[ENG] Shadow of the Colossus and The Human Selfishness

(Polska wersja dostępna tu! - [PL] Shadow of the Colossus oraz Ludzka Samolubność )

(The article may include some spoilers. You have been warned) (I think it goes without saying that everything below is based on my experience and knowledge about the game and many things that I theorize or guess may be wrong. It's purely subjective so... If you like it – a'ight, but take some things with a teeny tiny grain of salt) (This is a mixture of my thoughts and theories about the story as well as few words about gameplay system, mechanics, graphics etc.) 

Shadow of the Colossus is one of THESE games... Once you play them, once you complete them – they leave you with that sense of bitterness but at the same time some sort of success. It's a truly a title of many generations since it was initially released on PlayStation 2, then Remastered on PS3 and then Remade once again for PS4. I tried to play for the first time long time ago on PS2 – I got quickly bored since I was young and my attention span wasn't too big. On PS3 I tried to play it, I really did but I eventually gave up... You know how they say – third time's a charm. I tried to play it for the third time on PS4. I completed it and... Frankly I regret not giving this masterpiece a bigger chance on PS3. But hey! I could always end up giving up on this game for the third time!

The game follows a story of a boy known only as Wander who enters Forbidden Lands. He carries a young woman known as Mono on his horse – Argo. Mono was presumably sacrificed due to a curse hanging above her fate. In the introductory cutscene we see as Wander and Argo cross the seemingly endless bridge in Forbidden Lands. They arrive in a place that is referred to as Shrine of Worship. Young lady is placed on an altar and Wander is greeted by mysterious entity known only as Dormin. From the very first minutes we can see some sort of romantic relationship between boy and the young woman. There are many theories but... Well, there is no clear answer to that.
Wander wishes for his loved one to be resurrected, Dormin agrees but only under one circumstance – slay 16 Colossi wandering around the Forbidden Lands. Then and only after then Dormin shall revive Mono. Wander bears the Ancient Sword – a weapon capable of killing the Colossi. If not the weapon – Wander's journey to the Forbidden Lands and his betrayal (more about it later) would be for nothing. 

And... That's where we start the game – in Forbidden Lands, inside Shrine of Worship, equipped with a Sword, guided by a mysterious entity with one goal to achieve and only one way to achieve it. We ride out of the Shrine on our trusted steed and we follow the guiding light of our Sword to find and slay the creatures roaming this land.
From the very moment we take control of our character – there are already few questions that trouble our mind – who or what is Dormin? What happened to this place, why is it called the 'Forbidden' Lands? Will our loved one ever wake up? Are the colossi only inhabitants of this land? And much much more... To some of them we may never get a proper answer but to others – answer comes at one point or another... Though some questions are better left unanswered. 

(This game has a really beautiful world)

World presented to us in Shadow of the Colossus is just as massive as colossi we seek. Vast, open plains; seemingly endless deserts; treacherous cliffs and quiet, soothing forests – due to graphics being bumped up to 11 in PS4 version – this world is simply stunning (as you can see on screens attached to this article; screens were made mostly with Photo Mode added to the game in the PS4 release). Sheer scale and visuals of this world once again trigger many questions – Why is this place so empty? Why it has became forbidden? What secrets lie in this abandoned land? Sheer curiosity is a really powerful tool and when used well – even the simplest game can become much more interesting and deep...
Fun Fact: If you don't press anything in main menu for a while – you will be able to look at Argo freely running around the Forbidden Lands. You can just sit back and enjoy the scenery without having to move on your own. A small bonus but quite soothing!

Gameplay is a bit clunky – I know that producers of the PS4 Remake wanted to keep as many things as close to the source material as possible but... Controls are a bit harsh to get a grip on and camera really likes to play tricks with you which often can cause either fall from the colossus, missed jump or... Well, it just makes some fights unnecessarily harder. 

There are also Dormin's advices – Dormin's voice gives you a hint that is often either cryptic or tells you what you already know, the advices appear after few initial minutes into the fight and they repeat until you do what's necessary (you can turn them off in options which I did, realizing what I have to do during each fight was much better than wrapping my head around some cryptic hint).

The game has a vast open world and one could think that – ”Wait, open world without collectibles? That's impossible!” - and that person would be right. Though there are very few collectibles in this game – Fruits which you can shoot down from trees and they increase your maximum health; Tails which you receive after shooting down white-tailed lizards that often crawl around Shrines which are last original collectible and they serve as both health regeneration points and save points. Notice that I said 'original' collectible – that's because PS4 Remake introduced Coins which resonate with a gentle sound whenever you are near them. Once you collect all 79 of them, a Shrine within Shrine of Worship is opened and you can put your hands on one of, if not the strongest sword in the game – Sword of Dormin. 

Each colossus is like a puzzle – mysterious and presumably confusing at first but once you realize what to do – you can usually end the fight in a matter of minutes. I did my best to come up with each colossus's weakness on my own, though I have to admit I had to check what to do in 2 fights – Argus (15th colossus) and Phaedra (4th colossus) – and in both cases I had to do it because I thought I know what you have to do and... Yes I know what but I didn't knew how. Though most of the colossi are truly unique, two of them are a bit too similar to each other. Namely – Celosia and Cenobia (Respectively 11th and 14th colossus). Though I loved all encounters, I think Phalanx and Avian (13th and 5th) have to by favorites – mounting flying colossi and trying to hold yourself while cutting through the air was something amazing. On the other hand I totally hated the watery encounters and parts – Hydrus, Pelagia (7th and 12th) and beginning of Avian fight were a nightmare for me.

With each slain colossus, we may question ourselves – Is killing them really necessary? Will Mono even wake up or are we just fulfilling some deity's errand for him? Are things we do to these seemingly innocent creatures moral?... 

Morality. Many games have morality systems created in a very simple way – you are either good or evil; choices you make are either good or evil. You are often categorized as a hero, a savior or a murderer and a despot. There are also neutral paths but they are usually thrown away or forgotten after first few minutes within game. Take Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (or Human Revolution) for example – you can either kill or render an enemy unconscious. And these games favor non-lethal playstyle as they award you more experience points and very often give you much more complex or interesting choice in a simple side quest or story mission. Duh, you can even spare bosses in this game. But – you are either good because you restrain yourself from murder spree or you are simply an evil killer. Black or white. And whereas a lot of games just tell you in the face that you are following a path of heroism or a path of destruction – Shadow of the Colossus is a bit more complicated in this case...

We are portrayed as evil. We travel across Forbidden Lands slaying each and every colossus. Some of the colossi just walk around minding their own business (Valus), some are seemingly asleep and awaken when we come very close to them (Gaius), some are incredibly passive (Phalanx) and only a handful of them is aggressive right from the start (Malus, Dirge). The focal point for majority of the colossi is that... They often start being aggressive once we start attacking them, distorting their natural rhythm. Their eyes can be a good indicator of aggressiveness – initially they are blue, peaceful, signalizing that they mean no harm and just want to walk around and they turn into orange/red after being taunted... And even after this, they go back to blue thinking they scared you off and yet you continue attacking and harassing the titans until they crumble to the ground. 

Everything seems to point to the inevitable fact that we're the villains of this story, slaying benevolent and mostly peaceful colossi just for our own benefit – to achieve our goal. To bring Mono back to life. One could say that it's a case of human selfishness – to do what's necessary to success – no matter the cost... Just think about it – in many games we just kill enemies because they are 'the bad guys'. And though I can't deny the selfishness here – I also like to think that there are two sides to this morality coin. After all we do what we have to do to save our lady – to some extent killing colossi may look like a necessary sacrifice...

Colossi look like gargantuan statues made out of stone and most of them are based on various animals and creatures. 

Just imagine – you are a powerful, incredibly large being just casually strolling around or sleeping in your favorite spot and then you see/hear some young boy riding fast on a horse. He approaches you and you try to scare him off, make him run away – and what he does instead? Starts climbing your enormous body. You try to shake him off, knock him down but to no avail – he is desperate to plunge his sword into your soft spot. He holds onto your body with incredible force when you get furious and do your best to just get rid of him. He climbs the top of your head and pushes his blade right into it. Your thick, black blood starts spilling and yet he continues – forcing his sword into your head until you fall dead to the ground... Doesn't sound so good, does it? 

The sad, heavenly chorus chanting whenever colossus is falling to the ground just enhances the feeling of being a villain in this forgotten land. Overall sound design seems to mildly point out your cruel actions, with ambient often being simply sad, melancholic and woeful. Music during colossi fights is properly adjusted to help you understand the sheer scale of the fight (Not that you wouldn't be able to see this with your eyes but the fast, epic and powerful ambients certainly help). But! Whereas nearly all ambients are here to help you feel strong – The final colossus's ambient, Malus's song, Demise of Ritual is a sorrowful exception – a song filled with slow melody and heavenly chorus. This melody sounds like a farewell – Malus was a colossus that (thanks to light pillars emerging from death colossi's bodies) observed how his kin is murdered one by one. He was also trapped behind a gate that could be only opened with concentrated light, he was trapped, bound to the ground and forced to observe. 

(Phalanx is the most massive colossi in the game)

All fights follow the David and Goliath's case where seemingly hopeless and much weaker fighter brings a powerful foe down. Some of the colossi are so massive that each one of their steps shakes the ground so much that you can barely stand still and often you just fall on your face.

Once again – the sole reason we disrupt the peace and serenity of colossi is our selfish desire to fulfill our dream – awaken the deceased girl.



With each slain colossus a shadowy essence of Dormin pierces our hero and he 'dies' just to be awaken once again in Shrine of Worship (In last minutes of the game we see how this process is executed). And right before each awakening in Shrine we see more and more shadows surrounding Wander – after the first colossus there is one, after the second – two and so on and so on.

After we slay Malus, The Last Colossus we land back in the Shrine of Worship but we can see tribesmen around the altar and Lord Emon. Said Lord was supposedly somehow involved in murder of the innocent girl. At this point Wander is filled with darkness – he is pierced with the sword and we can see the same black, shadowy essence spurting out of him. Our protagonist is accused of betrayal. We learn that he stole an Ancient Sword, roamed into the Forbidden Lands and used Forbidden Spell (Which supposedly is the spell that is able to bring dead back to life).

We also learn that Dormin was shattered and trapped within 16 colossi in the Forbidden Lands but since all of the titans are dead – Dormin takes over Wander's body and starts to wreak havoc in the Shrine. Lord Emon takes a desperate step of sacrificing the Ancient Sword to create a light vortex. Said vortex pulls all the shadows into it and even though Dormin tried to resist it – he was pulled and banished as well. Bridge to the Shrine of Worship is destroyed and there is no way in nor way out of these Lands.

In the credits we see graves of slain colossi, mounds overgrown with grass. As the credits pass we see each and every one of colossus we fought in form of mound or some other environmental structure. One by one they have been slain and consumed back by Mother Nature.

But... In the end our wish is delivered. Mono slowly opens eyes and looks around mysterious surroundings. She looks scared and confused – and who wouldn't be if one would awake in a forgotten land? After few minutes wounded Argo manages to walk back to the Shrine and somehow guide Mono out of Forbidden Lands. It's a bit of a mystery (Or I am a dumbass) how did he find a way since the main and supposedly only bridge was destroyed. On their way, Mono finds an infant in a well from which light vortex banished Dormin and the shadows. Infant has a horn on his head and from what we know it's a resurrected Wander WHICH in effect leads to events of another game called Ico. 

Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are two games developed by the same developer – Fumito Ueda (he also developed The Last Guardian but from what I know there are no big connections between TLG and previous games) and they are connected as already established. From these two SotC is a prequel but it's more of a spiritual prequel rather than true one – gameplay and story are a tad bit different between the two. Wander could be the first of the 'horned children' where in Ico we play as one of them so time between the two is unclear. There is no clear answer to what happens to Mono and resurrected Wander between SotC's ending and Ico's beginning.

Long story short – in Shadow of the Colossus – things we do may be seen as objectively evil but subjectively, when we look through metaphorical glasses of our character – they may not be so bad. Morality may seem like a relatively simple concept in Shadow of the Colossus – we are evil, plain and simple but in reality – in my honest opinion, there is more than meets the eye here.

Shadow of the Colossus is a game filled with incredible emotional charge, from the very first minutes one can feel an elusive nostalgia, sorrow, despair and desire to achieve the impossible...
It's certainly one of the best games, one of the most emotional games I have played in my life. This game can bring out feelings and emotions with very little dialogue which is something quite hard to achieve... It's a tale of despair and human selfishness hidden within sorrowful encounters with titans and a vague hope to save our lady. A modern tale of the knight on a white horse and a sleeping beauty...

 
Kind Regards,
Wing.