That's right, I finished Limbo this morning. It's a really special puzzle-platformer, and it does a lot of cool and often shocking things, making it quite memorable.

The premise of Limbo is very simple and minimalistic: a young boy wakes up in this foreboding world (according to the PlayStation Store description, because he is "unsure of his sister's fate"). There is no text, no dialogue, you just move though limbo in almost complete silence. Yes, even the sound design is minimalistic and fantastic because of it. Single dramatic notes emphasizing some morbid moments are mostly the extent of the audio in Limbo. The relative silence paired with the beautiful muted black and white aesthetic make for a very ominous atmosphere.

We should hang out sometime.

The puzzles are really enhanced from the different aspects of the game's design. Physics puzzles are the obstacles in Limbo, and, in the most basic and non-spoilerific sense, they involve moving objects around, jumping, and climbing. Let's just say you need to see and do some very extreme things in order to solve puzzles and move on. If you fail, a shockingly brutal death awaits the boy. This game is violent, a fact that is intensified by the character being a little boy and the creepy silence. The death of the child is an important part of Limbo because it's almost guaranteed you wouldn't know how to solve a puzzle right away. After you die a few times, you can figure out what to do. Limbo's puzzles definitely make you think things out, but a forgiving checkpoint system makes it in no way frustrating. The visuals make it easy to hide hazards until it's too late, and afterwards, it's usually easy to avoid the same mistake. While there are definitely some puzzles that can stump you for a bit, none are hopelessly impossible to figure out or execute, making Limbo's difficulty spot on. Another cool thing about the puzzles is that they are all connected in one cohesive world with no loading times in between, which can make the game hard to put down if your progress is speedy.

Tired of the outdoor dangers of Limbo? Come rest at our shockingly cheap hotel!

The only problems of Limbo are its abrupt and unsatisfying ending and its short length. 4-6 hours is not a long time for a $15 game, but replay value in both hidden items and just seeing parts of the experience again do make the price worthy. Limbo is ridiculously clever and morbid, and I love it for being something different and being very unpredictable.

And in case you missed what I said in the comments of my last blog, I'm ditching the 100-point rating scale (as is no more 9.1s or 8.7s or what have you). I'm just sticking to GS's less complicated scale nowadays. So the number you see to your left or below is what I gave Limbo and all the other games I played.

Metroid Prime is a game a love dearly; its atmosphere is simply unmatched. The music of the game contributes to that a whole ton, capturing the essence of each area in the game perfectly and creating tension during Space Pirate fights and boss battles. Here are some of my favorite themes:

Phendrana Drifts- Easily my favorite area of Tallon IV. It's so beautiful yet hazardous.

Underwater Frigate- Where's the gravity suit when you need it?!

Phazon Mines- I was always scared out of my wits entering new rooms in this Pirate-invested area.

Space Pirate Battle- You know you're screwed when this theme plays. It instills fear in me to this day.

Meta Ridley Battle- Might be my favorite boss of all time, accompanied by my favorite boss theme.

As always, thanks for reading!
~Dapski