According to most religions “non-believers” go to hell and all good “believers” go to a heaven type place to be at one with your God of choice. To me this is complete and utter nonsense which is why I studied Religion and Philosophy. Whilst I was learning I heard about a place called purgatory or as old Native American tribes called it, Limbo.
Some of you may be thinking what the hell I am on about only the name is similar but here is the catch. The game LIMBO is set in Limbo. This is the place between Heaven and Hell, the place you go to if you have “unfinished business”.
In LIMBO you play as a nameless young boy who has died and arrived In Limbo. For the entire game you have no bloody idea what your there for or why there are people laying traps for you to die in….again.
It’s not until you complete the game that you have any remote idea what you’re doing there and even then it’s still as vague as religion itself. This review will contain many spoilers from here in.
The theories to the story are that you are there as your sibling has murdered you and then killed themselves, you are searching for them to free your spirits. When you encounter your sibling the game ends. The creators have stated a few options to what could have happened after the fade to black, these are: You kill your sibling and both go to hell. You forgive your sibling and both go to heaven or you are killed by your sibling again and are eternally separated.
Let me get this straight, LIMBO has less of a story than Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo and it’s about as cobbled together as the Modern Warfare storyline was. However this does not make the game terrible.
LIMBO plays brilliantly, it is a 2D side scrolling physics puzzler that is both challenging and rewarding. It is simple to use on both consoles and PC. Use the directional arrows to move, the up arrow to jump and Ctrl to grab (PC) making this one of the simplest controller setups I have ever encountered. Yet it is one of the most effective and it gets the job done marvellously. The physics engine that was incorporated is astounding, you pick up speed as you fall, if things are in water they float or sink depending on weight and objects roll or slide on sloped surfaces. The game starts relatively well for the first 10-15 minutes but then it begins to get repetitive by using the same mechanics over and over again for the latter puzzles before coming to an extremely disappointing reaction based puzzle for the finale.
The art style is gothic and minimalistic; the game is presented in black and white with very moody lighting. The details in things are minimal (due to it all being black) but you can tell what it is by the amazing job done by the artists. Animations are smooth and polished. Sound effects are brilliant, the game is silent but to avoid danger you will have to listen out for things such as whispering, thudding, water or machinery. The sound effects that really make me cringe are when you die or is someone else dies. Fall into spikes there is a squelch, die by falling and you hear a series of cracks and snaps for breaking bones and if you drown the world fades and the sound of everything dies down around you. The attention to detail here is astounding.
The game will only last you about 2-3 hours depending on how quick you solve the puzzles, exploration is rewarded with achievements/trophies and most are hard to get. LIMBO is a master of a puzzle game but it is let down by its confusing storyline and uncooperative development team. A must buy at only £6.
LIMBO – 8/10
+Audio/Visual Style
+Minimalism
-The Story
