In an era of controversial Sony live services disasters, it seems almost sacrilegious to suggest the classic Shadow of the Colossus on PS2 could were an online game.
But that was it originally meant by author Fumito Ueda.
It reminds us of an interview with a former Sony employee on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the game’s release original game videoincluded on DVD with ICO pre-orders in Japan.
The concept video – used internally to lend a hand fund the project – showed multiple players riding horses through a sandbox vaguely reminiscent of Shadow of the Colossus and using arrow keys to distract the massive beast while another player climbed on top of it.
He said Denfaminicogameras Genki pointed out on X (Or Twitter):
“Personally, I was interested in the experience of working with other online players to achieve something. However, as I have said in various places, the team at the time lacked the technical resources to bring the game online. After carefully examining what we could and could not do, we decided to go in a different direction and eliminate the online element.”
Ueda admitted that at the time he was obsessed with Battlefield 1942, a large-scale multiplayer online game that encouraged cooperation and collaboration.
However, the novelty eventually wore off and he returned to single-player gameplay.
He said:
“Video games started as a form of entertainment where you played against a computer, but the idea of encountering a creature that seemed alive even when you were alone became central to my interest.”
This is probably where the idea for The Last Guardian came from – a game where you are extremely alone, but you must operate your camaraderie with a virtual animal to progress.
However, it’s worth thinking about what could happen – Shadow of the Colossus’ online multiplayer doesn’t seem like the worst idea in the world and would probably be a precursor to Monster Hunter.
Of course, the final product still ended up being one of the most memorable in up-to-date PlayStation history, so we think Ueda ultimately took the project in the right direction. But it’s still fascinating to consider what we could have had instead.
