User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2739 Ratings

User score distribution:
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  1. Aug 30, 2023
    0
    The camera is the main culprit for my sore of 0. There is honestly no excuse that justifies how much you have to wrestle with that thing.
  2. May 18, 2023
    0
    It is astonishing to me that SOTC can still be this player unfriendly even after a remaster, the game literally fights you at every turn and sucks every bit of potential fun from the experience. The visuals and sound direction are spectacular but neither means anything in the face of gameplay this excruciating.
  3. 113
    May 12, 2023
    1
    WTF is this game anyways. All you do is ride around on a horse and climb giant stone monsters and stab them with a pointy sword. I do not understand. What makes this game worse is that there is no cute girls. You would think if the creators wanted this game to sell more, they would try to appeal to the average player. They all want cute girls, everyone knows this.
  4. May 5, 2023
    4
    It's less than "ok". Feels like playing a better version of Pong. Same story, equal gameplay. Working on my pile of shame, but this game is a shame and absolutly overrated!
  5. Apr 29, 2023
    1
    This is probably the most overrated game of all time. Boring and repetitive, I can’t believe people think this is a masterpiece
  6. Apr 19, 2023
    0
    Piece of **** game - devvelopers cant even bother to fix the broken climbing section in the first couple of minutes of gameplay but this **** got remastered somehow
  7. Apr 12, 2023
    3
    The game is boring with an awful camera work and clumsy physics. Landscape is nice, though.
  8. Mar 21, 2023
    3
    Why the **** do people like this game? It is a nightmare to control. The gameplay is absolute cancer. The camera sucks, the climbing sucks and I love glitching through everything. To get to the next boss you need your horse that controls like person with no arms using their teeth to steer a car. This game is terrible. Why the **** is it rated so high. I dropped this trash after the 4thWhy the **** do people like this game? It is a nightmare to control. The gameplay is absolute cancer. The camera sucks, the climbing sucks and I love glitching through everything. To get to the next boss you need your horse that controls like person with no arms using their teeth to steer a car. This game is terrible. Why the **** is it rated so high. I dropped this trash after the 4th boss. It is not fun to play at all. Plus the world is so bland and boring. Expand
  9. Jan 24, 2023
    0
    add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSNadd the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! add the ability to change PSN region!!! Expand
  10. Oct 15, 2022
    3
    Nice graphics with a unique atmosphere don't make a good game. The gameplay is frustrating, the controls are horrible, and the story is boring.

    My take on why this game has so many good reviews: is tinted nostalgia glasses. When someone was a kid and this game came out on PS2 the graphics were really impressive and the giant size of the colossi was something that was never seen before.
    Nice graphics with a unique atmosphere don't make a good game. The gameplay is frustrating, the controls are horrible, and the story is boring.

    My take on why this game has so many good reviews: is tinted nostalgia glasses. When someone was a kid and this game came out on PS2 the graphics were really impressive and the giant size of the colossi was something that was never seen before. It was definitely impressive for its time and memorable for sure.
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  11. Apr 6, 2022
    1
    Скучное говно... Графон - говно, геймплей - говно, сюжет - а он есть?
  12. Apr 4, 2022
    3
    The game has a certain charm to it because of the art style and the somewhat intriguing breadcrumbs of lore the game sparingly gives you.
    Gameplay on the other hand is ATROCIOUS, Clunky, frustrating and all around HORRIBLE!
    I do not recommend it under any circumstances unless you can handle the tedious unresponsive gameplay.
  13. Feb 7, 2022
    4
    Fun for a while but too hard, only worth playing if free, graphics look ok, not much story though
  14. Feb 5, 2022
    0
    shadow of the colossus is a bad open world game there nothing to do its just point a to point b. the combat not good ether its just u trying to kill the colossus while u try not get shaken off and die there way better open worlds then shadow colossus like skyrim or horizon zero dawn so do us all a favor try harder
  15. Jan 20, 2022
    2
    The history is poor, they don't explain anything about it, the physics is weird, seems like your playing on the moon and the camera is also annoying sometimes.
  16. Oct 12, 2021
    0
    No amount of graphics, story, character design, music and world building can excuse the awful controls and physics this game presents.

    In Shadow of the Controls, you fight the programmers' poor coding for control of the most pathetic protagonist and the game engine's ungodly physics that takes platforming to an unprecedented un-realism. If you are like me and had no idea what the game
    No amount of graphics, story, character design, music and world building can excuse the awful controls and physics this game presents.

    In Shadow of the Controls, you fight the programmers' poor coding for control of the most pathetic protagonist and the game engine's ungodly physics that takes platforming to an unprecedented un-realism. If you are like me and had no idea what the game was about and was drawn to the cool design and concept of the game, please stop right there and stay far away from this game. Terrible controls and mechanics are the hardest to explain in words, but this game, without a doubt, has the worst control of any game I've ever played.

    The game's biggest strength is immersion, which BluePoint has certainly done an absolute brilliant job in capturing the desolate yet beautiful world of SOTC. The music is grand and epic when battling the colossi, and the sense of scale given to the player makes one really experiences the vast unit the enemies truly are compared to what puny power the character possess in order to overcome these extreme behemoth of monsters. All of these makes the game well deserve to be the PlayStation classic is it until you find that the horse AI is programmed by a monkey, your character starts randomly floats in the opposite direction of your analog stick, grabs edges that you never intent to reach, starts falling off the edge every three seconds, takes over ten seconds to get up from a knockdown, or the camera always just snaps to whichever is the most inconvenient angle for the moment. These things instantly pulls the player out of the immersion and makes one realize that the game is nothing more than a poorly aged PS2 game that uses outdated controls as its core gameplay.

    The game's shallow mechanics is stretched by constant downtime and cryptic puzzle solving, with often terrible RNG in the AI's pattern that further extends the frustration and time wasting, making a supposedly one hour game into a six hour mind-numbing journey that by the end, one would wish that it could end sooner.

    When a game's difficulty stems not from player's skills and knowledge but the gameplay design and fundamental controls, you might as well go watch a movie instead because at least you don't have to deal with poorly thought out mechanics and infuriating engine physics.
    Expand
  17. Sep 2, 2021
    3
    These horse controls are so bad its unbelievable. I dont know why yall love this game so much.
  18. May 4, 2021
    3
    Honestly don't know why the critics' consensus is 91/100. This game has the worst control of any game I've ever played and it's just a series of boss fight after boss fight.
  19. Feb 21, 2021
    0
    This is the worst game I have ever play, really. The camera and controls suck so much. Colossus are good, but you don't fight with them, you fight with camera all time. Don't waste your money on this game, it's better to buy cigarets even if you don't smoke. It will be more healthy for you.
  20. Feb 20, 2021
    3
    The graphics are decent on PS4 Pro but the game has too many issues. In no particular order:
    The dialog is all in Japanese. They clearly spent $$$ on art production but couldn't pay a little money for an English voice track? Lame.
    The controls are wonky as hell. Riding a horse has never been more annoying. The instructions are minimal (you'll need to read the manual). The camera
    The graphics are decent on PS4 Pro but the game has too many issues. In no particular order:
    The dialog is all in Japanese. They clearly spent $$$ on art production but couldn't pay a little money for an English voice track? Lame.
    The controls are wonky as hell. Riding a horse has never been more annoying.
    The instructions are minimal (you'll need to read the manual).
    The camera angles and swing work against you. The game relies heavily on parkour-like mechanics but the camera is always swinging in the wrong places so you end up falling off stuff unintentionally and wasting time re-climbing.
    The parkour sucks. Sometimes the character climbs as expected, other times, they get confused and just go up and down with no progress which just drains your stamina unfairly..
    The game relies on you basically killing a bunch of colossus creatures that have weak spots but they don't consistently show them to you making for stabbing-guesses and long arduous battles. Bug?

    I have no clue why this has such a high metacritic rating honestly. It's not the worst game in the world, but certainly not worthy of a 93 rating.
    Expand
  21. Dec 23, 2020
    2
    Really good looking, and the colossi look amazing. However the fiddly controls and associated lag wreck the game completely for me. It's also quite samey after you've seen a few of the beasts as well. Very disappointing.
  22. Dec 14, 2020
    4
    Everything in this game is luck based. If you’re playing through the story as is then it will probably be ok. But trying to get that one particular trophy? Well good luck because this ps2 game doesn’t care for consistency.
  23. Dec 10, 2020
    1
    Really a boring game. I spent like 6 hours and i fell asleep. They tried but the result isn't too good. Oh i forgot to tell that after i played it i had to wash my eyes with acid.
  24. Dec 6, 2020
    0
    Maybe in 2005 this game were pretty good, but now - it's awful. Mostly because of awful controls. Simply can't play normally
  25. Nov 27, 2020
    4
    By today's standard and comparing to other available games, this game is bad and boring. The control and camera is so bad and stupid
  26. Nov 8, 2020
    1
    Кривая хуйня, но задумка хорошая, поэтому не 0, а 1
  27. Nov 7, 2020
    4
    terrible gameplay, auto-rotating camera drives you crazy. graphics are not even worth to talk about.
  28. Oct 26, 2020
    2
    I had high expectations on this game and I got very frustrated. Pros: good graphics, nice soundtrack.

    Cons: a lot of glitches and bugs, there is no tutorial, camera can be a real pain in the ass sometimes, controls are a bit awkward, game can be really stressful, there are no checkpoints. A test of patience.
  29. Oct 4, 2020
    4
    The character is SO HARD TO CONTROL it takes all the fun out of this game. You waste so much time not because of your skill but because of how they made the character move and climb and hold on surfaces. It's such a shame because the rest is nice but if you can't control the character you're playing, it's not worth it
  30. Sep 19, 2020
    3
    This is by far the worst game I've played in PS4. Very nice graphics but terrible camera, controls & gameplay. I don't understand how this game is considered a PS masterpiece if it's built on frustratio rather than fun. There is no story at all until the end. This is a game I will never forget, for it's one of the worst games I have played in my life.
Metascore
91

Universal acclaim - based on 100 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 97 out of 100
  2. Negative: 0 out of 100
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Apr 24, 2018
    80
    Perfectly polished and improved cult game – even with better controls! Killing giant monsters has never been so much (melancholic) fun. [Issue#283]
  2. Apr 24, 2018
    90
    A tribute to the Fumito Ueda will delight the veterans of the original game same as introduce this classic to the newcomers, who are not tuned on a nostalgic note. An ideal opportunity to improve your video game education and a wonderful experience in the same time. Some clumsy controls and occasionally stubborn camera can’t ruin the great experience.
  3. CD-Action
    Apr 3, 2018
    70
    It’s a good remaster, but frankly I find it unnecessary. Those who have already played the game on PS2 or PS3 will find nothing new here, and those who didn’t have the chance to get acquainted with it probably will not understand what we saw in Shadow of the Colossus 12 years ago, when gaming reality was completely different. [03/2018, p.66]