Shadow of the Colossus Golden Relics / Coins - What Are They

The Golden Coins or Relics in Shadow of the Colossus PS4 remake are a new collectible in the game. So far, nobody knows how many of them there are, or what they do. The theory is that there’s 79 of them, but what they unlock, nobody can agree.

Bluepoint Games, the developers of the PlayStation 4 remake of Shadow of the Colossus, added a mysterious new collectible for the game. People have been calling them different things: Coins, Relics, or Enlightenment. So far, nobody has been able to figure out exactly what they do, nor how many of them there are. They are all hidden in weird, hard-to-reach places. The only hint you get when you’re near one of them is the sound of wind chimes, and their golden glow. To get some of them, you have to beat the New Game + several times. Others require completing Time Attack challenges to acquire items that allow you to reach the collectible.

Currently, the working theory is that there’s a total of 79 of these Enlightenment Relics or whatever you want to call them. The reason is a line from the end credits. They thank Nomad Colossus, a very prominent member of the Shadow of the Colossus community. Then, they mention 79 steps to enlightenment. That’s the line everyone assumes to be the number of Coins. And, that might be true. At the time of writing the article, 75 Relics have been found.

So, what exactly does collecting all of the Enlightenment unlock? Well, there are several theories. Once you find your first Enlightenment, a small counter appears in a group of clouds in the bottom left corner of the map. Under the clouds, in the preview version of the Shadow of the Colossus years ago, there used to be an island that never made it to the full game. So, some players are guessing that the island reveals itself after you get all of the Coins. Others think that you might even unlock a hidden Colossus, or even an alternate ending. Some are of the opinion that the collectible reveals a whole new area on the top of the Shrine of Worship, from the Secret Garden. Personally, I hope that it lets players turn Agro into Trico from The Last Guardian. That would be amazing.