Team ICO may have made its mark in the industry with ICO but its most memorable work till date has arguably been Shadow of the Colossus. However, having released in the PS2 era, it was subject to the limits of technology at the time. Bluepoint Games’ upcoming Shadow of the Colossus remake for PS4 will be undoing many of those limits but how does that change the experience for fans?
In a new video, the developer talked about remastering the game and how it wanted to preserve the way the game felt. Producer Randall Lowe noted on the PlayStation Blog US that there were some things that wouldn’t be changed. “For instance, Wander standing still to fire a bow. Everything about Shadow is very deliberate. The way Wander moves throughout the world is heavy. It’s not light and fast and arcadey. He carries the burden of his actions in how he moves.”
When it comes to fixing bugs and making improvements, there are some unintended changes that an take place. Studio president Marco Thrush talked about how increasing the frame rate on the PS3 version resulted in the third Colossi becoming a tougher fight. That ultimately benefited the PS4 remake though. “So, now we’ve had the chance to fix those kinds of things that slipped through initially. It gave us a second chance.”
The developer goes on to discuss some of the graphical improvements to aspects like fur, which the player must grasp on to when climbing the Colossi. “We spent a lot of time on the fur tech, trying to make the fur lay and clump just right, getting the shading right and making sure it moves right when you’re climbing through it.”
Shadow of the Colossus is out on February 6th for PlayStation 4.