Shadow of the Colossus 20th Anniversary

May 3 – June 29, 2025
Hours: Saturdays and Sunday 2-5pm
General Admission: $8 (Ages 13+) Kids Admission $5 (Ages 5-12), Free Admission for Kids under 5 and Active-duty military personnel and their families

This exhibit celebrates the 20th anniversary of Shadow of the Colossus—a landmark title that redefined the emotional and cinematic possibilities of video games. Released for the PlayStation 2 in 2005, Shadow of the Colossus immerses players in a vast, desolate landscape where you must confront and overcome a series of towering, enigmatic colossi. Each encounter unfolds as a dramatic, cinematic set piece, blending action and exploration. Defeating the colossi does not come without a cost — their majesty, along with their strengths and vulnerabilities, makes them sympathetic, and their destruction elicits a complex emotional response in the player.

Developed by Sony’s Team Ico and directed by Fumito Ueda, Shadow of the Colossus builds on the foundation established by Ico (2001), a predecessor known for its minimalist storytelling and atmospheric design. Fumito Ueda continued that legacy with The Last Guardian (2016) on the PlayStation 4. His recently announced next project, currently codenamed Project Robot, is highly anticipated.

Visitors to Chicago Gamespace will experience Shadow of the Colossus on the original PlayStation 2—riding across windswept plains on your steed Agro, scaling impossibly large colossi, and reflecting on the mysteries at the heart of one of the most haunting and affecting games crafted to date.

This exhibit is organized by Gamespace’s Assistant Curator and game historian Ethan Johnson.