Between the likes of the God of War Collection and Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, developer Bluepoint’s rightly earned the reputation of being the masters of remasters. But with Shadow of the Colossus’ impending PlayStation 4 remake it’s taking its work to an extraordinary new level – and the results are mesmerising to say the least.
If there were a video games hall of fame, you’d find Fumito Ueda’s brilliant boss rush nestled somewhere alongside Tetris, Super Mario 64, and Resident Evil 4 – it’s one of the greatest games ever made. And in this new-gen version it has the visuals and performance to match the original’s ambition, delivering a quite sensational spectacle.
The colour palette has changed, which will no doubt cause controversy; gone is the oversaturated ethereal bloom of the PlayStation 2 version, replaced by a more mythical fantasy fog. We were sceptical of this alteration prior to seeing the demo up close, but the results are staggering – the original’s mysterious ambience is still intact.
The difference is that the game can now stand toe-to-toe with the PS4’s absolute best and not look out of place; Sony had the game set up adjacent to Horizon: Zero Dawn and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy during our hands on, and you wouldn’t know from a cursory glance that Shadow of the Colossus has ties to 2005.
The gameplay has changed ever so slightly, too. No longer is jump mapped to the Triangle button – it’s been moved to the more logical position of X. The dodge roll, as far as we can tell, has also been reassigned to Circle; the original game mapped it to the awkward R1 and Triangle. Other than that, you still have to manage your stamina bar – the gameplay is much the same.
That said, we did notice that Agro – protagonist Wander’s loveable horse – feels a little less wild to control, but that may just be our memory playing tricks on us. We only got to fight the first colossi, the furred club-carrying behemoth. As you’d expect, the battle adopts a familiar rhythm: stab its leg before climbing onto its head and brutalising its brains.
Shadow of the Colossus is a special game because of the emotional response its fights portray: are you the bad guy here? That whole vibe is very much intact in this remake, and it’s quite incredible how faithful it is to the source material despite being, ostensibly, a brand new game. We’ll obviously need to test the campaign out in its entirety, but we smell a 10/10 approaching.
Are you in agreement that Shadow of the Colossus is one of the greatest games ever made? Are you looking forward to this PS4 remake? Call for your horse in the comments section below.
Comments 56
I can do without all the PS3 remasters we've seen but I'm glad some of my favorite PS2 titles have gotten new life on PS4 with excellent remakes. Yakuza Kiwami was very well done and I can't wait to play this.
Never played SOTC before. So this is at the top of my 'want' list for 2018.
@Fight_Teza_Fight You're in for the most almighty of treats. I advise you to avoid all other material, trailers, and screenshots and just go in completely fresh.
I'm glad the atmosphere remains intact, that was my biggest concern. To start with, I wasn't all that bothered about playing this again, but I'm slowly getting more excited about this remake. Very tempted to pick this up next year.
Damn this article has got me hyped.
I still remember first playing this game and fighting the first colossus and hearing that music score , so many good memories 😊👌🏾
@get2sammyb Thanks, I will do. Loved The Last Guardian, so I'm going try and stay spoiler free.
@get2sammyb Congrats on getting to play the demo, you've always been a big fan and supporter of his. I started H:ZD last night - only first 10 minutes but WOW, made me want to buy a Pro and 4k TV - and U:LL is coming in the mail today, so I'm good for awhile. Good enough that I canceled my XC2 pre-order, it can wait.
@rjejr It's ridiculously pretty, isn't it?
I hope the camera is better here.
I haven't played this game before. When it came out, I was at a different place in my life and my PS2 was in a box in a friend's garage. I'm looking forward to this.
I love SOTC, I own it on PS2 and on PS3 in the collection with ICO. I'm looking forward to SOTC in 2018. Awesome preview buddy!
brilliant really looking forward to playing this
@get2sammyb So it looks better than TLG?
Sounds like Bluepoint Games has done an amazing job once again.
The original controls are still the game too, right? I didn't have an issue with jump being mapped on the triangle, TLG had a similar control scheme IIRC.
@get2sammyb The "pretty" is nice, Zelda BotW was a beautiful cartoon, but the photorealism IS ridiculous. Hair, leaves, skin. Nuts. The Order looked great, but nothing moved. Aloy jumps and rolls all over the place. Kinda crazy. U4 looked great, this even tops that. Bravo to GG.
@Neolit Well that's my normal response to everything, this is the first game that actually got me thinking HDR could be a nice bonus. The Order looked good too, but gray/bland enough I didn't care. U4 was just perfect the way it was. I want more of this.
@Octane Yeah, definitely looks tastier than The Last Guardian. Slightly different art style, though, due to the changes.
...I've never played it, na-na-na-na-na!
Dammit I don't have time for all these amazing games!
Can't wait for this, the graphics looks gorgeous, the first time I see it in pgw I though it's the sequel to sotc.
If sotc ps4 doesn't have special steelcase edition like tlg, I'll buy the digital version
I loved this game and will definitely pick it up. Never played ico though, like to get a remake of that!
Never played it. I might have to consider it. It certainly looks cool.
I just hope it doesn't turn out to be a poor man's Splatoon.
This is basically my one guaranteed PS4 purchase next year (which isn't a knock on the 2018 line-up — it looks awesome, especially earlier in the year — but my PS4 backlog is YUGE!), and I'm beyond excited how well this seems to have been remastered. This is, for all intents and purposes, a modern-gen remake of SOTC, which is something I've wanted since last gen (the PS3 remaster was underwhelming, IMO).
@KirbyTheVampire You should!
Did you play The Last Guardian?
I overlooked this game back in the PS2 days and didn't it. Now that I know better, I'm rather excited for another chance to play it.
@Octane Nah, I haven't played any of their games. (I think they're the same developers?)
It just doesn't look that fun to direct a big creature around that will randomly do whatever it wants and not listen, and the art style just looks kind of dreary and dull outside of the sunny sections, which I know is really superficial, but still.
The game is excellent but let's not over hype it. The people who love it now are long time fans, but plenty of people didn't like it when it first came out. I didn't think much of it when I got it at launch and it wasn't until a year later I played it and got on with it.
It's a very special game but I don't think people who haven't played it yet will necessarily put down their controllers with blown minds at the end of it. It's kind of like Journey in some ways, although not quite as divisive as there is more "game" here.
So yeah, if you're going in fresh you're in for a great game but you may be setting yourself up for a fall if you're too excited.
Back in the ps2 days I only really played Tekken and fifa with friends. So I’ll definitely be picking this up!
I've had the original game for a while, I should really get to playing it. I'm afraid the remake came at a bad time for me.
@get2sammyb I will agree that if I was on the hall of fame committee, SotC would be on my first ballot for induction. When addressing the question, “Name the one game you think everyone should play at least once” SotC has been my response. I don’t know if it was necessarily my favorite game of all time or the best game of all time, but it is the one that no one should miss. It’s hard to explain why, but it is the perfect mix of unique and fun gameplay, interesting story with moral dilemma that keeps you pondering its meaning and symbolism for years, and the visuals, presentation, and sound are just video gaming art.
All those accolades aside ... it’s not necessarily a game you play over and over. Even though I have the PS3 version sitting in my library from when it was offered on PS Plus, I did not ever play it again — hoping to just cherish the memory of the first playthrough on the PS2 with all its awe and wonder. Sometimes you don’t want to ruin a good memory. Not to mention I prefer to play and experience games in my backlog that I haven’t played yet.
But now after reading this ... I am nearly convinced to give it a go again. Enough years have passed that I think it can wow again. And this preview makes me think the reworking will impress on its own accord.
Any idea what the price point will be? Remastered are typically a bit discounted. This is being hyped and promoted so much that I wonder, but I’m guessing $40?
@Th3solution It's $40.
@kyleforrester87 I'll politely disagree. You can find people who don't like any game, of course — but there's a reason why this is regarded one of the all-time greats.
I see what you're saying about people setting themselves up for disappointment, but I don't think enthusiasm should be tempered just to protect newcomers' first playthroughs.
@get2sammyb eh, I can only speak for myself but certainly my appreciation for the game has increased over time and after multiple play throughs, however I don't remember feeling stunned as the credits rolled despite really enjoying the play through as a whole.
I just think the hype won't help newcomers, best they go in with zero expectation and see what they get out of it. That's for them to decide if they want to get caught up in the hype or not though I guess!
But yes ill be getting it day one, its a great game for sure.
@KirbyTheVampire Yeah, they're all set in the same universe too, but each game is completely different. I dunno, part of the enjoyment of TLG is the ''experience'', for whatever that's worth
SOTC is definitely a more ''traditional'' game, even though there's no other game that plays like SOTC.
@kyleforrester87 I would agree with you there! Best to go in knowing nothing about it.
I got the ps3 collection with ico.is this going to be a retail game
@get2sammyb is this a retail game.word up son
One of the best games ever made, without a doubt, day one for me.
I will really miss Team ICO.
@Octane I see. Well, I might get it if I can find it cheap at some point. It's just one of those games where I have no idea if I would like it or not, so I don't think spending a lot of money on it would be the best idea.
@PS_Nation Did they get shut down or something?
@KirbyTheVampire Team ICO is no more, sadly. They get shut down even before The Last Guardian, that's why Japan Studio helped to finish the game.
@PS_Nation Ah, that's a major bummer. While I've never played their games (which will probably change soon), I can see they were a really talented company.
One of the greatest! Hands down!!!
I proper love this game, a wonderful gaming experience and happy that new players can enjoy it. Has the OST been untouched? Kow Otani's score is one of my all time faves. Very tempted but still playing major catch up this year so we'll see.
Playstation is really hammering it!
Hard on the wallet but straight to the heart.
the difficulty is waiting until february...
I really would love to see what they could do with ICO.
Awesome! Sony is tapping my pockets early next year. MHW day 1, Dragon Ball Fighterz day 1, Sotc day 1. Really looking forward to this. Never played it the first time around.
@get2sammyb another great article and you got me hyped to play this great game again! Now i will probably buy it on day 1
Absolutely one of my top 5 of all time.
I've beaten it a few dozen times and will add to that with the PS4 release. Already pre-ordered.
I've been pretty much out of the loop since PS1, so for me, all these remakes and remasters are very welcome.
Really, mapping the jump function to the triangle button is actually MORE logical (triangle is "up", so to speak, as far as the action buttons go). That being said, the "X" button is far more commonly employed for jump, so I'm glad to see the change.
I'm still not sure I'll be getting this one, though — the idea of being the bad guy just rubs me the wrong way!
One of the greats. I will play this again. Because why not.
I still have it untouched on the dusty PS3. I'll definitely play it this time.
I bought the PS3 remasters just before the E3 announcement but have not started it and think I will just wait for this remaster to be honest.
@KirbyTheVampire why should I play the same game again when I can play Splatoon? I'm not poor
@AFCC Exactly.
Really never understood the hype for this game. I played it back in the day and STILL thought it was a boring as hell game. I'm with @kyleforrester87 on that I never felt particularly blown away by it. Much rather play a game with some gameplay to it, as this game was basically just a dull "climb random gigantic monster and poke it" simulator. While I know it goes deeper than that, that's basically how I feel about it.
It may be a great game, but Gods was it boring for me. I've had more fun with visual novels.
Updated with video
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