📏 Shadow of the Colossus and Scale

Hey you,

(If you missed part 1, check it out here!)

Today's Listening: Silence, but not silent

Shadow of the Colossus has a very big map. With almost nothing on it.

For a time, many games kept touting how they had one of the biggest game worlds ever created. And they always made it sound super exciting. But rarely did scale = satisfaction.

The bigger you make your map, the more content you need to cram into it, otherwise why have all that real estate? Games like The Crew and Assassin's Creed Odyssey fill their map with little secrets, challenges and obstacles to discover. But that can take time, and usually those pieces of content are not very exciting. (unless your name is Link)

But in Shadow of the Colossus, you get...nothing

The "navigation" of this game consists of you riding a horse from a central location to one of the far reaches of the map. And what do you do during your 2-5 minute ride from point A to B?

You soak in the atmosphere.

There are very sparse collectables along the way, but most people don't even know about them. What you have instead (at least in the Bluepoint remake) is a beautifully barren landscape with only the sounds of the wind to accompany you. The world is largely devoid of life, making the galloping sound of your horse ever more resonate.

And when you finally find the colossus, often a hulking behemoth, you face them alone, with your feeble little sword.

Every fight feels like an impossible task. How are you supposed to bring down something so massive? You are a child in a giant's world, and expect to battle with titans? And yet somehow, you do.

You are filled with elation, for a moment. As satisfaction fades to solemnity. You ended another life in this dead world. And what comes next? You venture out to slay another.

And so you ride again, amidst the empty landscape, in search of life.

This is a game like no other because it takes risks like no other. It forces the player through the longest and most beautiful loading screens of all time, in hopes something may be gleaned. They create a space for reflection. There are many mysteries of this world, and no answers are easily forthcoming. So the only way to discover answers, is to seek them yourself in these quiet moments.

And that, is why it takes 14.3 billion years to get anywhere.

thumbnail sourced from: https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Colossus-PS4-playstation-4/dp/B072QMDFRZ