A list that includes the terms "art" and "video games" has to include Shadow of the Colossus. Few games match the interplay of visual aesthetic, mood and action to elicit the sort of emotional response that SotC does. Again, simplicity opens up possibility for the player to experience more than the average game. The landscape is stark, gray and often unearthly. The story is rudimentary: a man must save a woman. In this case, the Wander has to defeat the 16 colossi to resurrect Mono. Each colossus, all somewhere between mechanical and biological , comes with an associated landscape. The whole experience is one of single-minded determination amidst constant challenge and difficulty. You're always one man on one horse galloping across vast and empty landscapes, fighting impossibly enormous monsters. Stark and existential, Shadow of the Colossus narrows in on themes of perseverance and loneliness; universally recognizable themes that engage a player's empathy (paging Ebert) and, for some, create the opportunity to apply that empathy and emotional experience to their daily lives.