The 2018 remaster of the 2006 PS2 classic is unsurprisingly, great. The game developed by Japan Studio, the team behind Ico and later the Last Guardian, tells the story of a young man called Wander who brings his deceased girlfriend Mono to a shrine in the center of a vast land, hoping to resurrect her. A disembodied voice tasks him with destroying 16 Colossi, physical embodiments of 16 stone statues surrounding the shrine, to bring her back. With that short introduction, Wander sets out to bring his love back. Using his sword, which lets out a bright blue light, that acts as a rudimentary Sat Nav, to lead him to the Colossi. The game could be described as 16 small boss fights, but each boss fight is a puzzle in itself.
The gameplay revolves around fighting and slaying the beasts, having only a sword and a bow and arrow at your disposal. The key to killing them, is finding one or more Vital Points, that deal a lot of damage to the colossi’s health. To do this you'll need to find an entry point to then scale the beast, find the weak point, stab it until it disappears, find another gap in its armour and repeat. Although this gameplay loop sounds simplistic, the act of finding and getting to the Point is harder than it seems. The key to climbing and not immediately falling of a giant beast, is your stamina. That yellow circle, watching it slowly get smaller and smaller, as you try to frantically climb looking for a platform to rest at whilst trying to hold on to a giant beast whilst it tries with all its might to shake you off, you’re almost there when you fall down to the ground to try it all over again.
Rolling green fields await you as you step into the world but venture further out and you experience, never ending deserts and sand dunes then turn a corner, suddenly the present sun is blotted out by dense forests changing the atmosphere in an instant. Also present are rocky outcrops, mountain ranges and several different environments all vastly different that drastically change the mood of the game. It is a really great aspect of the game, less of an open world rather a living,breathing, environment.
Each colossi is vastly different in shape, size and attack style. Some are your run-of-the-mill, goliaths with giant clubs slowly walking making craters in the ground with each booming step. One is part komodo dragon part stick insect, with spindly legs that scuttle about trying to attack you. Another is closer to a giant bat swooping down to try and gobble you up. Despite their fearful size, when you finally deal a killing blow, sad orchestral music plays, making the player feel guilty for having killed such a beautiful creature. It does ask the question, why are these Colossi being killed and do they need to be?
The game feels like an epic quest but one that is both difficult but also addictive at the same time. It is amazing that a game has 16 boss fights with each one being just as memorable as the last. Although the game is unquestionably a classic, if by some chance it’s a game you haven't gotten around to playing yet, give it a go, you wont regret it.
Verdict:
8/10
