Shadow of the Colossus
Publisher:
Sony
Developer:
Bluepoint Games, Team ICO
Platforms:
PS4
Genre:Action Adventure
Release Date:February 6, 2018
Shadow of the Colossus is coming to PlayStation 4 in the form of a brand new remake on February 6, 2018, courtesy of Bluepoint Games who also worked on the earlier PlayStation 3 Remaster bundle with Ico. The legendary Team Ico title has seen all of its assets remade for the PS4 from the ground up, bringing the presentation in line with current generation standards. Controls and physics have also been retouched, but the game retains the same gameplay and structure from the original title. The team at Bluepoint was so dedicated to its source material that the new release still uses the original game’s code at the centre.
Development
During E3 2017, Sony revealed through trailer during their expo that Shadow of the Colossus would be receiving a full remake on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro. Details would trickle out over the next several months about the exact nature of the remake and what the team at Bluepoint were doing to make it special. Bluepoint previously worked on the PlayStation 3 remaster of the game.
In order to make the game run on the PlayStation 4 and to leverage the PlayStation 4 Pro’s potential, Bluehole recreated all of the games assets and animations with modern standards and 4K in mind. New physics systems were applies to things like Wander’s clothing and his horse’s hair. In addition, an optional new control scheme is being introduced. While players can choose to enjoy the remake with the original control scheme, Bluepoint wanted to offer a way to play more in line with modern sensibilities and tastes.
Dedicated to preserving the feel of the original game, Bluepoint Games would undergo a delicate balancing act between what to keep that made the experience what it was and how they were going to modernize the game for a 2018 audience. Technical Director Peter Dalton said to Game Informer that underneath the rendering and animation systems that make the game look as stunning as it does, the original game, down to the very code, is at the heart of things.
The original designer of the game, Fumito Ueda, though has moved on from Team ICO, did offer a handful of undisclosed suggestions to the team for the update, but would state that he did not believe many would be implemented. Ueda would also go onto say that he considered the game complete with the 16 bosses it had when originally shipped and that the many beta colossi would likely be left on the cutting room floor.
Story
The tale of Wanderer seeking out the Colossi in the hopes of reviving his lost love will remain unchanged from the previous versions of the game, as Bluepoint have no intention of altering that story. As such, you can expect the tragic tale of Wander to play out with 16 bosses and none of the hidden items or cut areas which were planned for the original game.
The discussion only comes up because when the original title was in development, the developers had intended to include 24 Colossi, down from 48 they had created in pre-production. The fanbase for the game being as ravenous as it is, there were some hopes that the remake could have added the leftover content. The fans have uncovered a lot of hidden data for what could have been, but that’s for another day.
Gameplay
As this is a remake of the established PS2 original, the central gameplay loop will remain very much intact. The game plays out in cycles where Wanderer will set out across the desolate landscape of the game, seeking to destroy the Colossi in order to revive his dead love.
There isn’t much combat outside of the Colossus encounters, which play out more like a puzzle where you need to figure out how to surmount these impossibly large beasts. As he journeys, Wanderer will innately become better at actions such as grip, and find a few items along the way that can help.
Exploration is the primary interaction with the world of the game, as Wanderer needs to find each colossus before he can take it down, and will come across many grand structures and puzzles along the way. At any time, his Sword will help point him in the right direction. However, it’s up to Wanderer, and thus the player to figure out exactly how to get to where they’re going.
The remake will introduce a more modern control scheme to appeal to new players, though it’s unknown how and unlikely that it would effect the gameplay in any major way.
The PS4 Pro version of the game will offer users with two options. A Cinematic mode, which will render the game in dynamic 4K at 30 fps and a Performance mode which targets 60 fps.
Characters
The strength of Team Ico’s games usually lays within their subtlety and nuance. Shadow of the Colossus doesn’t have many characters to think about, and the ones that are there are generally going to be mute, letting the world, situation and actions tell the story of the game.
Wanderer is going to be spending the majority of the game on his own, riding his horse or crossing the majestic landscapes in order to fulfil his mission to destroy the Colossi, because a mysterious voice said that doing so will allow him to revive his dead love. You can probably imagine why the love doesn’t exhibit much personality to write about.
To these ends, Wanderer will scour the lands, search out and put down each massive Colossus and kill them in order to see his love alive again. As the major appeal of the game is these encounters, we’ll refrain from biographing each within this wiki.
Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.