The Secret Lair

Image via Wikipedia

In short, LIMBO succeeds in being brutally beautiful, extraordinary, and highest quality of gaming experience.

Oh, you want more than that? Well, okay.

You wake up in a dark monotone forest as the black silhouette of a small boy with eerie glowing eyes. You don’t know who you are or why you are here, but one thing becomes clear, this world of shadow and grey is a dangerous place – beautiful, but deadly.

But, that’s okay because death is part of the learning experience on how to navigate LIMBO. And boy, does your poor character get to experience all manners of death, from giant spider like creatures who like to stab you with their huge needle-like legs, to the head maggots, who like to force you zombie-like to wander off of cliffs, to pointy things, and electrified things, and things that smash you and saw you into little bits.

Yes, it’s a short game,¹ however it is sufficiently long enough to suck you into the story as you look for the way out. And it definitely leaves you satisfied, yet wanting more. The puzzles I found were challenging, especially towards the end.² At times they were a little frustrating, but through trial and many many errors³ the solution presented itself. What helped in curbing the frustration was the exceptionally well placed check points. There’s nothing quite like finally succeeding in running a particularly horrible gauntlet only to accidentally stab yourself right afterwards and discovering you re-spawned right before the gauntlet. LIMBO may be cruel to the character, but not to the gamer; you will always re-spawn after that nasty bit you just completed. Thank the makers!

There is no soundtrack, but rather an set of ambient noises, many of which are key in achieving the correct timing for your character to navigate the various puzzles. This was one of the most effective use of sound in a game that I have come across. It forces you to listen to the game, and not to rely solely on the visuals.

Speaking of the visuals, the art for LIMBO is fantastic and completely makes the wonderful yet horribly disturbing atmosphere. I loved the little subtleties such as faint movement of the grass and the thoughtful use of light. The simplicity, I felt, did a much better job in conveying the psychological wrongness of the world than if it had been splattered in blood like so many other games. Between the world’s quiet stillness and the darkness, I found myself on edge during most of the game, always fearful of what unseen horrors lurked beneath the next shadow.⁴

Make a note, LIMBO is a huge success.⁵ This little indie game is a big winner and should be in everyone’s game collection.⁶ In fact, I suggest that this would make a fine gift for this holiday season. LIMBO is a quality game, a unique and well crafted adventure not to be missed.

1. Maybe five or six hours [↩]
2. Yes, I had to look up how to do a few – you may deduct the appropriate gamer cred. from me at this time [↩]
3. often involving dismemberment, drowning, decapitation, and impaling [↩]
4. Also, with the lights on. [↩]
5. see what I did there? [↩]
6. So long as you aren’t turned off by its morbid nature, that is [↩]