During the summer, it’s not uncommon to come across only one game a month and find yourself enjoying it solely for the fact of it being a new game. On rare occasions will the summer produce a title that you feel was genuinely good and amusing. This month, we had a few games such as BlazBlue Continuum Shift and Dragon Quest IX. But today, I would like to bring to your attention a game that probably went overlooked by many people, but deserves some your undivided attention for a few hours. That game is Limbo.
Limbo is a side scrolling platforming puzzle game. Quite a mouthful there. It’s is available on the Xbox Live Arcade for 1200 MS Points, which is about fifteen American dollars. Now, that right there is usually something that turns me away from an XBLA game, as they usually don’t feel worth that much. However, there have been plenty of games well worth that, Shadow Complex and Castle Crashers for example. At first I was tempted to not even bother, despite it looking like a pretty interesting adventure. I was lucky, though, in that I had a friend who bought it, in which I got to play theirs. After playing it, I feel I would gladly go back and buy the game just so I could give them the money, as the experience was well worth it.
Limbo tells the story of a young boy who loses his sister and chases her into Limbo. For those who don’t know, Limbo is the place in between Heaven and Hell. Dante travels through Limbo during the Divine Comedy before he reaches Heaven. Anyways, you chase your sister into Limbo, and find that everything is a shadow. You’re a shadow, the trees are shadows, the shadows are shadows, and so on. It kind of has a Noir feeling to it, in that the game really loves to contrast between light and shadow. You go through traps, chases, and puzzles to find your way back to your sister. There isn’t much dialogue here, but you’re not here for the story.
There are two reasons you want to play Limbo. One would be the incredibly creepy atmosphere. I could not get over how I found the majority of Limbo creepier and more terrifying than the latest Silent Hill and Resident Evil games. The contrast between light and shadow makes things very difficult to see, so you never know if something is about to come kill you. The first few minutes of the game I kept finding myself walking into bear traps and getting my head cut off. The game, while you don’t really see any blood, is pretty grusome to say the least. Limbo almost plays out as if it were advancing through history. You start out facing some pretty simple traps and objects, such as bear traps, wooden boxes, ropes, and creatures with spears. As you progress through the game, you eventually come up against gun turrets and gravitational fields and magnets. It almost feels like it’s showing some kind of mental evolution, but I may just be looking into it too much.
Mind slugs (that glowing thing) will cause you to lose control of your character.
The second reason you want to play Limbo is for the puzzles. Limbo will have you scratching your head a good few times before it’s all over. The whole range of them are there, from timing jumps, to finding proper switches, to using magnets to make a metal box come out of a blocked off area so you can use it. Limbo is one of the most fun puzzle games I’ve played in a while, probably since Braid a few years back. While Limbo isn’t nearly as complicated as Braid, it definitely has its own charm and flavor that is easy to appreciate.
Normally, I’d also comment on the sound, but Limbo sounds like what I’d expect Limbo to sound like: nothing. There’s no music, just atmospheric white noise in the background to give you a very creepy chill, and the sound effects are limited to sounds you get when you drop something, jump, or when you die. That sounds pretty boring, but I can honestly say I feel it brings out the creepiness of the game, and I applaud the team for giving it that kind of ambiance without much sound.
Limbo is a genuinely good and fun title to play for only fifteen bucks. The game has one of the best atmospheres I’ve felt in a game, mind-boggling puzzles, and quite the artistic graphic design. The game is strong is giving you a creepy sensation akin to old school horror games, but weak in that it is generally short. I actually beat it in a single playthrough of about two or three hours. Limbo will no doubt get overlooked this summer, but if you get the chance, give it a play.
Warning: If spiders scare you a lot, this game will make you pee your pants.
You will like this game if:
- You enjoy puzzle platformers like Braid
- You like creepy yet artistic atmospheres akin to old school Silent Hill with a mix of Shadow of the Colossus
- You love a game that’s just a straight game not cluttered with story
- You like artsy games
You will NOT like this game if:
- You don’t like platformers or puzzle games
- You hate the whole ‘Games are art’ idea
- You prefer story over gameplay
- You don’t like to be creeped out or don’t like creepy atmospheres in games