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Digital Foundry - Shadow of the Colossus PS4 Pro Gameplay First Look [4K HDR]

JP

Member
This video features John Linneman and Tom Morgan from the team. I'll add some more info in a bit but I'm also doing something else at the moment.



  • Full analysis video sometime next week.
  • 1080/60fps mode is locked at 60fps.
  • Classic Control Mode feels better than it had in previous versions due to reduced lag.
  • Bluepoint had to expand due to scale of work needed for this project.
  • Brand new engine for game.
  • One of the best looking open world games this generation, not quite up to Horizon and Assassin's Creed levels in terms of detail but the world is designed to be emptier.
  • Overall look of everything in motion "absolutely crushes" games like Witcher 3. Environment, lighting, indirect lighting, animation, post processing, etc. Game looks "unbelievable".
  • John Linneman would like to see Bluepoint "remaster" The Last Guardian.

Some other Digital Foundry videos from older versions of this game and Ico. The PS3 remasters of the games were also handled by Bluepoint Games.
 
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ruvikx

Banned
  • Overall look of everything in motion "absolutely crushes" games like Witcher 3.

This is unnecessary smack talk vis-à-vis The Witcher 3 from Digital Foundry, i.e. certainly considering there's a hell of a lot more going on in The Witcher's world than in Shadow of the Colossus. I'm sure Shadow looks good, but no need for a d*ck measuring contest between two games which aim for something entirely different.
 
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RivalGT

Neo Member
Game looks great, definitely something I'll be picking up. Also he said it was 1440p 30 FPS for the 4K mode.
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
Looks great, but could someone tell me what is the story and purpose in the game?
Do you just go around killing different Colossuses and have to do some platforming?
Is there a good story to it?
 

93xfan

Banned
Looks great, but could someone tell me what is the story and purpose in the game?
Do you just go around killing different Colossuses and have to do some platforming?
Is there a good story to it?

There’s a fantastic story and great sense of atmosphere.

The music is also beautiful and the exploration is fun and interesting.

Edit:
You have to find the colossi and then kill them. The whole game is centered on that. Finding them is just about as fun as the fights, imo
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
There’s a fantastic story and great sense of atmosphere.

The music is also beautiful and the exploration is fun and interesting.

Edit:
You have to find the colossi and then kill them. The whole game is centered on that. Finding them is just about as fun as the fights, imo
Also after finding them you need figure out how climb them. Each Colossi is very different from each other, from their size, their looks and behaviour.
 
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JP

Member
This is unnecessary smack talk vis-à-vis The Witcher 3 from Digital Foundry, i.e. certainly considering there's a hell of a lot more going on in The Witcher's world than in Shadow of the Colossus. I'm sure Shadow looks good, but no need for a d*ck measuring contest between two games which aim for something entirely different.
They do cover all that in the video though.
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
Also after finding them you need figure out how climb them. Each Colossi is very different from each other, from their size, their looks and behaviour.
There’s a fantastic story and great sense of atmosphere.

The music is also beautiful and the exploration is fun and interesting.

Edit:
You have to find the colossi and then kill them. The whole game is centered on that. Finding them is just about as fun as the fights, imo

Thank you. 😊

This game seems to have a charm and a purness of gameplay that makes it still great today, even though on the outset it may not appear as fully featured as modern day games.
 

DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
just go and play call of duty


Please refrain from these sorts of drive by posts which add nothing to to discussion. The poster asked a legitimate question. Just don't reply if you aren't interested.

Thank you.
 

Tyaren

Member
Looks great, but could someone tell me what is the story and purpose in the game?
Do you just go around killing different Colossuses and have to do some platforming?
Is there a good story to it?

Yes, you go around killing colossi, but it's not "just" going around killing them. Traversing and exploring the vast and beautiful world, tracking and finding the colossi, figuring out the puzzle many of them pose and then conquering them is actually very exciting, rewarding and well paced.
This is one of the games that manages to tell a story, a beautifully dark fairy tale, seamlessly during gameplay and while exploring this majestic, forlorn place. Similar to Ico or The Last Guardian there is so much that the player will be contemplating once the credits roll and the controller is put down.
 

Gearskin

Neo Member
damn with so many great looking exclusives, Sony deff rush Pro, wish this thing had full 4k native power, these game are just too beautiful to not be displayed on full 4k!
 

thelastword

Banned
Ouch @ the Last Guardian dig... :(
TBH, when I first saw SOTC REMAKE, it was the first thing I said too. I don't think it's a dig at TLG, it's just that TLG was in development for so long and had roots from older platforms that a remake in this engine would really do it a world of good. TLG is a beautiful game as is, maybe the CPU footprint is going to be heavier over SOTC if they do a remake, but a 1440p 30fps 108060fps rendition with the graphical upgrades would be swell....

Don't forget TLG runs at 1900p, Bluepoint may not even need to get it down 1440p, maybe 1620p would do and then offer a 1080p 60fps mode. I think because of the PS3 to PS4 shift some optimization was left on the table, reflections run at rendering rez and I'm pretty sure there's a lot they could tweak to improve framerate, they could also do lots to improve textures, foliage, materials, Filtering and anti-alaising......On the flip, I do think ICO should be remade too....


Also Heavensly Sword with this engine, but hey![/SPOILER}
 
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pixelation

Member
TBH, when I first saw SOTC REMAKE, it was the first thing I said too. I don't think it's a dig at TLG, it's just that TLG was in development for so long and had roots from older platforms that a remake in this engine would really do it a world of good. TLG is a beautiful game as is, maybe the CPU footprint is going to be heavier over SOTC if they do a remake, but a 1440p 30fps 108060fps rendition with the graphical upgrades would be swell....

Don't forget TLG runs at 1900p, Bluepoint may not even need to get it down 1440p, maybe 1620p would do and then offer a 1080p 60fps mode. I think because of the PS3 to PS4 shift some optimization was left on the table, reflections run at rendering rez and I'm pretty sure there's a lot they could tweak to improve framerate, they could also do lots to improve textures, foliage, materials, Filtering and anti-alaising......On the flip, I do think ICO should be remade too....


Also Heavensly Sword with this engine, but hey![/SPOILER}
Oh don't get me wrong!, i'd love for TLG to be remade using whatever engine BP is using... and hell yes for Ico!
 

WaterAstro

Member
Better than Witcher 3 is a bit insane. Probably beats it for certain graphical aspects, but there won't be crazy set pieces like Toussaint.

They could take their graphics more liberally for a lot of things without having to worry about NPCs and stuff.
 
Yeah sort of different approaches. Witcher 3 had some locations that felt straight out of dioramas. It was usually beautiful for what it showed, where as SOTC is beautiful sort of for what it doesn't show -- just a simple expansive beauty. Witcher 3 (and even Dragon Age INQ, not enough to its credit) were like great Keith Parkinson, Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore paintings. The classic sort of D&D artists.

Or to make an art analogy, Witcher 3 maybe kinda like the early American landscape painters, whereas SOTC, especially the classic PS2 version with its original frame rate and resolution, almost like an impressionist painting of sort -- where you could see the flaws of its creation (it's brush strokes/it's pixels and framerate) but that sort of heightens its sense of time and space. Dunno ;p not really equipped for artlit analogies haha. But SOTC always had that surreal beauty: not from actual surrealism in its style; it's not particularly romanticized as it's quite simple and unexaggerated or not idealized... it's sort of un-romanticized, really.

Something from of its expansive simplicity that evoked a sort of surreal sense of place in the world. The emptiness only heightened your sense of 'small' when a colossus appeared.

Anyhow, I didn't realize the game was this extensive of a remake. That DF video, the image quality was really tremendous.
 
This is looking fantastic. Gosh, I'm so glad that I left it to sit in my backlog and that this is going to be my first experience with the game. The only version that I've seen available for it though is a vanilla release with no steelbook or Uncharted Drake Collection-style box. Am I missing something? For such an impressive remaster by Blue Point, I feel that it deserves a mini artbook / soundtrack / box treatment. It seems like a huge oversight to me.
 
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Boss Mog

Member
Take my money
tumblr_om1ygkHzFU1t14nxyo3_400.gif
 

Swizzle

Gold Member
Oh don't get me wrong!, i'd love for TLG to be remade using whatever engine BP is using... and hell yes for Ico!

I actually like the aesthetic choices TLG like all Team ICO/genDesign games have had. I never played one of their games and wished for better graphics per se as they are one of the few developers whose games for me have visuals perfect for the story they want to tell and the full experience they want you to go through.

Even the PS1 version of ICO, albeit primitive in terms of visual detail and effects compared to the final game on PS2, had timeless charm and overall look.
 
I actually like the aesthetic choices TLG like all Team ICO/genDesign games have had. I never played one of their games and wished for better graphics per se as they are one of the few developers whose games for me have visuals perfect for the story they want to tell and the full experience they want you to go through.

Even the PS1 version of ICO, albeit primitive in terms of visual detail and effects compared to the final game on PS2, had timeless charm and overall look.

Agreed. I'm slightly ashamed that I haven't played them already. The art style of ICO on the PS2 is stunning. I still have nostalgia for it even though it has unwillingly sat on my backlog shelf since the PS2 era. I'm torn against playing the originals as they were intended verses playing the remaster in stereoscopic 3D on PS3 (which I adore) verses playing the SotC remaster on PS4.

Oh, the plight of the modern gamer. My fortitude and stamina stat is not high enough for the weight of this much gaming goodness.
 

WaterAstro

Member
I'm not sure how I feel about the control "reduced lag" change. There was a sort of weight that I liked in SotC. It's the whole "riding the horse" rather than "controlling the horse". I hope they didn't kill that feeling. I know majority of people want super fast response for every game, but not me.

Worried that they might have remade the gameplay too much, but hope it's not.
 

Valdega

Member
This is unnecessary smack talk vis-à-vis The Witcher 3 from Digital Foundry, i.e. certainly considering there's a hell of a lot more going on in The Witcher's world than in Shadow of the Colossus. I'm sure Shadow looks good, but no need for a d*ck measuring contest between two games which aim for something entirely different.

Watching the video, I'm not seeing anything that crushes Witcher 3. It certainly looks good for a remaster/remake but the hyperbolic praise is a bit much.
 

Virex

Banned
Can't wait for this. So much amazing memories from playing this on PS2 and PS3. Bluepoint have done an amazing job with this(as they have with other remasters). Bluepoint seems like such an amazing studio with so much talent. Would love to see what they can do with a big budget and an original IP. How Sony hasn't scooped them up yet is beyond me.
 

Armorian

Banned
Looks very good, definietly a step up for BG (remake after remasters). Maybe the tower is fully climbalble now (with hidden colossi on top :p)?
 

ruvikx

Banned
Watching the video, I'm not seeing anything that crushes Witcher 3. It certainly looks good for a remaster/remake but the hyperbolic praise is a bit much.

It was such an odd comment from Digital Foundry considering neither game is comparable at all (there's horse riding in both, I guess?... & trees). Also, when I hear words like 'crushed', I expect a generational gap between both products (maybe that's just me). I don't see that here. I mean technically speaking we're not far off next gen at this point, i.e. upon which everything will 'crush' (if that's the vocabulary they wish to employ) all current gen titles - including Shadow of the Colossus (& other open world technical masterpieces such as Horizon Zero Dawn). Whoop-de-doo. :rolleyes:

I'm usually not anal at all about semantics or the words they use, but I found that one in particular grating.
 

pawel86ck

Banned
I have never played that game on my PS2, I always thought it's some boring game without much action. But I need to say PS4 remake looks very nice, I have seen digital foundry gameplay in HDR and now I I want to play this game just for graphics alone :).
 
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