A wonderful atmosphere & artistic style, unfortunately disconnected from any meaningful story or gameplay.
Is it unfair for me to rate a game by comparison? Perhaps. But how else would I rate it? I am sure that if I were some bewildered medieval peasant who hopped into a time machine and immediately played this game, I would rate it a TEN TEN TEN TEN TEN TEN TEN TEN. I am equally certain that if I were some 4000 AD technomagician used to the wonders of the Holodeck, I would find this game a ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO.
Even so, I found Limbo objectively disappointing. The puzzles were largely trivial. I did not find solving them satisfying. Except for one or two, almost no thinking was actually required -- unlike similar indie puzzle games like Braid or SpaceChem. Instead, it's a matter of timing and precise jumping, yet inferior to the likes of Super Meatboy.
Furthermore, the game has been praised for its lack of music, and I have to ask: why? How do you praise a game for its LACK of something? Did anyone praise Portal 2 for its lack of RPG elements, which were unnecessary? Did anyone praise World of Warcraft for its lack of explosions? So, yes, I understand that the subdued approach to sound and music design works for this game - it fits the austere atmosphere. But at the same time, I cannot help but wonder how much this game would be improved had it included music which strengthened those themes of darkness and death.
And story hah. What story? You've got two types of games: those which tell stories and others allow players to create their own narratives. Uncharted is an example of the former, while Dark Souls an example of the latter. This game attempts to follow in that narrative path, but there is simply not enough. In the early game, some shadowy kids try to kill the boy, our character, a silhouette with glowing eyes. Yet by the end these shadow kids are gone. How am I interpret this? In short, Limbo lacks context. There is no story, none, no more than paint splashed randomly on a canvas.
Mind you, there are some positive aspects to Limbo. First and foremost, the art style. In my opinion, style trumps technical proficiency every time. I'd much rather have Limbo's wonderful black and white design, with a gritty filter on top, and a hazy foreground and background, than the bland but beautiful creations of Final Fantasy 13.
Furthermore, Limbo does an excellent job of creating puzzle variety and introducing these new mechanics without some fairy/robot/sidekick popping up in a speech bubble: "MEGAMAN MEGAMAN THE ENEMY UP AHEAD CAN SHOOT YOU! Press A to shoot back! Hold A to charge your attack!" I'm not a moron and I daresay neither are most gamers. We can experiment and figure things out.
Yet those are the only two positive aspects that I can honestly find in Limbo.
The simple truth is that there exist better games out there for everything that Limbo attempts to do, foremost among them Braid. I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this to anyone, except as a very bargain purchase, 5 dollars tops.