Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus shipped with 16 colossi, not the 48 planned. The game was meant to have 48 colossi and shipped with 16. It is cited as proof that great games also cut content.

Scope often changes at the last minute to hit a date or budget, and shipping smaller is the normal path, not a failure. As the source puts it, "Very few games ship with all of the ideas, levels, mechanics, and story beats that the developer originally intended."

Its clenching grip became a model for Jusant's climbing. Shadow of the Colossus has the player clench to hang on, and that idea inspired the clenched grip in Jusant.

Jusant combined it with Grow Home's trigger-per-hand control and applied the mix to a realistic human character. That combination, rather than any single trick, is what the source calls Jusant's novelty.

Its stamina system is held up as a source of stress. Jusant is contrasted with Shadow of the Colossus on stamina: Jusant's bar becomes a small nuisance to nurse, not a source of stress.

In Jusant, big actions like jumps shrink the stamina bar until the player reaches flat ground, so more jumping means more rests. Running out only happens if the player ignores obvious prompts to stop.