Limbo (video game)

Digital cover for the Windows release.

Limbo is a scrolling platformer puzzle horror video game developed and published by Playdead on the Xbox 360 on 2010-07-21, and then to various other platforms. In the game, you control a little boy in a bleak gray and black world as he avoids monsters and traps in search of his little sister.

I bought Limbo as part of the Humble Indie Bundle V. I had seen the trailer for it, and the game looked right up my alley, so I installed it, played it, and beat it shortly after purchasing it. I had my wife play the game and she thought it was all cute and silly, until she stepped on a bear trap!

Status

I own this game on Steam and have beaten it with 8/13 achievements.

Review

• Overall: 7/10
• Best Version: ?

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The graphic style is really eerie; perfectly fitting the game's theme. Despite controlling a little boy, a lot of the imagery is pretty horrific. The bright white glow on eyes and important objects is very helpful, and the blurred foreground objects give a nice sense of depth for the 2D world.
• The music is nicely atmospheric and adds a lot to the quality of the game.
• A lot of the puzzles are disturbing, but in a good way. Not only is the environment deadly, but the other children have a Lord of the Flies attitude.
• I don't usually care for games where they player is expected to die a lot to learn what to do, but Limbo can be forgiven since this is essentially the plot of the game.
• The puzzles are introduced carefully so that you can learn how to get past the more devious ones by the time you reach them.

Bad

• The game is a bit too homogeneous. I would have liked to see a color here and there, or perhaps something that didn't follow the grayscale theme.
• The ending is a bit too ambiguous for my taste. Sure, I can put my own slant on it, but I would prefer more closure.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Media

Videos

• youtube.com/watch?v=MQkADGiNsMg - Review.
• youtube.com/watch?v=MDnOEe-2eG8 - Longplay.

Links