What makes it so special is how it makes me feel. The landscape feels realistic, vast, serene, empty, wide open, a place to explore, not to check off to do list items. No quest marker or way point compass, simply hold your sword up and a beam of light will vaguely point in the right direction. The few things you do find on the way become special.

The isolation and sense of scale really comes into perspective when you happen onto one of the Colossi. Each one fits perfectly in its part of the landscape and is its own puzzle to figure out. The landscape and the Colossus are part of each other and soon you start feeling a sense of guilt for disturbing the peace for your own selfish gain.

Yet on to the next and so forth, until you wonder at the end if the end justified the means or if you've actually turned into the bad guy. Yet the rush of meeting each new Colossus is unlike any other boss encounter. The first time getting picked up high in the air, or under water, or found out in your little hiding spot underground, it's all unique and memorable.

SotC is a wonderful deviation from the usual, find something every 10 steps and have a dozen objectives going at once. It's not a min max game, it's not about loot or upgrades, it's just you wondering what you are doing literally and figuratively. No other open world game has this feeling. One quest, no distractions, no repeat boss fights. You actually can upgrade your most important ability, grip duration and also your health (less important). It's all you need, minimalistic game design for maximum effect.

So hey,

I have a topic regarding SotC. Pretty much the title but I want to give more information.

I was never owner of a Playstation. I have played a few games when I visited friends but mostly grew up with Nintendo.

So there were quite a lot of games I never layed hands on and SotC is one of them.

But it gets so much hype. I have seen many people here, on reddit and on my twitter praising the game to the heavens and celebrating another remaster of it.

So... why?

What I have seen of this game so far was a lot of empty landscapes that you traverse with a horse to kill a few bosses.

Is that the whole game or is there something i am missing? Or something i dont understand?

I am curious to know what you guys love so much about this game when it seems pretty shallow to me.

It was branded as art from the get-go, so everybody had to like it regardless of its shoddy controls and framerate. Naturally, its improved re-releases had to be admired as well.

My favorite anecdote concerns a German video game magazine that gave the original release a rather generous score (77/100) despite the reviewers not being convinced that they were playing a good game, then years later they elevated SotC to one of the most important releases of the decade, likely due to peer pressure and a desire to fit in with everyone else.

If you are looking for games as art, then maybe this is something you'll like. The same holds true for everything else that is commonly said to be art.

EDIT: Added paragraphs. Quick Reply still not fixed.

Very much how I viewed Heavy Rain and why I defended it to such a degree. Although I was late to the ICO party in 2011, when I finally beat the Remastered version on PS3, I understood why it was so loved. Sometimes, it's just about taking in the experience, rather than timed head-shots or jumps from platform to platform. Nothing wrong with options.

The game didn't sell millions. The peer pressure was coming from other gaming journalists, so sales of the game were pretty much irrelevant to their decision.

Shadow of the Colossus had neither the sales nor the influence on other games to label it as one of the most important games of the decade, that's why its standing in the gaming community (including gaming journalists) is greatly overrated.

@bold that seems to be exactly what you're doing with your post.

I'm sure it's not exactly what you meant to say (...or maybe it was), but you did imply Nintendo games are all just about "turning your brains off and pressing the right buttons at the right moments", and it sounded quite ignorant. Apparently the brain can only be used to digest a narrative? I guess maybe solving a puzzle or understanding how to defeat a tough enemy is just "motor skills". I wonder if you've at least played Breath of the Wild, or any Nintendo game that isn't Mario for that purpose.

Edit: in fact saying Nintendo games are "shallow" is usually a reflection of just how little you allowed yourself to think otherwise, because most Nintendo games actually aren't shallow at all. They usually feature few commands, but that doesn't mean they're shallow, it just means they're more basic - but they usually go very deep with those commands. Do you think games like Super Mario Odyssey or Super Metroid are shallow? Watch a speedrun and then we can discuss. Even Nintendo's "simple" take on the fighting game, Smash Bros., is actually a much deeper and more complex fighting game than almost any other just because of the wide range of possibilities that can be created through few simple interactions.

You did use shallow in reference to Marth's comment about the game, not the story, so whatever misunderstanding was definitely caused by a poor choice of words. Imagination is still a bad choice though... I don't need a game to be story-driven for it to stir my imagination, in fact quite often it's gameplay focused titles that do (of course this can be different for each person).

Again, Nintendo games aren't shallow. They're basic, they give you few options, and that's a different thing altogether. Being shallow means there's little you can do with what you're given, Nintendo games usually allow you to do plenty of things with the few tools they give you - here's an example of just how seriously they take that mentality. Of course there are shallow Nintendo games, such as most Yoshi games or some of the 2D Zeldas or whatever, but it isn't a rule for most of them. In fact even when talking story, they do have a fair share of great narratives in the likes of Metroid Fusion or Mother 3, among others.

Just because the gameplay comes first doesn't mean the story can't be great, in fact I think Shadow of the Colossus is a perfect example of a game that has brilliant storytelling mostly through its gameplay.