Videogame characters we really care about

The Colossi | Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus is a videogame that's simply enjoyable but also possesses a deeper resonance for those who go looking for it. It's essentially an innovative platformer, but we could talk you to death about the game's beautifully executed art style or the pervading themes of loneliness, loss and struggle. But you don't need to be a tiresome geek to find yourself affected by the real characters of the game: The titular Colossi.

It's difficult to believe that anyone who completed this quest didn't once feel a sense of awe or wonder for these great beasts. The game cleverly introduces each one in a manner that emphasises the colossi's towering size or strength against your tiny stature, and felling each colossi follows a faintly predictable but consistently thrilling pattern. Occasionally your victory feels so inevitable that you find yourself feeling sorry for the giants, watching them flail ineffectually as their lifeforce spurts out.

And we can't be the only ones that worried about the relentless colossi slaying. Were we doing the right thing? Was the voice in the temple telling the truth? Why don't some of them fight back? Our only interaction with the colossi might have been of the stabby-stabby variety, but the longer we played the more we cared about these mysterious monsters.

It's difficult to believe that anyone who completed this quest didn't once feel a sense of awe or wonder for these great beasts. The game cleverly introduces each one in a manner that emphasises the colossi's towering size or strength against your tiny stature, and felling each colossi follows a faintly predictable but consistently thrilling pattern. Occasionally your victory feels so inevitable that you find yourself feeling sorry for the giants, watching them flail ineffectually as their lifeforce spurts out.

And we can't be the only ones that worried about the relentless colossi slaying. Were we doing the right thing? Was the voice in the temple telling the truth? Why don't some of them fight back?Our only interaction with the colossi might have been of the stabby-stabby variety, but the longer we played the more we cared about these mysterious monsters.

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.