10 Video Game Cuts Made For RIDICULOUS Reasons
6. Half The Colossi Were Cut To "Improve Game Flow" - Shadow Of The Colossus
Shadow of the Colossus may well be the ultimate boss rush game, given that players' central preoccupation is to locate and kill sixteen majestic Colossi - that's it.
But Team Ico originally developed the game with double the final Colossi count, designing a staggering 32 creatures for protagonist Wander to defeat.
During development this number was whittled down to reportedly improve the pacing and "game flow", initially to 24 Colossi and then "only" 16.
However, a number of the scrapped creatures, some of which were effectively completed during production, did make it into the game's official artbook, such as a fire-covered Phoenix which needed to be lured into a lake, an orangutan-like beast called Saru, and Colossi modelled on spiders, worms, and geckos.
Though defeating 16 of the creatures sounds like a lot, Shadow of the Colossus is actually a relatively short and snappy game, with first-time players about to beat it in around 8 hours.
Given that the final game was showered with praise despite its seemingly repetitive gameplay loop, it's safe to say that few would've complained if it ended up being double its final length.
Fans crossed their fingers that some of the cut Colossi might be restored for the 2018 remake, but unfortunately it never came to pass.