Shadow of the Colossus has a good story...

...but sadly an awful gameplay too. Seriously. The controls are unresponsive, sometimes unknown (Agro's maneuvers), the game loop is repetitive and empty (travel to colossus, kill colossus, repeat 16 times), sometimes bosses are the same creature reutilized in a different arena. And the camera. God knows very well that I didn't like the camera in this game. You can move it where you want, but it keeps going back, like it was tied to a rubber band. And since this game is beautiful to watch and fights against literal giants may require precise camera angles, this is a huge problem.

Quite frankly, my time with this game was a constant wave of frustration for the gameplay and awe for the story and scenery. I get realism, I don't get being perma-stunned to death by bosses, or stumble every two step on an uneven ground. Or not seeing stuff because the camera keeps going behind a bush, like it needed to pee.

If you like puzzle games, with good story, good atmosphere, stunning visuals, great art direction, and don't bother having shitty controls, this game is for you I guess. There are some gamey things in it, like time attack with actually good rewards for defeating couples of colossi, but it's New Game + only. I hate this. If I was rewarded with said items for exploring or challenging colossi again during the first run, I would have done it and this would have filled the emptiness of this game's loop. But no. You can actually fight the colossi again during your first playthrough, but the rewards for doing this are... what, a little bit of more stamina and health, maybe? And a trophy. Not very compelling.

I bought this six years ago and never finished it until now (because life happened). I remember I made it to the 9th colossus and then I ran out of juice. What made me try again were the environment, the architecture, the silent narrative, some boss fights (3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 13th and 16th colossus, even though I hated the last one ferociously), and the 44,99€ I originally paid for the game, which now I would frankly spend otherwise. Actually, I wouldn't recommend it over 14,99€. I know this will sound like blasphemy to the die-hard fans, but in a world where Elden Ring costs around 69,99€, the current 39,99€ for Shadow of the Colossus are an armed robbery, an insult to the flag, a crime against the gods. With 39,99€ you could buy both Citizen Sleeper and Journey, and you'd still have some bucks left.

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Recently I've somewhat argued with a younger person about remaking old games to make them more palatable to newer generations. They generalized way too much, regarding their personal experience as the experience of the whole Gen Z. Presumptuous. But there was a sliver of truth in what they were saying. In fact, some things are just quite out of touch with the present, and my experience with Shadow of the Colossus is an example of it: a remake so faithful that it kept even the flaws of the original title. 

But I play old games frequently and I'm rarely this frustrated. This has nothing to do with the passing of time, it's precisely a developers' choice. I bet that my zoomer contestant wouldn't like Shadow of the Colossus Remake either. But let's not be fooled: the precise aim of SotC is to be the same game ten or so years later its original release. A remake which changes gameplay, is effectively a different GAME with the same story. Therefore of course, remaking older games will let newer generations to play their newer versions, but they will never know the original game. So, are remakes useless? Well no. When a remake improves the looks and the quality of life, it isn't useless. If SotC had a better camera, 90% of the problems I have with it would be gone instantly. But probably it wouldn't have been that close to the original experience. Better, but distant.

There is a thin line between author's choices and consumers' expectations. Some of these bad elements of SotC can be traced back directly to the game's author. Modifying them will be as creating a new game entirely. But this game is so faithful that it IS Shadow of the Colossus, so thankfully I can say that I DON'T LIKE THIS GAME AND THAT'S IT. It's perfectly fine to dislike something. I don't understand the urge to like something... oh wait, that's actually FOMO.

Be stronger individuals folks, do not fall into FOMO. Frustrated FOMO manifestations are quite awful to assist to. The zoomer I talked too was clearly frustrated that they couldn't play some great videogame saga of the past (it was Metal Gear Solid) because the graphics were ugly. They wanted to love it, but they couldn't get past '80s to '90s to first tens of the 2000's graphics. But that actually is the saga we millennials (and young Gen Xers) loved and grew up with. Remake it and it will lose its magic, it won't mean the same to you zoomers and your attention span of three minutes tops. You deserve things that are of your own generation, that speak to you, not re-baked content made originally for your older siblings. You deserve your own share of entertainment.

The same discourse could be applied to the now near-insufferable wave of remakes that plagues all entertainment industries right now. We actually live in an era where everything is digitally available, even old, forgotten stuff. Maybe it's not always legally available, but you can be sure that if money can be made out of something, there will be a legal way. This goes straight into my last post about the new Planescape, which I invite you to check out.

For example, in the TTRPG space there is this OSR thing. Quite fashionable indeed. Games like Old School Essentials or Swords & Wizardry are good retro-clones of those original D&D rules, with quality of life improvements. I even tried them. But did I like them? Well I like that old aesthetic, but I believe that there is a reason for games to have evolved and no, it's not just capitalism. It's the times. It's generations. Yes yes, OD&D and D&D5e have three letters in common, but are fundamentally two different games. Grognard are right in defending "their D&D", but newer players are also right in defending "their D&D". If just they didn't identify themselves with a product or a brand... or an edition.

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In the end I guess it's just that, a self-identification thing. We hold onto things to identify ourselves and when they change, we feel that our identity is threatened. Sometimes the changes are for the better, sometimes not, and it's in deciding whether it's the one or the other that we show how much fallible we are.

And still, after all these years of evolution, we cannot really improve. Maybe it's for the better. Or maybe not.