The Best PlayStation Game Every Year 1994 - 2024

Shadow of the Colossus did many things worth talking about, but first and foremost it brought the “are video games art” discussion to a screeching halt. At this point, it was undeniable that Team Ico’s open-world adventure game delivered artistry on every level - its audio, sense of scale, atmosphere, and gameplay all tied together to craft a gut-punch of a game.

What’s remarkable about Shadow of the Colossus was how anti-trend it was, yet still managed to catch mainstream attention. Where other titles bragged about their lengthy script, Colossus had almost no dialogue. Other games were competing for the busiest but Colossus was empty to the point of generating an uncomfortable atmosphere. It helped, of course, that what inhabitants it did have were so impressively rendered that players were compelled to stop and stare at them from miles away.

Other games rewarded you for kills but Colossus’ big twist was turning the player’s willingness to blindly follow directions on them and using it to shame them for their violence. Shadow of the Colossus both trusts the player’s intuition and subverts it by game’s end.

Shadow of the Colossus earned multiple Game of the Year awards and plaudits for every facet of the total package. Whilst many games have aped it’s mechanic of climbing gigantic creatures, perhaps the best thing one can say about Colossus is that it still remains in a field of one. Even over 15 years later, rival developers haven’t even tried to swing for the king, for fearing of missing.