PARTING SH T
Loyal to the end
Shadow Of The Colossus’ final emotional surprise
Celebrating PlayStation’s finest moments
H
ow could it have ended
any other way? There’s an
uncomfortable melancholy
to everything that happens
in Shadow Of The Colossus, and
with every Colossus we kill a
little voice inside says ‘You really
shouldn’t have done that.’ Who’s
the real monster now as you put
an end to bearded giant Barba
and inch closer to the game’s end
credits and mysterious Mono’s
cure and awakening?
When every Colossus is dead
and buried and Wander returns to
the temple to see Mono come back
to life, the vile acts he’s performedovertake him. He becomes
an actual monster, a physical
manifestation of the brutality of
his actions over the previous eight
hours and the deaths of so many
elegantly designed creatures
(which were simply minding their
own business until you showed up).
Yet this stage of the ending isn’t
the real moment we remember,
it’s what comes next that hits the
feels in all the right places: Wander
struggling against the drag of his
own deathly actions, unable to
finally be with Mono, instead being
sucked into a darkness of his own
making. She awakens seeminglyunaware of Wander’s actions, and
at this moment our horse Agro,
our loyal companion, hobbles onto
the screen... she’s alive! The sun
frames Mono as Agro struggles
mournfully towards her from the
darkness. Mono reaches out a
hand and accepts our presumed-
deceased horse’s friendship. Yes,
we’re blubbering like a Liverpool
fan celebrating their team winning
the league after 27 years of hurt.
Agro’s last act is to lead Mono to
where baby Wander has appeared;
the three are finally together. We
dry our eyes long enough to ask:
what does the future hold? QFORMAT PS4 / PUB SONY / DEV BLUEPOINT GAMES / RELEASED 2018 / SCORE 9/10No.89
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