Titan Souls - The minimalist version of Shadow of the Colossus

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Hello everyone! How are the button mashing sessions going? Did you board many space pirate ships already along captain Flinthook? In this new entry I´m going to talk about another retro style indie game called Titan Souls. Have you ever tried to imagine how would the timeless classics Shadow of the Colossus look like in 2D? Is Fumito Ueda´s and Team ICO game one of your favorite games? If the answer to those two questions is yes, then keep reading, for I´m completely convinced this game is made for you. If the answer is no… well, keep reading as well, for this might be a good chance to discover a really interesting indie game, as well as one of the most unique and critically acclaimed games in the extensive catalogue of Sony´s PlayStation 2.

Published in 2015 for PC, PS4 and PS Vita by Devolver Digital and developed by indie team Acid Nerve, Titan Souls was born from an idea the team had while participating in a video game design contest, an idea that kept expanding till it turned into the game it is today. As I was saying before, the easiest way to describe Titan Souls would be by simply saying “Shadow of the Colossus 2D”, for it is undeniable the huge influence Fumito Ueda´s game had over Titan Souls. In fact, it is so much so, that you could almost say it is some kind of 2D demake or minimalist version of the PlayStation 2 classic. Thus we have that, similar to what we could see in Team ICO´s master piece, in Titan Souls we will take the role of a young man that will have to explore a mysterious land in order to find and destroy the 18 Titans hidden in different places. Of course, one would expect to be nicely equipped for such a titanic task, however, it seems Acid Nerve decided to take the concept of “minimalism” to its maximum expression, and so our equipment will be even more scarce than the one Wanderer could make use of when fighting the colossi, for our equipment will consist on a bow and an arrow. That is a single arrow. Yup, you read that well. However, fear not, for it will be more than enough to conquer all the challenges we will find along the way. When shooting our only arrow, we will be able to decide the distance by holding the shooting button, and once we shoot it, it will remain stuck somewhere on the screen, leaving us completely powerless till we pick it up again. To do so, we can simply go to the place the arrow is to pick it up, or we can press the shooting button in order to use “the force” to make the arrow flight back straight to us a la Jedi, which on top of being extremely convenient, will also allow us to attack the Titans from angles we wouldn´t be able to reach with a frontal attack. On top of this, we will be able to use a second button that will allow us to roll to avoid the Titans´ attacks. And that’s pretty much all. As you can see, it´s not only its pixilated looks that feels like a 8/16-bit era game, but even its controls would fit perfectly in the old two-button NES controller. However, as I´m sure many of you could already imagine, slaying the Titans is something that will be much easier said than done. It seems the inclusion of the word “Souls” in the title of the game is not just a coincidence, but more of a warning for all those familiar with Namco´s brilliant "Soul" RPG series, for both games share a considerably high level of difficulty. Although it is true that Namco´s game is indeed (much) more cruel, those players with “slow fingers” might get desperate several times while playing Titan Souls, and one of the main reasons for this is that we will only have 1 hit point. That´s right. One single miss and it all will be over, although it is also true that the Titans will also go down with a single hit in their weak point, turning the combats into thrilling death matches in which taking a false step could be the end for either us of the Titans. However, it will be most certainly us who bit the dust in our first attempts against many of the Titans till we memorize perfectly their attack patterns and discover their weak point. Luckily for us, the development team did not forget to include several checkpoints conveniently placed close to the last Titan we fought with, thus saving as the tedious task of having to travel all the way through the same stages again, which make sense if we keep in mind that, just like in Shadow of the Colossus, there will be no enemies to fight against while we explore the mysterious world of the game other than the Titans itself.

Just like in Shadow of the Colossus, we will have to discover each of the Titans´s weak points in order to be able to defeat them, turning each combat against the Titans in a puzzle itself.

Regarding the graphics, Titan Souls is certainly charming, although it does not reach the level of pixel crafting excellence we can find in a few other indie titles. Just like in Shadow of the Colossus or the also alluring Journey, Titan Souls takes us a to a mysterious world of which we barely have any information at all, providing small subtle hints here and there so that the players can draw their own conclusions about the game´s evocative world. However, when compared to above mentioned games, Titan Souls´ world is much more simple and minimalist, which makes complete sense due the indie nature of the titles.


Few games have the skill to impact the industry like Shadow of the Colossus did, and Titan Souls is certainly a love letter dedicated to Team ICO´s timeless colossi killing classic, as well as a perfect example of how Fumito Ueda´s title could have looked like should it have been releases in the Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis, although it more than just that, for the limitations intrinsic to the 2D also play in favor of the game, giving it a arcade feeling that helps it to set itself apart from Sony´s classic in order to find its own identity rather than just living “literally” under the shadow of the colossus it imitates so well. Whether you enjoyed Shadow of the Colossus or you just like retro style arcade games, you should definitely give a chance to Titan Souls, for I´m sure it won´t disappoint you. The game is available in digital format on PS4, PDS Vita and PC via Steam. Have fun!


GAMEPLAY VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-1YyrI8STc