Completed: LIMBO

LIMBO is a critically acclaimed title that first gained prominence on XBLA. I remember hearing a lot about it from various blogs, gaming related podcasts and wanting to try it for myself.

It is a creepy, sadistic puzzle platformer. The game has a very particular style, everything in the foreground is only depicted by their silhouette and the game is avoids the use of colour, speech and explanatory text.

You are a little boy who wakes up in the woods and needs to find their way out, or possibly to their sister. It has been some time since I started the game.

LIMBO has a great sense of style.

I called LIMBO sadistic and I mean that, you will die many many times whilst playing. The game uses the silhouetted foreground to hide traps, it has some traps that look identical to previous traps but have a reversed solution, meaning that at least one, if not both traps will kill you the first time you encounter them. Even when a solution is clear it may rely on relatively tricky timing. Fortunately the check-pointing is very generous and you only ever returned to the start of the current puzzle.

LIMBO pulls no punches on your characters death, you will see the little boy drown, get stabbed, shot, crushed and cut up, complete with the remains of him twitching or limbs falling off. Always with not even a whimper from the boy. I think that is one of the creepiest aspects of the game.

In short, LIMBO is atmospheric, stylish, creepy and a fair amount of fun.

 Games list status: 386 unfinished titles
Net change: 1 title finished