Playdead's LIMBO is a rather simplistic title, but it's dense, foreboding atmosphere, vague story and fantastic visual style draw the player in and create a fantastic downloadable experience.
LIMBO is something completely unique. Sure, there have been other cimematic platformers that are designed to make you think (Braid comes to mind,) but none that have the emotional effect that LIMBO conveys. Think of it as the video game equivalent of the movie Inception, both demand your complete attention until the end and require you to interpret the ending based on what you've observed.
The plotline is simple, you play as a young boy, who is searching for his sister in Limbo. The edge of Hell. You traverse the dangerous terrain full of traps, sinister creatures and other threats in order to complete your task. Apart from the initial game description, there are no further details given about the plot. Everything is open to your interpretation.
The gameplay is a combination of traditional platforming with physics-based Puzzle solving. You can run, jump and climb to solve some, but others require manipulation of gravity, magnetic platforms and 90-degree shifts of the entire world. The puzzle difficulty is just right, it's not obvious but it doesn't require you to completely wrack your brain to figure them out.
LIMBO has made the presentation it's main focus, which helps to convey the games' haunting atmosphere. The game is completely in greyscale and has a fantastic hand-drawn style. The environments and characters are intentionally lacking details, which adds to the games sense of mystery and fright factor. You could be walking along and suddenly, the silhouette of a monstrous spider shambles out of the darkness after you. Similar to other games of this caliber, you'll find yourself dying. A lot. Dying in LIMBO can be rather disturbing and graphic. You'll find yourself impaled by a spiked pit, decapitated by a beartrap or shot in half by a mounted machine gun.
A gruesome death in the making.
The games' audio is mostly environmental ambiance, footsteps, the groan of machinery and the splashing of water are some of the sounds you'll likely hear throughout the game. When certain events happen in the game, spooky ambient music straight out of a horror film will play, which can be a little unnerving, especially later on in the game.
Overall, LIMBO is a fantastic, albeit platforming experience and a great start to to the Summer of Arcade. If you're looking for an immersive game that will make you think long after you finish, you can't do any better than LIMBO. So check it out on the Xbox Live Arcade for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15).
- Kyle K.
Love this game.
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