It looks like I'm playing another PS2-era game in Shadow of the Colossus, albeit the remake. However, there doesn't seem to be any real differences between the 2 versions outside of graphics, more customization for the controls, and added collectibles. I've been curious about the game since its premise was about climbing giants and attacking their weak points, though I can't help thinking that the execution of the gameplay hasn't always lived up to the idea.
I suppose being able to simply climb up any giant who each had their own handholds might make each boss fight feel too similar to each other (even though they have different movement patterns) since the answer to beating each of them would be the same: climb up to and stab a weak spot. Some could fly, a few could swim, there were a few bull-like bosses, and there were the usual humanoid ones. Still, I would've like the game to do a little less of waiting for a colossus to attack and create an opening to climb up on (like one colossus with a stone sword that gets slammed onto the ground, and you have to travel up the sword like a ramp) or have a colossus destroy part of the environment so you could climb higher structures and then land on it. This wouldn't be for the sake of proactivity; waiting for a boss to come to me so I could eventually latch onto it could be pretty damn boring. The 5th colossus resembling a bird was especially guilty of this because the only way to grab onto it was for it to swoop down low enough, and it wouldn't always do so just anywhere. There were multiple areas with multiple platforms on the water to stand on, and I would think I had to stand in the middle platform since being closer to a wall would mean there was no room for the colossus's orientation to glide in, but no. The boss would just fly too far above my head to reach, so I had to swim all the way to another area and hope it would eventually fly close enough. Swimming to another area probably took less than a minute, but that still felt too long because nothing was happening otherwise for most of the showdown. The 9th colossus could also be a little dull to fight because I had to lure it to a geyser which would spray water and raise some of its feet off the ground for me to shoot an arrow at. Except it would just shoot electricity out of its mouth at least half the time instead, and I don't know how far away I had to be for it to just follow on foot since it would shoot electricity whether I was directly below or at a farther distance. Again, it was just more waiting for something to happen.
Otherwise, the game has only been about slaying the 16 giants. There were no smaller enemies to kill, no NPCs to talk to, and no residential areas to check out. A sword swing was possible, but it'll never get used because the colossi could only be stabbed. The only other forms of life in the game were the plants and animals. Not too much to do other than check out some scenery and maybe find a shrine. The emptiness of the world was easily felt for better or worse. On one hand, it could feel unsettling to be completely alone, and the various ruins around helped invoke a sense of mystery. On the other hand, riding around on a horse and checking out (mostly) empty nature and ruins in a video game got old pretty fast. There was a photo mode, but too bad there were no customization options or poses. Each boss did feel like navigating a level since there were certain paths to take to get to their weak points, but falling off and restarting could suck sometimes since moving and/or climbing a large distance yet again wouldn't take a short time. One colossus I did really like was the 13th one where I had to shoot its "balloons" below its body so it would fall close enough for me to climb on. It did mostly consist riding a horse and chasing it, but it's not like these giants were meant to be fought directly, and I like when the horse could do more than just be a mode of transport. Another really good one was the 7th colossus which was set in a body of water, and I had to observe its movements so I could reach where it was going since swimming after it was obviously unviable. And I had to avoid the electric spines on its back. And the final colossus was a pretty long marathon where it actually felt like I was traveling through a level to get to a certain area. Again, falling off could kinda suck since it was such a large boss, but traveling around its body was able convey a sense of fighting something so much larger than yourself.
Still, I wonder if there should've been more of the option simply climb up a structure and then just jump onto a colossus and figure out how to eventually reach its weak spot. That at least would eliminate the need to wait for the boss to come closer.
The game has overall been minimal, and this was certainly intentional. A guy named Wander who wasn't formally named in the game (I learned his name when looking at the trophies, and the credits confirmed his name as such; I guess he was named as such because he wandered and traveled to the giants) wanted to resurrect a young woman who also wasn't named (credits said "Mono") because... he cared about her. The game never confirmed their relationship with each other, though that probably didn't matter too much since all one needed to know was that he desperately wanted (not necessarily needed) to bring her back to life, and he was willing to kill 16 giants to do so as instructed by a mysterious voice. Obligatory question of whether trading 16 non-human lives for 1 human life was right or not. Whenever a colossus died, the game would accompany the death with tragic music, and I wonder if this was a commentary about killing monsters in video games since those "creatures" would have their own lives and feelings, and they were probably only attacking out of self-defense. However, I have mixed feelings about how this was handled. If I didn't attack them, then there was nothing else to do in the game. Of course, if an alternative was available, then players would almost always choose that instead.
As I went through the game, there was another NPC who showed up in cutscenes (credits called him "Emon") and was accompanied by guards, and they predictably encountered Wander after he killed the last colossus. After each colossus died, Wander would get fused with some black fumes emitted by the colossi (who also emitted them when bleeding), and the mysterious voice ("Dormin" according to the credits) possessed him and became some demonic figure. This resulted in an interesting gameplay segment where I controlled the possessed Wander as a giant who also moved slowly and tried to attack small and fast enemies, so this must've been how the bosses perceived Wander. Mono got resurrected, and Wander was seemingly killed and reborn as a baby with (devilish?) horns. There was also a pretty shocking moment right before the final boss where the horse seemingly fell off a cliff to its death but returned with a limp to a resurrected Mono.
I'm kinda mixed about the minimalist nature of the game because although one could make a lot of inferences about the game, none of that changed the fact that riding a horse in an empty field (and who would move annoyingly slowly in a forest) from point A to B could be pretty dull. I guess I'd say the game was interesting, but not in a positive or negative sense; a neutral sense since I certainly haven't seen another game presented like this.
