#6
Shadow of the Colossus (PS2, PS3, PS4)
YoY: =
A game unlike any other, Shadow of the Colossus is prove positive that video games can be, and are, art. It is also the only game I've ever purchased three separate times on three different consoles. I've been playing video games for over 30 years now, and in all that time I've never played another game like Shadow of the Colossus. Not even Team Ico's other games, Ico and The Last Guardian, both of which I love as well, can measure up to SotC in terms of tone and style. There's a sense of majesty and scale to this game, a feeling of immeasurable scope that permeates it that I've never felt in any other video game.
Its often very difficult to describe what makes Shadow of the Colossus so exceptional, because if you just tell someone that its a game about taking down 16 bosses to revive someone, it doesn't sound that special. I've had 15 years to come up with reasons why I love this game, and every time I think of something new. One of those things is the silence. Outside of the wonderful encounters with the colossi, the world of SotC is a quiet place, one where very few things outside of you and your horse ever seem to move. It's a land frozen in time, and though it may not seem like it to someone who hasn't played the game, those quiet, introspective journey's to take down yet another colossus are just as integral to making this game such an immensely memorable experience. The willingness to allow so much room for silence is remarkable, and something very few games have the courage to ever do, to just let the atmosphere and the world itself speak for the game, without a single interruption or enemy encounter. Those are some of the most beautiful moments in any video game.
