Few video games achieve mainstream cultural relevance. Fewer still get labeled as "art." And only a handful of games that get through the culling manage to retain their relevance across decades. Shadow of the Colossus is the exception to the rules of video games.

What makes it so unique? How has its place in gaming culture evolved? And why does it play a special part in the life of today's guest, video essayist and author Jacob Geller?

Act 1: Why Shadow of the Colossus never lost its relevance

Act 2: How Shadow of the Colossus launched a critic’s career

Patreon bonus: The future of video essays about video games

Act 3: News of the Week

Act 1: Why the magic of Shadow of the Colossus never faded

Shadow of the Colossus is one of the best remakes of all time (Eurogamer)

Silence is Golden: A Closer Look at Journey and Shadow of the Colossus (nymgamer)

Shadow of the Colossus: Frictional Movement (Medium)

shadow of the colossus as living structure (malvasia bianca)

Games and Love: Shadow of the Colossus (taufmonster)

The First Shadow Of The Colossus Fight Is A Masterpiece (Kotaku)

Lorn’s Lure (Steam)

NaissanceE (Steam)

Jacob Geller’s first book: How a Game Lives

Jacob's book is now available in a lower-priced, more widely available format! For the intro to Jacob’s Shadow of the Colossus essay, I created a game out of Moby Dick. (Bookshop.org)

Act 2: How one game launched a critic’s career

Summoning Salt on YouTube (Summoning Salt)

Game Studies Buddy, ft. Jacob Geller (Spotify)

Trans Day of Vanishing (Lily Alexandre)

Patreon bonus: The future of video essays about video games

We Don't Talk About Kenny: Telltale's Walking Dead Season 2 (Innuendo Studios)

The Uncanny Horror of AI Hallucinations (Sarah Davis Baker)

Why Every American Kid Sits on the Same Chair (Phil Edwards)

Act 3: News of the week

"I Told Him I Loved Him, Because I Do" - A Tribute To The Late Dead Or Alive Creator Tomonobu Itagaki (Time Extension)

GameCube cosy horror Luigi's Mansion comes to Switch 2 in time for Halloween (Eurogamer)

This Free Halloween MMO Is Wonderful, But Only Around For A Limited Time (Kotaku)

This week in video game links

The Origin Of Mario’s Trademark Death Animation (Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games)

A Zohran-inspired video game is giving half of its proceeds to NYC community organizing (Instagram)

Microsoft Pushes Xbox Division to Hit Higher Profit Margins (Bloomberg)

 (The annual Game Developers Conference is changing — now it’s a ‘festival’ (Polygon)

Pretentious Game Jam is Authentically Good (Sidequest.zone)

8BitDo Retro R8 gaming mouse review (PCGamer)

"This Is Where The Game Truly Begins" - The Secret Weapon Behind Nintendo's Most Iconic Box Art (TimeExtension)

Yoko Taro Hides Clues When Signing Merchandise To Fight Scammers (Kotaku)

Brace yourself for yassified Homer Simpson as leaks say an entire Springfield map is headed for Fortnite (PCGamer)

FMV dating sims are booming in Asia, inspired in part by 'micro-dramas' popular on TikTok: 'It's not actually real life, but it feels like real life' (PCGamer)

PowerWash Simulator 2 review (RPS)

Xbox is more expensive for developers too, as Microsoft bumps up dev kit cost (Eurogamer)

One NFL Team Sucks So Much The Coaches Took Their Video Games Away (Kotaku)

The Outer Worlds 2 review (RPS)

People Are Turning This $1,000 Windows Handheld Into A Super Steam Deck And Getting Way Better Performance (Kotaku)

My Steam account is now forever tainted with an achievement I got for accidentally upskirting a katana-wielding machine girl (PCGamer)

Oneway.exe is the tale of an abandoned game that really, really wants your skin(s) (RPS)

Free game of the week: Masks All the Way Down

A fun-sized Halloween-themed clicker game! Here’s the summary on itch.io. “The monster has given you the slip dozens of times, but you have finally caught him!  All that's left to do now is find out who is really under that mask! Unmask your way through as many masks as your fingers can handle, spend points in the skill tree to unlock new abilities, items and helpers. Gain billions of points, remove hundreds? thousands? Maybe even millions of masks in this incremental game made for the Godot Wild Jam #86. The theme for this game jam was "Masks", and we also used the "Never Stop Learning" and "The Friendly Ghost" wildcard. There is an ending, if you can get to the bottom of this mystery and remove all his masks! The total playtime is around 10-20 minutes.” (via WarpDoor)

What else I’m enjoying

 The best Dracula movie drip-feeds the audience fear and romance in equal measure (Polygon)

The email newsletter that sends you Dracula in bite-sized pieces (Dracula Daily)

Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Trailer (Scream Factory)