It just feels… unnecessary. It's not so old that it can't have been experienced by younger players—that HD remaster is readily available today. And yes, I get that it's not on PS4 as it stands—but did many of the millions who've picked up a PS4 do so thinking, man, I can't wait to play a remake of Shadow of the Colossus. One where—look, I hope they don't balls this up, but come on, it's a possibility—the timeless atmosphere of the original has been marred by the inexorable march of graphical fidelity. Where the deep impact of slaughtering these magnificent beings is lessened by too much noisesurrounding the occasions.
To make Shadow of the Colossus pretty first and atmospheric second would be to miss the point. But today's double shot of trailers convinces me that Bluepoint gets it. The scale, the scope, the quiet sadness: All of these are what separates Shadow of the Colossus from other games where you fight big monsters. Case in point: Both Monster Hunter World and Horizon Zero Dawn's new Frozen Wastes DLC were at this show, but neither have my attention as much as this remake. And hey, maybe that says more about me than them, but I'm entirely okay with that.I don't want the next Shadow, the new Shadow, to be nothing more than a shadow of what came before it. Despite the above, I'm hoping it's a valuable revision. But at some point, the scaffolding that supports the games industry's obsession with digging into the past will collapse. 2013's Flashback was a warning—a special game, close to the hearts of those who enjoyed its first release, turned into something so much less than what it deserved. If Shadow goes the same way, all surface and no feeling, there'll be more tears from Sony fans, but for an entirely different, disastrous reason.