Fumito Ueda
Shadow of the Colossus

"Now that you are no longer here
I desire silences
Infinite silences
Infinite deserts
All white nightingales
And serene thoughts
On a road full of light
That never ends"

Shadows of the Colossus is a video game released in 2005 for PlayStation 2, developed by Team Ico, belonging to the adventure genre, at times action, overwhelmingly a puzzle.

We will assume the role of Wander (errant in English), a young boy whose goal is to bring back to life his beloved Mono, who died due to a “cursed fate.” He will be told that beyond the sky bridge, in the forbidden lands filled with death and solitude, there is a possibility to bring her back to life. After crossing the vast stone colonnade with his faithful steed Agro and heading to a gigantic temple, the Shrine of Worship, he will meet Dormin, a divine entity with an androgynous voice. Wander, pleading, will address him/her, affirming that he heard through various legends that the Divine was capable of giving life back to the dead. Seeing the ancient sword brandished and warning the boy about the immense effort and sacrifice - physical and spiritual - he will have to make, Dormin accommodates the boy. The young man, now an acolyte of the Word, restless and muddled by his obsession as only proselytes are, accepts without hesitation, stating that there is nothing more important than restoring life to his feeling.

Thus starts and returns, starts and returns, starts and returns, starts and returns, starts and returns, starts and returns, starts and returns, starts and returns, starts and returns, starts and returns starts and returns starts and returns starts and returns starts and returns starts and returns starts and returns, returns.

On the gaming side, the game is linear and not very varied in the combat system, with a practically singular set of moves consisting only of slash and thrust (practically useless) for the sword, combined with the often mechanical movements of Wander that will compromise the fluidity of the commands, resulting in the most frenetic parts of the game limited and limiting, therefore frustrating, especially when we are clinging to the colossus' mantle or when we have to jump from one platform to another.
It is during these moments that the soundtrack takes over, dictating the rhythm and timing of each encounter, with imposing orchestral executions that seem the only worthy antagonist of the giants. These latter, beyond what one might think about the unequal encounter with the protagonist and his modest weaponry, will be nothing but large environmental puzzles made of waits and cunning. Most of these 16 idols will present different shapes and behavior mechanics, we will indeed fight in underground crypts, in the sky, and even at sea, never underestimating all the elements surrounding us, sometimes we will need our faithful Agro, a fully sentient character extracted from the mere guide automaton. We can only pull or loosen the reins, but he will stop himself if he doesn’t want to continue on rough paths not suitable for him… impossible to force his pace in the constant back and forth.

The new graphic engine further exponentially increases the gaming immersion while maintaining the melancholic and elusive, epic, and fairy-tale atmosphere, though affecting the fantasy that flourished in the minds of every player during the early 2000s. The new visual rendering, in fact, clears many question marks that covered the previous version, full of speculations bearers of myths and beliefs that then circulated in the real world as if everything was a mystery.

During our journey, our only guide in these endless lands, beyond Dormin’s enigmatic initial words at the beginning of each colossus, will be our sword, which reflecting the sun’s rays will indicate the way forward. During the journey, no one will ever utter a word or thought, we will only shout Agro's name if we need him, there will be no music, only the sound of his hooves, every route will seem infinite in the emptiness of the map: only altars where you can pray and a few trees with large canopies with magical fruits capable of increasing our health, almost resembling the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil.
Wander, however, knows no limits except those imposed by his will, and in this crusade against the impossible facing moving mountains, he places himself above beasts, men, and even Gods. In this sacrilegious ambivalence with the immensity that surrounds him, his only creed is the single mission.

The Forbidden Lands are this, a fascinating wandering between sacred and profane, with prayers - or blasphemies - in support of one’s own condemnations and hopes, for oneself and for the other person. There remain only sparse altars dismissed but untouched between canyons, cliffs, waterfalls, deserts, barren prairies, will, brushwood, and rock and marble and cliffs, rivers, sweat, caves, faults, water, sand, mud, and buildings of abandoned civilizations and rock and marble and woods and oceans, peat bogs, blood, badlands, aquifers, crevices, and gravel and land and desert and rock and desert and rubble, and bays, stone, dunes, coasts, and rubble and gas, and wind dust and desert, desert and rubble, desert and ruins, deserts and desert, desert, desert, desert, and desert, desert.

<<Some mountains must be climbed; others must be killed>> stated the poster, others said it was enough to dream them to move them. I say that sometimes one must simply limit themselves to accepting them.

No matter the pace: whether it be trot, walk, or gallop, with the wind at the horse’s tail one flies, accompanied by hawks and doves, pushing heights made of cirrus clouds and brushing against sand heaps, soaring above infinite bridges of marble and stone, climbing impenetrable shadows of one’s soul and guided by the only benevolent light of Mono… I think of that song, of those words... with the certainty that Wander would have thought of them too.