Games Like Shadow of the Colossus
Quick Answer
The closest games to Shadow of the Colossus are Ico, The Last Guardian, Praey for the Gods, Journey and Rain World. Below are 11 picks with the reason for each — what carries over from Shadow of the Colossus, and what does not.
What Made Shadow of the Colossus Work
What people miss about Shadow of the Colossus is the emptiness between the fights. There are no small enemies, no towns and almost no dialogue — just a vast quiet world, a horse, and sixteen puzzle-boss encounters where the boss is the level. Games that scratch this itch are the ones with scale, solitude and restraint, not the ones with more monsters.
Shadow of the Colossus was made by Team Ico at Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, directed by Fumito Ueda, and released for the PlayStation 2 in October 2005. It was remastered with Ico for PS3 in 2011 and remade by Bluepoint Games for PS4 in 2018. It has never been released on PC.
Also written as Shadow of Colossus, SotC — same game, same list.
11 Games Like Shadow of the Colossus
1.Ico(2001)
Same director and the same restraint — an empty castle, one companion, almost no dialogue.
Why it fits: Team Ico at Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, PS2, 2001. Fumito Ueda's first game: the same empty castle-and-silence approach, with a companion instead of colossi.
What is different: No bosses at all — it is a puzzle-platformer about escaping a castle while protecting someone.
Where to play it: PS2; remastered with Shadow of the Colossus in a collection for PS3.
Games like this →2.The Last Guardian(2016)
Team Ico's third game: the colossus is on your side this time, and it does not always listen.
Why it fits: Japan Studio and genDESIGN, PS4, 2016. Ueda's third game, in which the giant creature is your companion, and you climb it to get through the ruins.
What is different: Slower and more frustrating by design: much of the game is persuading Trico to do what you need.
Where to play it: PS4, and it plays on PS5.
More about this game →3.Praey for the Gods(2021)
An unashamed homage — climbing huge bosses in a frozen open world, plus survival mechanics.
Why it fits: No Matter Studios, 2021, on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. An open homage: you climb huge bosses across a frozen open world, with survival mechanics added.
What is different: Survival mechanics — hunger, cold, crafting — sit on top, and it is rougher around the edges.
Where to play it: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
More about this game →4.Journey(2012)
Wordless, small, and built almost entirely from scale and silence.
Why it fits: thatgamecompany, PS3, 2012 (PS4 in 2015, PC in 2019). Wordless and short, and built almost entirely from scale and silence.
What is different: About two hours long and there is no combat of any kind.
Where to play it: PS3, PS4, PC and iOS.
Games like this →5.Rain World(2017)
A hostile, indifferent world where you are small and nothing explains itself to you.
Why it fits: Videocult, 2017 on PC and PS4. You are small in a world that does not care about you and never explains itself.
What is different: Very hard and deliberately obscure; you are prey, not a hunter, and it is 2D.
Where to play it: PC, PS4 and Switch.
More about this game →6.Titan Souls(2015)
Boss rush distilled: one arrow, one hit, a string of puzzle-bosses in a quiet overworld.
Why it fits: Acid Nerve, published by Devolver Digital, 2015 on PC, PS4 and Vita. Nothing but boss fights, one arrow and one hit to kill or be killed, in a quiet overworld.
What is different: Top-down pixel art, and the fights last seconds — one hit kills you and one hit kills them.
Where to play it: PC, PS4 and PS Vita.
More about this game →7.Death Stranding(2019)
The long empty traversal between objectives is the game, not the filler between it.
Why it fits: Kojima Productions, PS4, 2019 (PC in 2020). The long empty journey between objectives is the game itself, not filler between fights.
What is different: Long, strange and heavy on cutscenes; there is combat, but the game is really about delivering cargo.
Where to play it: PS4, PS5 and PC.
Games like this →8.The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild(2017)
The closest big-budget game to that feeling of riding into somewhere nobody has been.
Why it fits: Nintendo EPD, Wii U and Switch, 2017. The big-budget game closest to the feeling of riding towards something on the horizon that nobody has reached.
What is different: The world is full of things to do, not empty, and there are hundreds of small enemies rather than sixteen giants.
Where to play it: Wii U and Switch.
More about this game →9.Elden Ring(2022)
For the boss-as-landscape scale, if you want the combat to be genuinely hard.
Why it fits: FromSoftware, 2022, on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Huge bosses in a wide open world, with a horse, and combat that is far harder.
What is different: Much harder, much busier, and the bosses are fought, not climbed.
Where to play it: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
More about this game →10.Sable(2021)
A whole game of riding across emptiness towards something on the horizon, and no combat at all.
Why it fits: Shedworks, 2021 on PC and Xbox (PS5 in 2022). A whole game of gliding and riding across a desert towards whatever is on the horizon, with no combat at all.
What is different: No fighting at all, and the tone is warm and curious rather than mournful.
Where to play it: PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PS5.
More about this game →11.The Pathless(2020)
Traversal as the entire pleasure, punctuated by a handful of enormous hunts.
Why it fits: Giant Squid, 2020 on PS4, PS5, PC and iOS. Directed by Matt Nava, Journey's art director: an archer crossing a forest, with a few enormous hunts.
What is different: Faster and more arcade-like — traversal is an archery rhythm, and the hunts are set pieces rather than puzzles.
Where to play it: PS4, PS5, PC and Apple Arcade.
More about this game →
Where to Start
If you have never played Ico, that is the first move — it is the same director and the same silence. If what stayed with you was fighting something enormous, try Praey for the Gods. If it was the empty riding between the fights, Sable is the purest version of that feeling.
How We Picked These Games
Every pick had to carry scale, solitude or restraint: enormous bosses, an empty world worth crossing, or a story told without dialogue. Games that simply have big monsters but fill the world with small enemies were left out.
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Games Like Shadow of the Colossus Compared
Year is each game's first release anywhere, on the platform in the next column. "Play it now" is where it can be bought or played today.
| Game | Year | First released on | Play it now | Closest to Shadow of the Colossus in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ico | 2001 | PS2 | PS2; remastered with Shadow of the Colossus in a collection for PS3. | Same director's silence and restraint |
| The Last Guardian | 2016 | PS4 | PS4, and it plays on PS5. | Climbing a giant creature that is your friend |
| Praey for the Gods | 2021 | PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox | PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. | Climbing huge bosses in a frozen open world |
| Journey | 2012 | PS3 | PS3, PS4, PC and iOS. | Wordless scale and solitude |
| Rain World | 2017 | PC, PS4 | PC, PS4 and Switch. | Small player, indifferent world |
| Titan Souls | 2015 | PC, PS4, Vita | PC, PS4 and PS Vita. | A game made only of boss fights |
| Death Stranding | 2019 | PS4 | PS4, PS5 and PC. | The empty journey is the game |
| The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild | 2017 | Wii U, Switch | Wii U and Switch. | Riding towards the horizon |
| Elden Ring | 2022 | PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox | PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC. | Huge bosses, a horse, an open land |
| Sable | 2021 | PC, Xbox | PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PS5. | Crossing emptiness with no combat |
| The Pathless | 2020 | PC, PS4, PS5, iOS | PS4, PS5, PC and Apple Arcade. | Traversal punctuated by giant hunts |
Which One to Play, by What You Liked
If you liked Shadow of the Colossus for boss fights where the boss is the level, try Praey for the Gods and Titan Souls. Praey for the Gods is the open homage — climb, grip, stab weak points; Titan Souls distils the boss-rush idea down to one arrow.
If you liked Shadow of the Colossus for riding Agro across empty land, try Sable, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Pathless. Three games where travelling is the pleasure and the map is mostly quiet.
If you liked Shadow of the Colossus for the melancholy and the silence, try Ico, The Last Guardian and Journey. Ueda's other two games, plus the one non-Ueda game that gets closest to that wordless sadness.
If you liked Shadow of the Colossus for the scale and the danger, try Elden Ring. FromSoftware's open world has the same sense of something enormous waiting at the end of a long ride, with far harder fights.
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Related Lists
- Games like Ico — Fumito Ueda's two PS2 games: the same silence, the same scale.
- Games like God of War — PS2 games from 2005 built around fighting giants.
- Best games like Elden Ring — Huge bosses in a wide, quiet open world.
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