Narrative Through Game Design - Shadow of the Colossus

If you were to tell me 5 years ago that they are going to remake Shadow of The Colossus for current gen hardware– all while staying faithful to the original, I wouldn't believe you, considering that they had already released a remaster for the Playstation3, I would think that a remake is even impossible. And yet here we are.

Shadow of the Colossus remake has finally been released on the PlayStation 4 in February 2018 and it received critical acclaim from both journalists and fans of the original. It was lauded as one of the best remake ever made, staying faithful to the original game from 2005. This is undoubtedly the best time to be a fan of this game.

But why does Shadow of the Colossus, of all the classics out there – deserve this remake? Ask anybody out there, they will say that are a lot of other games that also deserve to be remade and re-introduced to the new generation of gamers. So why does a game so minimalistic, held in high regard by many?

Hi, my name is Eddy – welcome to Angkasa, and this is Critical Breakdown.

In this episode, we are going to look into the core game design and the method of storytelling of Shadow of the Colossus. Being a fan of this game, it is difficult to look at this game with a clean slate. Back then at a young age, I play games for what it is – games. I don't think much of it in terms of what emotions video games are trying to convey – there is no art to it, I see it as pure escapist entertainment.

It all changed the moment I was introduced to Shadow of the Colossus back in 2005 – but my first impression of it is that I thought the game was boring. I thought the animations was weird, I thought the combat was lame. I just don't get what it is about. But of course, it all changed the moment I laid my eyes on the first colossus. 13 years later I still hold shadow on the top spot of my favourite game list, and being a designer – both in graphic and video, SOTC design philosophy is something that I brought along with me and apply to every design decisions that I made.

Unorthodox approach in game design

By now I am pretty sure that a lot of people have heard of Fumito Ueda (the game director of Shadow of the Colossus) and his famous design philosophy of "design by subtraction". This minimalist approach in game design is what sets it apart from other competitors for its time. Minimalist is often associated with visuals – but if you look closely, Shadow of the Colossus is –for the lack of better words, aggressive when it comes to visuals.

You can see that the game heavily feature the now iconic use of bloom effect to give it a dreamlike feel, the visuals often exaggerate scales and everything looking absolutely gigantic. Stand anywhere and you'll be enveloped by how massive everything feels. The characters have a considerable amount of details on them, be it the Colossus, the hero, or the maiden, and when it comes to surface textures, you can see a lot of carving on stones, and most surfaces showing the signs of aging and decay, there are a lot of details in this world.

For this game, the term "minimalist" is often attributed to its approach in "game design". Most of the time you are alone in the Forbidden Land, apart from the Colossus and occasional birds and lizards, it's pretty much you and your horse – giving you the sense of isolation which has been a signature for the game. Does the game really need dungeons and smaller enemies? Does it really need towns and people to interact with? Will side quests benefit the story or gameplay in any way? Does it really need a convoluted story – or just a boy trying to resurrect a girl will do just fine? Does the game really need crafting or can we just give him an unlimited amount of arrows?

Design by subtraction is the stripping down of elements, butchering your own game (or work of art) to the point that it lost most of it layers and only left with its essential core- only what’s necessary. Shadow was originally conceived to be an online experience where players team up to take down colossi, but soon they figured out that this type of mechanic will truly reach full potential through a single player experience instead. Nomad Colossus, which is famous among the community for his work to uncover the secrets within the game, has found a multitude of cut content, game changes, and up to this day, there are still things to be discovered.

This goes to show the unprecedented amount of changes probably been made to reach the game full potential. The result is that Shadow of the Colossus has become a game so focused and streamlined, simple and yet highly engaging, everything this game does hit all the right notes. – And the game truly benefits from it as the developers spend most of their resources into designing the colossus and the improving the core mechanics rather than wasting it on unnecessary features.

This simplistic nature resulted in the world to be much more open-ended, thus making room for all kinds of interpretation and fan theories. These days most developers are forced to cram unnecessary features - it ultimately impacted the game development, gameplay experience and overall review scores. Multiplayer mode did not do any benefit to Spec Ops the Line. Should CS: GO have a story mode too?

Another great thing about Shadow of the Colossus and Team ICO (the developer) is that they are true masters of their craft.

MASTERFUL CRAFT

Everything was designed for a purpose. Remember when I said that the game intentionally exaggerate scales to make everything look massive? This game is a fine example of the use contrast. Now, contrast is important – it is used to define a hierarchy, it is a form to guide the human eyes to attention, contrast is everywhere and a part of everything we see, we do, experience, and understand.

Contrast can also be cleverly used to develop character and tell a story without relying on exposition – for example your small character against the massive, silent, ancient lands. You feel out of place, unwelcome, you are trespassing into a Forbidden Land after all. Your young and clumsy character against the towering, slow, and destructive colossus. He is definitely not a warrior and he is facing an enemy that could destroy him in a single blow. Also, notice the highly detailed, but clumsy main character against the empty background, and take a look at Kratos from God of War, his movement shows strength, and notice how the designers purposefully dress him half naked – so that he’ll stand out more against the background and you’ll easily scan him during battle.

Through contrast, the game not only able to guide your sights, but it is also able to convey how committed he is to resurrecting Mono – the girl lying dead on the altar – despite being just an average joe without any piece of dialogue. The game is full of complete silence, and suddenly you are in a grand battle to slay mountains. The colossi are full of variety, one moment you are fighting human-like colossi, then you are fighting flying colossi, swimming colossi, a small colossus.

During the battle you'll be accompanied with orchestral hits of heroic theme, and when you thought that the same music will also greet you at your victory – suddenly the music is nothing that you are expecting, the music was not triumphant, it was somber, akin to prayers during deaths and it goes to show that you cannot save everyone and you may have committed an act of terrible crime.

If you listen to the soundtrack a lot you'll notice that a recurrent feature in the music is the alternation of hope and regret. There are so many things to talk about when it comes to the soundtrack of Shadow of the Colossus and of course, deserve a video of its own. To keep things well focused, we'll stick to talking about the game design for now – stay tuned for the next episode where I talk about Soundtrack and Game Cinematography of Shadow of the Colossus.

Now, back to the topic of game design philosophy – The main character in shadow is often loosely associated by fans with Greek tragedy. Wander is a character that filled with extreme determination, tricked into slaying magnificent wonders, was brought low by his actions, and paid the price. Even in near death – the only thing that he can see was Mono lying dead on the altar. You can also consider the heroic dilemma of the main character – he is killing these majestic creatures just to resurrect his loved one.

Tell me, is that heroic, or is that selfish and murder? These colossi did nothing wrong, most of them attack in self-defence – you are the one walking into their home. One of them is so passive it doesn't even attack you. Has it ever occurred to you that you've slain wonders, not monsters? Storytelling in video games are nothing like other mediums, and some developers are beginning to understand on how to use it effectively – and Team Ico manages to express it through game mechanics – in the age of spoon-fed exposition and shoehorned philosophy, Shadow of the Colossus delivers these questions purely through gameplay.

While we are still on the topic of philosophy allow me to extend it by talking about the core gameplay – hanging on the colossus. I'm not entirely sure why Fumito Ueda seemed to obsess when it comes to characters holding onto something, most probably it is just a game mechanic that simply adaptable and offer much application, but in Shadow of the Colossus the mechanic of holding on is necessary to win, and pretty much the main theme for the whole game. You need to hold onto the colossus to reach for their weaknesses, you need to grab ledges to enter restricted areas, and you need to jump or hold to ride your horse, Agro. This mechanic goes hand-in-hand with the core gameplay.

Though here’s the best part; near the end of the game, the moment Wander is being sucked into the vortex, you are given a chance to use the grab function – you can cling on to the stairs for dear life as long as you want but the game won’t end until you realize that you simply have to give up and accept your fate. Fumito Ueda explained, "It's almost like all the battles with Colossi leading up to this scene were just a prelude so that we could successfully portray this last ‘hang on' action."

Sometimes it is easy to overanalyze work of art, but in most cases work of art is best understood when we can use it for self-reflect, it may be our dreams, ideologies, ego, or memories of those who had left us. Are these really the things that worth holding onto? I think it is brilliant; the whole game is about holding on but you don't win until you realize that some things are beyond your control and you need to let go. Now tell me if that wasn't a genius way to use the game mechanic.

FINAL VERDICT

Immersive, majestic, emotional – these are the words that can be used to describe Shadow of the Colossus, but at the end of the day, to fully grasp the meaning to all of those words is to sit behind the controller and experience the game for yourself. Roger Ebert, a respected film critic once said that "no gamer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium (video games) as an art form."

While I cannot speak to what an art truly is, what I can say is that Shadow of the Colossus have inspired me, and most probably millions of others out there- through gameplay mechanics, cinematic approach, and soundtrack composition, the game flawlessly combined all the great aspect of filmmaking, music, and visual communication. If that ain't art then I don’t know what art is.