair, and in most encounters the player must use some aspects of the current battlefield to advantage, a necessity that becomes more pronounced as the game progresses. The first two battles take place on simple, vast, flat areas of land, wherein the player's only goal is to discover how to scale the colossi and attack their weak points. However, the majority of the following fourteen battles require that the player make use of the surrounding environment. Page 2. Every colossus has at least one weak point, symbolized by a glowing
sigil A sigil () is a type of symbol used in magic. The term has usually referred to a pictorial signature of a deity or spirit. In modern usage, especially in the context of chaos magic, sigil refers to a symbolic representation of the practitioner ...
that can be illuminated and identified by the sword's reflected light. Each colossus has areas covered with fur or protruding ledges, which Wander may use to grip and scale the colossus while it thrashes about in an attempt to dislodge him. Wander has a limited stamina gauge that decreases as he hangs onto the colossus; the player thus must act quickly when they scale the creature. Aside from the colossi, who are the only enemies of the game, the environment is inhabited by natural animals. Only one species, however, has an effect on gameplay: eating the tail of a certain kind of lizard increases Wander's stamina gauge. Likewise, the player may find fruit that increases Wander's maximum health. Wander's horse, Agro, plays a large role in the game. Aside from its capacity as a means of transportation, Agro enables the player to fight from horseback, a critical avenue to defeating some of the colossi. However, the game contains many environments that players cannot traverse by horse, and colossi are often found in areas within deep water or beyond large obstacles that must be scaled. Agro cannot travel beyond these, and when separated from Wander by such obstacles, cannot participate in the following battle. While throughout the game, Wander's equipment consists of only a sword and a bow with arrows, in subsequent playthroughs players may access bonus weapons and in-game features after finishing optional Time Attack trials, which allow the battles with the colossi to be replayed with a restricted time limit.


Synopsis


Setting

Presented through a minimalistic narrative, ''Shadow of the Colossus'' eschews disclosure of detailed information about the backstories and interrelationships of its characters to the player. The game takes place in a
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
world, wherein a vast and unpopulated
peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...
, known as the Forbidden Land, serves as the main setting for the game's events. Separated from the outside realm by a distant mountain range to its north and sea to the south and east, the area contains ruins and remnants of ancient structures, an indication that it had formerly been a settlement. Page 3. The only point of entry to the region is a small cleft in the mountains to the north that leads to a massive stone bridge. This bridge spans half the distance of the landscape and terminates at a large temple called the "Shrine of Worship" located at its center. It is, however, forbidden to enter the land, which includes diverse geographical features, such as lakes, plateaus, canyons, caves, and deserts in addition to human-made structures.


Characters

The protagonist of the game is , a young man whose goal is to resurrect a girl named . The only established fact regarding Mono is that she was a maiden who was sacrificed because she was believed to have a cursed destiny. Assisting Wander in his quest to revive her is his loyal horse, , who serves as his sole ally in defeating the colossi; the English-language version of the game refers to Agro as a male steed, although director
Fumito Ueda is a Japanese video game designer. Ueda is best known as the director and lead designer of '' Ico'' (2001) and ''Shadow of the Colossus'' (2005) while leading Team Ico at Japan Studio, and ''The Last Guardian'' (2016) through his own development ...
said that he saw Wander's horse as female. Wander also receives aid from an entity called . The story revolves around these characters but features a small supporting cast, represented by Lord and his men. Speaking with two voices at once (one male and one female), Dormin is a mysterious, disembodied entity. According to
legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...
s of the game's world, Dormin has the power to revive the dead; this premise serves as the driving cause for Wander's entrance upon the forbidden land, as he seeks the being's assistance in reviving Mono. Dormin offers to revive her in exchange for Wander destroying the sixteen colossi. One of the commentators of the game's plot speculated that the name "Dormin", which spells "Nimrod" backwards, serves as a reference to the body of the biblical King
Nimrod Nimrod (; ; arc, ܢܡܪܘܕ; ar, نُمْرُود, Numrūd) is a biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush and therefore a great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of ...
which was cut up and scattered. Lord Emon is a
shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...
who narrates a vision in the game's introduction that vaguely explains the origin of the land to which Wander has come and establishes that entry to this place is forbidden. As portrayed by the game, he possesses vast knowledge about the nature and containment of Dormin, and wields the ability to use powerful
magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
. He has a small group of warriors at his command, and is pursuing Wander to prevent the use of "the forbidden spell", the rite that involves the destruction of the sixteen colossi and the restoration of Dormin's power. The colossi are armored, most often enormous creatures with forms ranging from various humanoids to predatory animals, and live in all manner of surroundings and environments, including underwater and flying through the air. Their bodies are a fusion of organic and
inorganic In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as '' inorganic chemist ...
parts such as rock, earth, and
architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...
elements, some of which are weathered or fractured. Some colossi are peaceful and will only attack when provoked, whereas others are aggressive and will attack on sight. Inhabiting specific locations in the forbidden land, they do not venture outside their own territory. Once slain they will remain where fallen, as a mound of earth and rock vaguely resembling the original colossus. A pillar of light marks the location of each colossus after they are defeated. The
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
names of the colossi, though spread throughout fan related media, are not official and are never referred to within the game.


Plot

As the game begins, Wander enters the forbidden land and travels across a long bridge on his horse, Agro. After they reach the entrance to the Shrine of Worship, Wander, who has carried with him the body of Mono, brings her to an altar in the temple. A moment later, several humanoid shadow creatures appear and approach Wander before he easily dismisses them with a wave of the ancient sword in his possession. After the shadow creatures are vanquished, the disembodied voice of Dormin manifests within the shrine and expresses surprise at the fact that Wander possesses the weapon. Wander explains the plight that led him to seek the forbidden land and asks that Dormin return Mono's soul to her body. Dormin offers to grant Wander's request under the condition that he completes a rite designed to destroy the sixteen idols lining the temple's hall. To that end, Wander must use his sword to slay each of the idol's physical incarnations–the colossi, whose presence ranges across the vast expanse outside the temple. Although warned by 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. An aspect of Wander's mission that is unknown to him is that the colossi contain portions of Dormin's own essence, scattered long ago to render the entity powerless. As Wander kills each colossus, a released fragment of Dormin enters his body. Over time, the signs of Wander's deterioration from the gathered essence start to appear: his skin becomes paler, his hair darker, and his face is increasingly covered by dark veins. The outcome of the battle with the twelfth colossus leads to a reveal of a group of warriors that has been pursuing Wander, 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 rides horseback across a long bridge which begins to collapse as he is halfway across, but Agro manages to throw Wander over to the other side before falling into the distant river below. Soon after, Wander goes on to defeat the final colossus as Emon's company arrives in the Shrine of Worship to witness the last temple idol crumble. Wander appears back in the temple soon after, the signs of his corruption readily apparent: his skin is pallid, his eyes glow silver, and a pair of tiny
horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...
have sprouted from his head. Emon recognizes him as a transgressor who, in an event that occurred before Wander's journey to the forbidden land, stole the ancient sword with which he killed the colossi. Emon orders his warriors to kill the "
possessed Possessed may refer to: Possession * Possession (disambiguation), having some degree of control over something else ** Spirit possession, whereby gods, demons, animas, or other disincarnate entities may temporarily take control of a human body *** ...
" man as he approaches Mono and finally falls once stabbed through the heart by one of Emon's men. However, a newly whole Dormin takes control of Wander's body and transforms into a shadowy giant. While his men flee, Lord Emon casts the ancient sword into a small pool at the back of the temple's hall to evoke a whirlwind of light. The supernatural vortex consumes Dormin and Wander, which seals Dormin within the temple once again. As Emon and his warriors escape, the bridge that leads to the temple collapses behind them, and its destruction forever isolates the forbidden land from the rest of the world. Although he has condemned Wander for his actions prior to their encounter, Emon expresses hope that Wander may be able to atone for his crimes one day should he have survived. Back in the temple, Mono awakens and finds Agro limping 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, where she finds a male
infant An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...
with tiny horns on his head. Mono 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.


Development


Origin

''Shadow of the Colossus'' is the second project of
Team Ico Team Ico was a Japanese video game development studio led by game designer Fumito Ueda. It was part of Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Studio's Product Development Department #1, and had developed the games ''Ico'' and ''Shadow of the Colos ...
, a group of staff members within
Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
's (SCEI) International Production Studio 1 that was led by director
Fumito Ueda is a Japanese video game designer. Ueda is best known as the director and lead designer of '' Ico'' (2001) and ''Shadow of the Colossus'' (2005) while leading Team Ico at Japan Studio, and ''The Last Guardian'' (2016) through his own development ...
and producer
Kenji Kaido is the producer of Sony Interactive Entertainment's Product Development Department #1 division. Kaido started his videogaming career at Taito in 1987, where he worked as project leader and lead game designer on arcade titles '' Bonze Adventure'' ...
. Translation of paragraph 1:
Ueda Fumito: ''In the first stages of development, "Wander to Kyozō" was called "NICO," short for "Next Ico." The idea for our new game was to use what we had learned in "Ico" and come up with something new. However, "NICO" was nothing more than a temporary project name and it was clear from the beginning that the title would change''.
The game originated from one of Ueda's concepts that he developed directly after the team submitted their debut title ''
Ico is an action-adventure game developed by Japan Studio and Team Ico, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, released for the PlayStation 2 video game console in 2001 and 2002 in various regions. It was designed and directed by Fumito U ...
'', released in late 2001 for
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
's
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally placed i ...
, for publication. As the basis of Team Ico's subsequent game had not been decided, Ueda examined "a number of old ideas kicking around in my head ... that couldn't be realized under previous circumstances".
Translation
by Alex Highsmith. )
After a brief review of those avenues, Ueda chose to explore one that aligned with his own preferences as a game player. Ueda cited ''
The Legend of Zelda ''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-rele ...
'' series as an influence, as he grew up wanting to make a game like ''Zelda'' and designed the Colossi bosses like "inverted ''Zelda'' dungeons." Ueda envisioned a work with an underlying motif of "
cruelty Cruelty is the pleasure in inflicting suffering or inaction towards another's suffering when a clear remedy is readily available. Sadism can also be related to this form of action or concept. Cruel ways of inflicting suffering may involve viol ...
as a means of expression". He felt that this theme was widely featured in contemporary titles such as '' Grand Theft Auto III'' and wanted to use it in a game that he designed. In a discussion with Kaido, Ueda observed that he had played a variety of video games containing battles with large bosses that the player must shoot from a distance to defeat. Ueda believed that the boss sequences of those games could be streamlined if the player character was able to approach and climb the oversized opponents to kill them with a close range weapon. Accordingly, he chose to base the game around the player character's encounters with enormous fictional creatures, a premise that stemmed from Ueda's childhood fascination with monster movies. This led to an emphasis on the inclusion of a large-scale adventure in the title, an element which Ueda regarded as influential in the shaping of the game's stylistic identity. Originally, the team considered Ueda's idea alongside another concurrently-developed game. According to Ueda, the game was unrelated to his former concept, and the team did not give it a
working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...
or outline its
design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...
while it was in development. Ueda recognized the finished iteration of Team Ico's second title as, "in many ways, a game for boys and men"; conversely, the separately produced game was fashioned to appeal more to a female audience. Its contents,
interface Interface or interfacing may refer to: Academic journals * ''Interface'' (journal), by the Electrochemical Society * '' Interface, Journal of Applied Linguistics'', now merged with ''ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics'' * '' Int ...
and thematic focus differed significantly from those that would ultimately manifest in the team's next game after ''Ico''. The untitled game did not employ 3D graphics, whereas Team Ico applied them to their published game. The team eventually scrapped their plans for a counterpart title to Ueda's intended game, which was advanced into further development. Prior to the start of the project, Team Ico assessed the opportunity to establish it as a
sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
to their first game. This suggestion was opposed by certain staff members who argued that the story and gameplay of their preceding title were largely self-contained, and that the existence of consumer demand for a new ''Ico'' game was questionable. According to Ueda, Team Ico assumed that the creation of levels for a
single-player game A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...
akin to ''Ico'' necessitated the construction of elaborate
puzzles A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzle ...
, a practice that the staff wanted to eschew. Following lengthy deliberations, they decided not to pursue a sequel to ''Ico'' and to produce a standalone game provisionally dubbed ''NICO'' (a
portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words2 in Japanese, and "Ico"). The team initially agreed to develop ''NICO'' as an
online multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
game that, unlike ''Ico'', "wouldn't require complex level design". Their foundational goal, according to Kaido, was to create a
technology demo A technology demonstration (or tech demo), also known as demonstrator model, is a prototype, rough example or an otherwise incomplete version of a conceivable product or future system, put together as proof of concept with the primary purpose of s ...
that represented a tentative rendition of the game's fictional world and features. Development commenced immediately after the December 2001 release of ''Ico''s Japanese version.


Early prototypes

To develop the concept video for ''NICO'', Team Ico formed a small internal group, which was composed of Ueda, one of ''Ico''s designers and a roughly 10-person
animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...
team. Their objective was to deliver " movie with an extremely final form" that could serve as a visual template for the finalized game. The first
storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, i ...
that outlined the video was drafted in January 2002, and the actual
short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
was completed that May. It depicted a group of three masked, horned boys who rode horseback across a vast landscape and attacked a towering being reminiscent of the second boss in ''Shadow of the Colossus''. The video was visualized in the ''Ico''
game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term "software engine" used in the software i ...
and was rendered in real-time on the PlayStation 2 hardware. With those techniques, the team aimed to estimate the extent to which the platform's capabilities allowed the realization of their vision. According to Kaido, the team deemed the resulting video to have attained a very high level of completion, and thus was able to use it as a reference point throughout the game's production. Although they subsequently modified the game's visuals from those of the demonstration reel, its themes of "fighting a giant enemy" and " xploringa giant field" carried over into the final game design. The demo indicated elements that were excluded from the released game. Among these was a showcased gameplay mechanism wherein one of the colossus' attackers who had scaled and killed it proceeded to mount his approaching horse by leaping onto its back from the entity's corpse. The video was later exhibited at many trade shows, such as the 2006
D.I.C.E. Summit The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...
in
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
where Kaido and Ueda
retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...
ly discussed the game's development with
Lorne Lanning Lorne Lanning is an American game designer, director, writer and voice actor. He is also co-founder and president of the video game developer Oddworld Inhabitants. He is best known for creating the ''Oddworld'' series including the games '' Od ...
. In June 2002, a small group of staff at Team Ico started to build a
prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...
of ''NICO'' for
testing An examination (exam or evaluation) or test is an educational assessment intended to measure a test-taker's knowledge, skill, aptitude, physical fitness, or classification in many other topics (e.g., beliefs). A test may be administered verba ...
purposes. In his role as producer, Kaido tasked the team with the inclusion of technological features that he recognized as important
milestones A milestone is a marker of distance along roads. Milestone may also refer to: Measurements *Milestone (project management), metaphorically, markers of reaching an identifiable stage in any task or the project *Software release life cycle state, s ...
of the development. One of the challenges issued by Kaido involved the creation of "organic collision deformation", a term that alluded to his concept of realistic
character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
in relation to the movement of the colossi. For instance, if a colossus' limb was currently horizontal, Kaido expected the player to be able to run across the limb as though it were any other flat
surface A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is ...
. Ueda and Team Ico programmers spent over six months to produce a working version of this functionality. They began by adding a character to a virtual environment where the figure was enabled to climb a pole-like object. One of the team's priorities at the time was to code a physics-based
simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or proc ...
of scenarios where characters were "being shaken off or narrowly avoided being stomped on". In May 2003, Team Ico assembled a demonstrational build of ''NICO'' and presented it at a production meeting. Full development of the game was sanctioned directly after it was pitched, and commenced in the same month. That year, the ''NICO'' technology demo was shown across Sony's foreign offices among a lineup of prospective PlayStation 2 titles, and its exposure excited the spectators. Although the team attempted to work on the game in secrecy, at a certain point images of ''NICO''s horseriding characters were leaked onto the Internet. Their circulation led enthusiasts to speculate about what they perceived as a sequel to ''Ico''. According to Ueda, the team reused elements of ''Ico''s character designs for ''NICO'' to expedite the production of the concept video and minimize its costs. He asserted that ''NICO'' was not related to ''Ico'' despite their stylistic similarities, and that his colleagues did not identify the former game as a sequel. However, contemporary and retrospective sources described Team Ico's second game as both a spiritual successor and
prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...
to ''Ico''. The staff used player feedback to advance the testing of the "organic collision deformation" system by inputting simple objects to experiment its capabilities. Although Team Ico had conducted an elaborate research of the game's technological framework, they did not finish its validation when they entered the production phase. After evaluating the limited number of personnel that was involved with ''NICO'' as well as their professional profiles, Team Ico concluded that they were not qualified to deliver an online-only game. They then resolved to abandon that direction and to reformulate ''NICO'' into a single-player title. The team discarded ''Ico''s development tools that they had used at the outset of the project and moved to write new programming utilities. Relatedly, they opted to create a dedicated game engine for the title in lieu of that from ''Ico''. While the staff had intended to reuse the development practices that they had employed in ''Ico'' to proceed with ''NICO'', the departure from the technology of the older game meant that its successor "was uiltalmost from the ground up again".


Production

After a lengthy preparatory phase, the game's production began in September 2003. Publisher SCEI gave the project a greater amount of development time,
funding Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm uses ...
and creative freedom in comparison to the resources of the ''Ico'' team, measures that arose from the company's recognition of that game's critical success. Kaido also noted that he and Ueda endeavored to expand the production with newly recruited staff. They sought out prospective collaborators, particularly artistic specialists, through job advertisements they had distributed across the Japanese trade media and via
word of mouth Word of mouth, or ''viva voce'', is the passing of information from person to person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one pe ...
publicity. From a pool of five hundred applicants, ten were subsequently enlisted to work on the game; however, Ueda felt that only one or two satisfied his criteria, as he expected every facet of the title to be as well-crafted as possible. Kaido's concern during production was to guarantee Team Ico's ability to meet their
schedule A schedule or a timetable, as a basic time-management tool, consists of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place, or of a sequence of events in the chronological order in which such things are i ...
and budget commitments while ensuring that they had the opportunity "to create everything Ueda was aiming for within the amount of time we had". Kaido remarked that his colleagues needed to "start transitioning into full production", as they had devoted extensive efforts to the preparation of the game's technology. Initially, the team was unable to ascertain the level of sophistication with which they could materialize their ideas in the game. Character designer Shinpei Suzuki recalled that they started to develop the game in an experimental fashion and made progress through
trial and error Trial and error is a fundamental method of problem-solving characterized by repeated, varied attempts which are continued until success, or until the practicer stops trying. According to W.H. Thorpe, the term was devised by C. Lloyd Morgan (18 ...
. As the team began, the designers issued instructions that outlined the programmable
properties Property is the ownership of land, resources, improvements or other tangible objects, or intellectual property. Property may also refer to: Mathematics * Property (mathematics) Philosophy and science * Property (philosophy), in philosophy and ...
of the colossi enemies–along with the means of their defeat–and that were meant to be gradually implemented into the title. The process in which the staff attempted to introduce those concepts typically led them to encounter problems with their realization, which entailed a revision of previously submitted work. According to Kaido, during the development of the colossi the team struggled to choreograph certain motions of the enemies in line with the expectations of the personnel. To remedy this defect, Team Ico reworked their original programming solution that animated the movements of the colossi in the game. Suzuki described the team's early accomplishments as
empirical Empirical evidence for a proposition is evidence, i.e. what supports or counters this proposition, that is constituted by or accessible to sense experience or experimental procedure. Empirical evidence is of central importance to the sciences and ...
; in the aforementioned period, the staff would routinely test and adjust the game's anticipated components until confirming them to function properly. To plan out the design the game's visual elements, Ueda used 3D computer graphics software instead of sketching them on paper. His rationale was that the necessity to transform the hand-drawn artwork into polygonal shapes in the latter case would cause the reproduced assets' level of detail to be vastly reduced from that of the source images. In defining the inclusion of the game's environments, Ueda outlined his suggestions to the team's scenery designers who then worked to apply them to the title. After the locations of the individual colossi were visualized in the game's engine, the group began to compose the game's setting by adding intermediary areas between the enemies' lairs. During development, the size of the game world frequently changed as the team reorganized the connective material.
Environmental design Environmental design is the process of addressing surrounding environmental parameters when devising plans, programs, policies, buildings, or products. It seeks to create spaces that will enhance the natural, social, cultural and physical environm ...
er Kouji Hasegawa noted that the scenery graphics were drastically reworked on several occasions because Ueda urged him and his colleagues to reinforce the light tones in the coloring of the areas and to accentuate "the brightness and the
saturation Saturation, saturated, unsaturation or unsaturated may refer to: Chemistry * Saturation, a property of organic compounds referring to carbon-carbon bonds **Saturated and unsaturated compounds ** Degree of unsaturation **Saturated fat or fatty aci ...
of the textures". Like ''Ico'', the game displays a distinct style of lighting. The game engine utilizes elements such as desaturated colors,
motion blur Motion blur is the apparent streaking of moving objects in a photograph or a sequence of frames, such as a film or animation. It results when the image being recorded changes during the recording of a single exposure, due to rapid movement or lo ...
and partial
high dynamic range rendering High-dynamic-range rendering (HDRR or HDR rendering), also known as high-dynamic-range lighting, is the rendering of computer graphics scenes by using lighting calculations done in high dynamic range (HDR). This allows preservation of details tha ...
; and it places heavy emphasis on bloom lighting. (Translation available a
The Making of Shadow of the Colossus
As Team Ico operationalized the game's physics-oriented features, they continued to refine them with reference to the ''Ico''-inspired character designs from the ''NICO'' concept video. After the systems that modeled the player's interactions with the colossi and generated the game world were established, the team integrated the human
models A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...
from the prior versions of the game into a newly-designed, singular figure. The necessity for the protagonist to freely traverse a 3D space prompted the team to abandon the presentational format of ''Ico'', whose gameplay is viewed from a fixed perspective, and to introduce a camera system with a third-person view of the character. After the inclusion of the player character's ability to perform climbing maneuvers, the team enabled the game to alter his physical response to instances of falling from a moving colossus; the reaction would vary depending on the distance that the protagonist's body traveled to the landing point. According to Ueda, the moment when he saw the actual effect of that simulation led him to believe that the project offered an exceptional play experience when compared to preceding video games. Character animation is accomplished via
key frame In animation and filmmaking, a key frame (or keyframe) is a drawing or shot that defines the starting and ending points of a smooth transition. These are called ''frames'' because their position in time is measured in frames on a strip of film ...
animation, the game's simulated physics and
inverse kinematics In computer animation and robotics, inverse kinematics is the mathematical process of calculating the variable joint parameters needed to place the end of a kinematic chain, such as a robot manipulator or animation character's skeleton, in a g ...
(IK)–a method derived from the field of
robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...
. Some of the game's characters are procedurally animated; this technique is sparsely used due to the limited computational capacity of the PlayStation 2. While the basic movements of the character models were animated by hand, their physical interactions are simulated in real time by the game's
physics engine A physics engine is computer software that provides an approximate simulation of certain physical systems, such as rigid body dynamics (including collision detection), soft body dynamics, and fluid dynamics, of use in the domains of computer gr ...
. The generated data is input to the IK system to animate the
joint A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw ...
s of a model, and, by extension, its entire body. In the process, the system estimates the
displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics * Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...
,
angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two Ray (geometry), rays, called the ''Side (plane geometry), sides'' of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the ''vertex (geometry), vertex'' of the angle. Angles formed by two ...
and the direction of the finalized motion, and the model is positioned in the environment according to these calculations. As a result, predefined animations are blended with physical effects to create lifelike character movement: for example, the player character behaves like a swinging
pendulum A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the ...
as he hangs onto a colossus while it tries to dislodge him. As applied to the protagonist's horse, the technology enables the character to adjust its posture when on uneven surfaces for added realism, a feature that extends to the colossi. With regard to the colossi, Team Ico were keen to ensure that their motions were plausible, and strove to accurately convey the massiveness and energy level of the creatures. The colossi were programmed to react to the occurrence of specific player-driven events within one of the "sensor" areas set by the
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
(AI) of the enemies across their surrounding territory. For example, if the player character is at ground level and approaches an armed colossus from the front, the creature brandishes its weapon against him. As opposed to a
hard-coded Hard coding (also hard-coding or hardcoding) is the software development practice of embedding data directly into the source code of a program or other executable object, as opposed to obtaining the data from external sources or generating it at ...
program, the colossi's AI could be fine-tuned for each of the game's scenes. Team Ico also developed AI-enabled movement algorithms for protagonist's horse, which was conceived as a realistic representation of its real-life counterparts. This solution allows the horse to occasionally ignore the player's commands and to be
proactive Proactivity or proactive behavior refers to self-initiated behavior that endeavours to solve a problem before it has occurred. Proactive behavior involves acting in advance of a future situation, rather than reacting. It refers to taking control o ...
in order to avoid visible sources of danger within its surroundings. However, Ueda admitted that the team had to seek a balance in how often Agro did not respond to player input so as to not sacrifice playability in the pursuit of realism. Kaido admitted that Team Ico's ambitions for the game were partly unimplementable with the PlayStation 2 hardware, and that the team " ostsight of the cardinal rules of game design" several times during production. One of the issues that caused them to discard assets already added to the game was the variety of the colossi. Ueda initially intended to incorporate 48 colossi in ''NICO'', but their amount was afterward reduced to 24 when he concluded that his former vision was unrealizable. Eventually, Ueda settled on the released game's 16 beings due to a concern that the game would not achieve the desired quality level if the previous number of the colossi was maintained. To choose the colossi that were negligible, Team Ico estimated their level of completion at the time and the degree of overlap between the anticipated method of defeating a given entity and a strategy reserved for another enemy. Other omitted elements of the game included a two-player gameplay mode, excluded due to insufficient development time, as well as a simulation of a full day cycle and weather variations, excised because of problems that Ueda attributed to the PlayStation 2's memory capacity. Despite the design-related difficulties, Kaido remarked that the staff managed to reaffirm their creative priorities repeatedly after they had consulted the ''NICO'' technology demo. As the time passed, the development proved to be a strenuous endeavor for the staff, and fan expectations for Team Ico's second game placed them under pressure to surpass their past work in ''Ico''. The team's morale was challenged by Ueda's perfectionistic tendencies, as he was often demanding in his requests for revisions of the game's components. According to both him and Kaido, Ueda's insistence on exercising personal supervision over the artistic facets of the development was a factor in the emergence of the setbacks that the team encountered as they continued to work on the game. Thomas Wilborgh of the
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
gaming magazine ''LEVEL'' afterward commented that Ueda's
hands-on "Hands-on" refers to human interaction, often with technology. It implies active participation in a direct and practical way. Hands-on or Hands-On may refer to: * Hands-on computing, a branch of human-computer interaction (HCI) research * Hand ...
role in the creation of his games was evidence of his familiarity with every aspect pertinent to their development, and that Ueda was able to command the respect of individual personnel because of that personal quality. At the height of production, Ueda stayed in the office after hours to make progress in contributing content to the game; Kaido also refused to leave work early when he felt it necessary to provide other team members who worked overtime with moral support. Kaido commended the staff's dedication in retrospect, as he believed that their output allowed Team Ico to "
tick Ticks (order Ixodida) are parasitic arachnids that are part of the mite superorder Parasitiformes. Adult ticks are approximately 3 to 5 mm in length depending on age, sex, species, and "fullness". Ticks are external parasites, living by ...
to the schedule in the end", despite the reductive alterations that the game had undergone over the course of its production. In late 2004, following two years of development during which ''NICO'' was listed on Sony's internal schedules for forthcoming products under that respective name, Team Ico changed the games designation to its final Japanese title. SCEI's
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an branch was determined to publish the game under the name ''Ico 2'' in its associated regions. However, Sony Computer Entertainment America proposed that the game's original title, translated as ''Wanda and the Colossus'', be rebranded as ''Shadow of the Colossus'' for a
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
n release. In naming the game, Ueda intended to move away from the abstract title of ''Ico'' to a simpler and more straightforward product name. This resulted in the game's native title, which offered greater public appeal and clarity than that of ''Ico'', and was striking from the perspective of Japanese consumers. ''Shadow of the Colossus'' was unveiled in early September 2004–along with '' Genji: Dawn of the Samurai''–via an announcement on the official Japanese PlayStation
website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...
. On September 10, SCEI held an official
press conference A press conference or news conference is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicians, corporations, non-governmental organ ...
where ''Shadow of the Colossus'' was presented by Ueda and Kaido to Japanese trade journalists. The event was accompanied by a
live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music *Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of albums ...
orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
l
performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...
of selected music from the game's
soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
, which drew interested visitors to the showcase. Later that month, a trailer of ''Shadow of the Colossus'' was revealed at the 2004
Tokyo Game Show , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. The ...
, where Sony alluded to the game's tentative
release date ''Release Date'' is the 12th studio album by the Finnish avant-garde progressive metal band Waltari. The track "Spokebone" is a collaboration between Waltari, Tomi Joutsen of Amorphis, and the Finnish folk group Värttinä. Track listing # "Ge ...
in the next year. At an internal meeting in February 2005, Team Ico decided to monitor player feedback to the unveiling of ''Shadow of the Colossus'' in an effort to correct the game's deficiencies. That April, Sony announced the game's American title, and by the next month,
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
video game-oriented media outlets such as ''
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' and '' 1Up.com'' had received a pre-release playable version of ''Shadow of the Colossus'' and reported their early impressions about the game. Also in May, the same version of the game–estimated by a Japanese online news source to be at "60 percent of completion" by that point–was exhibited at
E3 2005 E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publisher ...
, and, according to ''
Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...
'', attracted "heavy crowds, all clamouring to get their hands on and heads around its sheer enormity". However, several spectators complained about the low
frame rate Frame rate (expressed in or FPS) is the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (frames) are captured or displayed. The term applies equally to film and video cameras, computer graphics, and motion capture systems. Frame rate may also be ca ...
of the title, and Andrew Vestal of ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The m ...
'', commenting on the game's status in a preview, cited problems that pertained to its
collision detection Collision detection is the computational problem of detecting the intersection (Euclidean geometry), intersection of two or more objects. Collision detection is a classic issue of computational geometry and has applications in various computing ...
. Ueda later admitted the existence of several flaws in the design of ''Shadow of the Colossus''; at the same time, he had asserted that the staff's adherence to the central ideas that they had envisioned meant that the game's elements eventually coalesced into a coherent product. By July 2005, Team Ico entered the last phase of ''Shadow of the Colossus'' development. They had pledged to improve the game's frame rate, and worked to optimize its physics engine and the rendering of the game world. Ueda noted that the finished version of the "organic collision deformation" technology differed drastically from the iteration that the team originally developed. SCEI demonstrated ''Shadow of the Colossus'' at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show to a positive reception, and Jō Kirian of ''ITmedia'' reported that a long line of attendees queued up near the game's exposition stand at the venue. Ueda told ''
Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...
'' after the convention ended that Team Ico deemed the game to be "pretty much fixed as it is" and that they did not have plans to supplement the game with new content. Although they had repeatedly missed deadlines and exceeded budget limitations, Kaido thought that the implementation of the game's major features instilled pride in his colleagues. According to Ueda, ''Shadow of the Colossus'' ultimately involved a 40-person team. After three and a half years of development, Team Ico completed the Japanese and North American versions of ''Shadow of the Colossus'' in September 2005.


Design

For ''Shadow of the Colossus'', Team Ico adopted a more sophisticated template for their creative process than ''Ico''s principal idea of "design by subtraction"; under the latter approach, they removed the title's integrated elements that detracted players from its reality. Ueda felt that ''Ico''s analogous structure to an
adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...
resulted in its limited interactivity, and he wanted ''Shadow of the Colossus'' to be more player-driven by comparison. To that end, he sought to ensure that the game provided players with agency both sporadically–in that they would be able to trigger in-game scenarios by their own efforts–and on an overarching scale–by the creation of emergent solutions to the gameplay. Furthermore, the player can manipulate the camera during
cutscene A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...
s, a functionality designed to maintain the impression of controllability–and therefore, the consumers' interest–in those otherwise self-directed segments of the game. At the same time, Ueda strove to make the title accessible to people who did not play video games by simplifying its controls and other components. Kaido and Ueda aimed to challenge the contemporary trends of the
video game industry The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstream. , ...
, and they thus fashioned the battles with the boss-like colossi characters as an unconventional rendition of video game levels. The quality of the battles with the colossi was of critical importance to Ueda, who saw them as an outgrowth of his appreciation for boss fights in video games as a player. During development, the team considered including fights with smaller enemies beyond the colossi and with "optional Colossi you wouldn't need to defeat" in the game. Those suggestions were rejected due to Ueda's belief that the title's
play value Play value is the essential value of a toy or game for play. The term is frequently employed in the field of child development and playwork for the assessment of toys, games, equipment and spaces. When they are fun and engaging, playthings and spa ...
would not benefit from those confrontations. Relatedly, ''Shadow of the Colossus'' was made exclusive of human
non-playable characters A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...
(NPCs), although the team placed discoverable small-sized animals in the game per Ueda's
specifications A specification often refers to a set of documented requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service. A specification is often a type of technical standard. There are different types of technical or engineering specificati ...
. The creation of the colossi, as the focus of the game's separate segments, required Team Ico to provide input across disciplines. The ensuing distribution of duties between the title's artists, animators, programmers and designers meant that they needed to make their contributions to the game intercompatible so as not to engender design issues. Ueda wanted the game's presentation to be outstanding and to exhibit "the density of a painting". He visited geographical landmarks of the Western United States such as the
Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...
and
Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth. Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the ...
to seek inspiration for the game's setting. The modeling of the game's environments, whose arrangement stemmed from independently constructed battlegrounds tied to each of the colossi, followed a pattern that Kouji Hasegawa described as "a repeating cycle of creating, testing and tuning". The team initially struggled to carry out Ueda's instructions for the shaping of the scenery and altered the game's locations frequently so as to find a satisfactory design for the setting. After researching several
visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...
genres, Team Ico crafted a distinct graphical style that utilized both grayish and light color tones to underscore the game's ambiance, identified by Ueda as "firm-feeling". This aesthetic was exemplified by the
game mechanics In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide the player's actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, a ludeme is an element of play like the L-sha ...
of searching the setting for the colossi, which came from Ueda's desire to determine a straightforward and visually defined reference for the player. He remarked that the game's completed graphics–as well as its gameplay principles–were produced similarly to those of ''Ico'', as an invocation of stylistic parallels between the two titles. Among the game's characters, the appearance of the human personalities was established prior to that of colossi. According to Ueda, Wander and Mono, while fitting the
literary trope A literary trope is the use of figurative language, via word, phrase or an image, for artistic effect such as using a figure of speech. Keith and Lundburg describe a trope as, "a substitution of a word or phrase by a less literal word or phrase." ...
of "a little boy and a little girl", were not meant to occupy
archetypical The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ot ...
roles, and the team attempted to foster a "cool" image in molding Wander's gestures. The colossi's design was derived from that of the gameplay, and was meant to invoke a simultaneous sense of peculiarity and
realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...
while not indicating their true nature. Ueda was keen to achieve a convincing depiction of the colossi's scale, which was underlined by the addition of a climbable fur surface to the creatures. However, the complexity of the game's physics engine meant that the faster colossi needed to be smaller as well. Another concern for Ueda was to materialize a unique connection between the colossi, as NPCs, and the game's audience, by ensuring that victory over an enemy evoked a conflicted sensation in the player. In exploring this aspect, Ueda combined a scene that portrayed the death of a colossus with a
melancholic Melancholia or melancholy (from el, µέλαινα χολή ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly d ...
song from a
film soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
. He presented the edited sequence to the staff, who "burst out laughing. To have a scene like that ... seemed like a mistake to them". Nevertheless, Ueda resolved to carry the idea over to the rest of the colossi battles, which he asserted to be a well-judged choice after he had asked players to voice their opinions on that matter. While ''Ico''s plot is told partly through
dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...
, ''Shadow of the Colossus'' avoids that
narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...
device and relies more on nonverbal
storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural pre ...
. Ueda strove to clearly characterize the game's setting within the constraints of the target platform, and thus devised a simple storyline for the title. As part of his approach to the game's environmental design, Ueda emphasized the motif of a "lonely hero" in the game, in keeping with the atmosphere of ''Ico''. Ueda explained that his design practices, together with the technological limitations of the time, meant that he favored "characters that live inside their own heads instead of having complicated relationships with other characters". At the same time, he was interested in the concept of companionship between an AI-controlled character and the player. This led him to construct a partnership between Wander and Agro, reminiscent of the connection between ''Ico''s titular hero and Yorda, an NPC. Based in part on Ueda's own experiences in
horseriding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...
, the team prepared a detailed set of maneuvers that Wander could execute in concert with Agro, and gave Agro a crucial supportive role during gameplay. Kaido was especially satisfied with Agro's implementation, and Ueda was inspired by the interplay between the horse and the protagonist to focus his following game, ''
The Last Guardian ''The Last Guardian'' is a 2016 action-adventure game developed by Japan Studio and GenDesign and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. Players control a boy who befriends a giant half-bird, half-mammal creatur ...
'', on a similar relationship.
Translation
by Alex Highsmith. )


Music

The development of ''Shadow of the Colossus'' music started alongside that of the game itself. Ueda's core idea was to use a "dynamic and gallant" score in the game, akin to traditional
Hollywood film The cinema of the United States, consisting mainly of major film studios (also known as Hollywood) along with some independent film, has had a large effect on the global film industry since the early 20th century. The dominant style of Ame ...
music. The team's goal with the soundtrack of ''Shadow of the Colossus'', as with ''Ico'', was to differentiate it from conventional
video game music Video game music (or VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to ...
, and to "express restraint with regards to emotional expression as much as possible". Inspired by the opening theme from ''
Silent Hill is a horror anthology media franchise centered on a series of survival horror games created by Keiichiro Toyama and published by Konami. The first four video games in the series, '' Silent Hill'', ''Silent Hill 2'', ''Silent Hill 3'' and '' ...
'', Ueda also intended the soundtrack to reflect a melancholic ambiance as well as the history of the game's setting, based on the narrative's elements of
death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
and
resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...
. His other objective was to provide the game with compositions that adopted an elevated and dignified tone to underline the grandiose nature of the colossi. The soundtrack was composed by
Kow Otani is a Japanese composer. He is best known for creating the soundtracks for the Heisei ''Gamera'' trilogy, '' Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack'', ''Mobile Suit Gundam Wing'', and ''Shadow of the Colossus''. Biogra ...
, who had been previously responsible for the music to the 1990s-era ''
Gamera is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. Debuting in the 1965 film ''Gamera, the Giant Monster'', the character and the first film were intended to compete with the success of Toho's ''Godzilla'' film ...
'' films and a number of
anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
titles. Within the video game medium, his past work consisted of the soundtracks to the PlayStation 2
flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...
'' Sky Odyssey'' and the PlayStation
scrolling shooter In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text ...
''
Philosoma is a video game for the Sony PlayStation, released in 1995 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment America. It was re-released on the PlayStation Network in Japan on April 26, 2007. One of the earliest PlayStation games, it was met with me ...
''. In selecting the composer of the game, Ueda sought to deviate from the conceptual perspective of the score for ''Ico'', written by
Michiru Oshima Michiru (満, みちる, ミチル) is a Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, 1970s J-Pop artist *, Japanese composer *, Japanese pop singer and songwriter *, Japanese voice actor *, Japanese anime scriptwriter *, Japane ...
. Unlike ''Ico'', which Ueda saw as a game that equally attracted male and female audiences, he saw ''Shadow of the Colossus'' as a work that appealed more to male players. This led Ueda to hire a male composer for the game. The versatility of Otani's musical output and his understanding of
folk instrument A folk instrument is a musical instrument that developed among common people and usually does not have a known inventor. It can be made from wood, metal or other material. Such an instrument is played in performances of folk music. Overview The ...
s were further factors in his recruitment by Ueda. Otani began work on ''Shadow of the Colossus'' at the time of its inception as ''NICO'', and Ueda characterized the soundtrack's development as difficult due to the protracted creation of its associated game. The development staff's enthusiasm in bringing the game to completion motivated Otani to deliver tracks with which he meant to convey a sense of
wonder Wonder most commonly refers to: * Wonder (emotion), an emotion comparable to surprise that people feel when perceiving something rare or unexpected Wonder may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * The Wonders, a fictional band ...
, and he drew inspiration from the portrayal of Wander's determination to revive Mono in the game. The team worked with Otani through many meetings to develop satisfactory musical themes for the game's individual colossi. According to Ueda, one of the challenges of the music's production was to incorporate compositions whose
melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...
and
structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...
would adapt in response to the changing circumstances of gameplay events. Although the game has an extensive orchestral soundtrack, the music is mostly heard during colossus encounters, beyond which the game's setting is underscored by more subtle sounds of water and wind. The open nature of ''Shadow of the Colossus'' locations and their lack of life, coupled with the restrained use of music in the game, reinforces its atmosphere of
solitude Solitude is a state of seclusion or isolation, meaning lack of socialisation. Effects can be either positive or negative, depending on the situation. Short-term solitude is often valued as a time when one may work, think, or rest without distu ...
, analogous to that of ''Ico''. Team Ico wanted to bring "a unique sound and feel" to each of the player's confrontations with the colossi. At the time that ''NICO''s technology demo was developed, Team Ico used available sample music. Once those materials had undergone in-company review and had been finalized, the staff invited Otani to see the prototype as a means to communicate the game's direction to the composer. He then worked on the music for the game's discrete segments from the concepts submitted by the team via artwork and storyboards for the game's isolated scenes. Otani was repeatedly asked by Ueda to rewrite his compositions so that the team was able to use them in particular configurations that were compliant with the game's technical specifications. Otani felt that the assembled soundtrack was imbued with a cinematic quality. On December 7, 2005, an
album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
containing music from the game was released only in Japan, titled ''Wanda and the Colossus Original Soundtrack: Roar of the Earth'' (ワンダと巨像 オリジナル サウンドトラック大地の咆哮, Wanda to Kyozō Original Soundtrack: Daichi no Hōkō). After the release of ''Shadow of the Colossus'', Ueda stated his appreciation for Otani's work in the game. Ueda was especially fond of the music that accompanied the game's finale, a series of
phrases In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can consi ...
that had been extracted by Otani from each of the score's other tracks and
remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...
ed into a new recording. Although parts of that composition perplexed Ueda at first, he became convinced that it "was a really cool way to use the game's music" after familiarizing himself with the result.


Release

Following a July 15, 2005 news release where SCEI confirmed the publication date for the Japanese version of ''Shadow of the Colossus'', the company divulged details about the limited first run edition of the game, which players could only acquire by pre-ordering, on August 19 of that year. On September 12, 2005, SCEI revealed that it had secured an arrangement to distribute the game through
7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc., stylized as 7-ELEVE, is a multinational chain of retail convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas. It was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. A ...
's Japanese сhain of convenience stores. The companies launched a promotional campaign: consumers who pre-ordered the game at one of the 7-Eleven's retail outlets would receive stylized
bookmark A bookmark is a thin marking tool, commonly made of card, leather, or fabric, used to keep track of a reader's progress in a book and allow the reader to easily return to where the previous reading session ended. Alternate materials for boo ...
s whose designs incorporated artwork from ''Shadow of the Colossus''. On October 7, 2005, several weeks before the game was demonstrated at the 2005
Akihabara is a common name for the area around Akihabara Station in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo, Japan. Administratively, the area called Akihabara mainly belongs to the and Kanda-Sakumachō districts in Chiyoda. There exists an administrative district ca ...
Entertainment Festival in Tokyo, ''
Dengeki PlayStation is a Japanese video gaming publication by ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks). It primarily features information pertaining to the PlayStation brand. Dengeki was originally founded as a magazine in 1994 and ran until 2020, when it ceased p ...
''s online news service reported that custom copies of the game bundled with thematic memorabilia would be available for purchase at the event. Branded
merchandise Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more i ...
, such as calendars, posters and T-shirts, was also sold in the Akihabara district on the occasion, and a promotional image featuring a colossus was placed on a billboard in the area. Unlike ''Ico'', ''Shadow of the Colossus'' received far more exposure, in part because of Sony's willingness to leverage its resources for a massive
advertising campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conc ...
. It was advertised in game magazines, on
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
and via online resources such as SCEI's affiliated websites: for instance, in November 2004 the game's soundtrack was partially made available for listening on the game's official webpage. ''Shadow of the Colossus'' was released in Japan on October 27, 2005 at a
list price The list price, also known as the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP), or the recommended retail price (RRP), or the suggested retail price (SRP) of a product is the price at which its manufacturer notionally recommends that a retailer ...
of 7,140
yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...
. The limited edition of ''Shadow of the Colossus'' distributed through pre-ordering contained a different packaging from the standard edition, promotional videos that had been screened at the game's initial September 2004 unveiling, E3 2005 and the 2005 Tokyo Game Show, and production footage of ''NICO''. The edition's content also consisted of unpublished screenhots, storyboards and video materials from various periods of the game's development. Prior to its domestic launch, ''Shadow of the Colossus'' had been released in North America on October 18, 2005, accompanied by a nationwide advertising campaign that ran across multiple mediums. The
PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...
version of the game was released in February 2006. Much like the PAL release for ''Ico'', the game came in cardboard packaging displaying various pieces of artwork from the game, and contained four art cards. The game also came with a "making of" documentary, a trailer for ''Ico'' and a gallery of
concept art Concept art is a form of visual art used to convey an idea for use in films, video games, animation, comic books, or other media before it is put into the final product. Concept art usually refers to world-building artwork used to inspire the ...
, accessible from the game's main menu. Sony Computer Entertainment also re-released ''Ico'' in PAL territories at the time of ''Shadow of the Colossus''s release, both to promote the game through ''Ico''s reputation, and to allow players who did not buy ''Ico'' during its original limited release to "complete their collections".


Reception

''Shadow of the Colossus''s commercial reception was positive, with sales of 140,000 copies in its first week at retail in Japan, reaching number one in the charts. Almost 80% of the initial Japanese shipment was sold within two days. These figures compare favorably with ''Ico'', which was well received by critics but failed to sell a significant number of units. The game was placed on Sony's list of
Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...
titles on August 6, 2006.


Critical response

''Shadow of the Colossus'' received critical acclaim, with an average critic score of 91% at
GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
, making it the 11th-highest rated game of 2005. The game received strong reviews from publications such as the Japanese magazine ''
Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...
'', who rated the game 37/40, the UK-based ''
Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...
'', who awarded an 8/10, and ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'', who granted 8.8/10.
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
's review gave it an 8.7, commenting that "the game's aesthetic presentation is unparalleled, by any standard", while multimedia website
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
hailed the game as "an amazing experience" and "an absolute must-have title", rating it 9.7/10.
GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...
described it as "possibly the most innovative and visually arresting game of the year for the PS2". A retrospective ''Edge'' article described the game as "a fiction of unquestionable thematic richness, of riveting emotional power, whose fundamental artistic qualities are completely fused with its interactivity." Dave Ciccoricco, a literature lecturer at the
University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...
, praised the game for its use of long cutscenes and stretches of riding to make the player engage in self-reflection and feel immersed in the game world. Many reviewers consider the game's soundtrack to be one of its greatest aspects. In addition to ''Electronic Gaming Monthly''s award of "Soundtrack of the Year", GameSpot commented that the musical score conveyed, and often intensified, the mood of any given situation, while it was described as "one of the finest game soundtracks ever" by a reviewer from
Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...
. However, the game has been criticised for its erratic
frame rate Frame rate (expressed in or FPS) is the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (frames) are captured or displayed. The term applies equally to film and video cameras, computer graphics, and motion capture systems. Frame rate may also be ca ...
, which is usually smooth while traversing the landscape, but often slows down in fast-paced situations, such as colossus battles. Concern was also expressed about the game's camera, which was described by GameSpy as being "as much of an opponent as the Colossi", "manag ngto re-center itself at the worst and most inopportune times". Reviewers are often mixed about Agro's AI and controls; ''Edge'' commented that the controls were "clumsy, crude, and unpredictable". Other critics like
Game Revolution ''GameRevolution'' (formerly ''Game-Revolution'') is a gaming website created in 1996. Based in Berkeley, California, the site includes reviews, previews, a gaming download area, cheats, and a merchandise store, as well as webcomics, screenshots ...
and GameSpot felt the game was too short (average playthrough time estimated 6 to 8 hours), with little replay value given the puzzle elements to each colossus battle.


Awards

''Shadow of the Colossus'' has received several awards, including recognition for "Best Character Design", "Best Game Design", "Best Visual Arts" and "Game of the Year", as well as one of three "Innovation Awards" at the 2006
Game Developers Choice Awards The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and games. Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were ...
. At the 2006 DICE Summit, the game won the award for "Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction" at the
Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...
, while it received one of two "Special Rookie Awards" at the
Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...
Awards 2005. It was nominated for "Best Original Music", "Best Artistic Graphics" and "Best PS2 Game", yet also "Most Aggravating Frame Rate" in ''GameSpot''s awards for 2005, while it won "Best Adventure Game" and "Best Artistic Design" in IGN's Best of 2005 awards, who cited Agro as the best sidekick in the history of video games. Two years after its release ''IGN'' listed ''Shadow'' as the fourth greatest PlayStation 2 game of all time. ''
GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', ''Edge'' and '' Computer ...
'' awarded it Best Game of the Year 2006 (being released in the UK in early 2006, later than the US), and appears in the site's "The 100 best games ever" list at number ten. The game's ending was selected as the fourth greatest moment in gaming by the editors of ''
GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...
'' in July 2006. The readers of '' PlayStation Official Magazine'' voted it the 8th greatest PlayStation title ever released in the magazine's 50th issue, and it placed 43rd in a later poll presented in the journal's 100th issue. ''
Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. History ' ...
'' named the game #1 in their list of the top 50 video games of the decade. ''IGN'' named ''Shadow of the Colossus'' the best game of 2005, and the second best game of the decade, behind ''
Half-Life 2 ''Half-Life 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Valve. It was published by Valve through its distribution service Steam. Like the original ''Half-Life'' (1998), ''Half-Life 2'' combines shooting, puzzles, and storytelling, and ...
''. In 2012, ''
Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
'' magazine named ''Shadow of the Colossus'' the second-best PlayStation 2 game of all time, behind ''
God of War II ''God of War II'' is an action-adventure hack and slash video game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). First released for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) console on March 13, 2007, it is the second inst ...
''. In 2015, the game placed 4th on ''
USgamer Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British mass media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and other ...
''s The 15 Best Games Since 2000 list.


Legacy

''Shadow of the Colossus'' has been cited as an influence on various video games, including ''
God of War II ''God of War II'' is an action-adventure hack and slash video game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). First released for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) console on March 13, 2007, it is the second inst ...
'' (2007), ''
God of War III ''God of War III'' is an action-adventure hack and slash video game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. First released for the PlayStation 3 on March 16, 2010, it is the fifth installment in the ''God ...
'' (2010), ''
Titan Souls ''Titan Souls'' is an 2015 action-adventure game developed by Acid Nerve and published by Devolver Digital. It was released for Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Android. ''Titan Souls'' received generally positive reviews ...
'' (2015), '' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'' (2017), '' Death's Gambit'' (2018), '' Praey for the Gods'' (2019), and ''
Elden Ring is a 2022 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki with worldbuilding provided by fantasy writer George R. R. Martin, it was released for PlayStation 4, PlayS ...
'' (2022). Film director
Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born October 9, 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and actor. He directed the Academy Award–winning fantasy films ''Pan's Labyrinth'' (2006) and ''The Shape of Water'' (2017), winning the Academy Awards for Be ...
considers both ''Ico'' and ''Shadow of the Colossus'' as "masterpieces" and part of his directorial influence. ''Shadow of the Colossus'' is also cited numerous times in debates regarding the art quality and emotional perspectives of video games. The game plays a significant role in the 2007
Mike Binder Mike Binder (born June 2, 1958) is an American filmmaker, stand-up comedian, and actor. Life and career Binder, descended from Russian-Jewish immigrants, grew up in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham. During the summers of 1966 through 1975, he a ...
film ''
Reign Over Me ''Reign Over Me'' is a 2007 American buddy drama film written and directed by Mike Binder, and produced by his brother Jack Binder. The film stars Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle with Jada Pinkett Smith, Liv Tyler, Donald Sutherland, Saffron Bu ...
'' as one of the ways
Adam Sandler Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, producer and singer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1990 to 1995, before going on to star in numerous Hollywood films, those of wh ...
's character copes with his primary struggle – with aspects of the game mirroring the tragedy that befell Sandler's character; ''Shadow of the Colossus'' falling giants mirroring the crashing towers of the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
in which his wife and children died, and the game's lead character trying to resurrect his deceased love are two of the main themes which strike a similarity. Sandler is said to have
ad lib In music and other performing arts, the phrase (; from Latin for 'at one's pleasure' or 'as you desire'), often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun), refers to various forms of improvisation. The ...
bed a detailed description of the control scheme in a scene with
Don Cheadle Donald Frank Cheadle Jr. (; born November 29, 1964) is an American actor. He is the recipient of  multiple accolades, including two Grammy Awards, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He has also earned ...
, who plays his old friend. Both actors are said to have become experts at the game during the filming.


Remastered version

A PlayStation 3 remastered version of ''Ico'' and ''Shadow of the Colossus'' was announced at Tokyo Game Show 2010 and released in September 2011 under the title ''
The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection ''The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection'' (known in PAL regions as ''Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Classics HD'') is a video game bundle that contains high-definition remasters of two PlayStation 2 games, ''Ico'' and ''Shadow of the Colossu ...
''. Developed by
Bluepoint Games Bluepoint Games Inc is an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2006 by Andy O'Neil and Marco Thrush, the studio is known for video game remasters and Video game remake, remakes, such as ''Uncharted: The Nathan Drake ...
, both were improved graphically to take advantage of the PlayStation 3's hardware and
HDTV High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...
s, with numerous other improvements implemented. The updated re-release of ''Shadow of the Colossus'' features high-definition (HD) graphics, content previously missing from the North American release, PlayStation Network Trophies, and 3D support. The HD version was released separately in Japan.


Remake

Sony announced a remake of ''Shadow of the Colossus'' for the
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
during their
Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017 (E3 2017) was the 23rd E3, during which hardware manufacturers and software developers and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily retailers a ...
press conference. It was released on February 6, 2018. The remake is led by Bluepoint, who developed the earlier PlayStation 3 remaster. The developers remade all the game's assets from the ground up, but the game retains the same gameplay from the original title along with the introduction of a new control scheme. Ueda had since left Sony, but provided a list of recommended changes to Bluepoint for the remake; he stated that he does not believe many of them will be implemented, nor would they add any of the colossi that had been cut from the original game.


Film adaptation

In April 2009, it was reported that
Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...
would adapt ''Shadow of the Colossus'' into a film.
Kevin Misher Kevin Misher is an American movie and television producer via his Los Angeles-based production company, Misher Films. Early life Misher was born in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and raised in Queens, New York. He earned a Bachelor's degree in e ...
, producer of ''
The Scorpion King ''The Scorpion King'' is a 2002 American sword and sorcery action adventure film directed by Chuck Russell, starring Dwayne Johnson, Steven Brand, Kelly Hu, Grant Heslov and Michael Clarke Duncan. It is both a prequel and spin-off of ''The ...
'', ''
The Interpreter ''The Interpreter'' is a 2005 political thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, and Jesper Christensen. It was the first film shot inside the United Nations Headquarters, as well as the fin ...
'' and the recent attempted remake of ''
Dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...
'', negotiated to produce. It was announced that Fumito Ueda would be involved in the film's production. On May 23, 2012, it was reported that ''
Chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...
'' director
Josh Trank Joshua Benjamin Trank (born February 19, 1984) is an American film director, screenwriter, and film editor. He is known for directing the found-footage sci-fi thriller film ''Chronicle'' (2012), the superhero film '' Fantastic Four'' (2015), and ...
would be directing the film adaptation. Seth Lochhead was due to write the film. In September 2014, Variety reported that ''
Mama Mama(s) or Mamma or Momma may refer to: Roles *Mother, a female parent * Mama-san, in Japan and East Asia, a woman in a position of authority *Mamas, a name for female associates of the Hells Angels Places *Mama, Russia, an urban-type settlement ...
'' director
Andrés Muschietti Andrés Muschietti (; born August 26, 1973) is an Argentine filmmaker who achieved wide recognition with the 2013 film ''Mama'' which he made with Neil Cross and his sister, producer and screenwriter Barbara Muschietti, based on their three-min ...
would direct the film after Trank dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with other projects.


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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shadow Of The Colossus 2005 video games Action-adventure games Art games Fantasy video games Fiction about monsters Interactive Achievement Award winners Kaiju video games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation 2-only games Open-world video games Puzzle video games Fiction about resurrection Fiction about sacrifices Single-player video games Sony Interactive Entertainment games Video game prequels Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Kow Otani Video games with stereoscopic 3D graphics Game Developers Choice Award for Game of the Year winners BAFTA winners (video games)