LIMBO is a shining example of games as art, but there is still something to be desired.
The story of LIMBO (or lack thereof) is quite basic. If the description of the game on the Xbox Marketplace means anything, then LIMBO is about a boy who ventures into Limbo in search of his sister. If one did not read the Xbox Marketplace's description, then there is no explanation of the events that unfold. But the game's focus is clearly not meant to be on the narrative. LIMBO is meant to immerse the player in this odd world using the game's striking setting, unique visuals, and eerie atmosphere.
The visuals of LIMBO are fantastic. The entire world is displayed through a grainy filter in black and white. Everything is derived of any detail and is only black silhouettes contrasted by the enveloping light of the background. This does not mean that the game's visuals are cheap. They are meant to create a haunting and ethereal vibe, and they certainly succeed. The design of the world is fantastic as well. You'll venture through thick forests, rundown cities, and large industrial factories, all of which feel very somber and distressed. Everything seems to have an over exaggerated and cartoony appearance, but that does NOT mean the game's world is light hearted. Quite the contrary, LIMBO's world is a very dark and unsettling realm littered with corpses, disturbing creatures, and dangerous traps. The fact the game does have a cartoony appearance makes everything all the more unsettling. The game's visual style and world come together to create something that is beautiful, charming, and horrifying all at the same time.
As a player, you take control of the nameless boy. Like everything else in the world, he is a rather featureless silhouette, with only two glowing eyes to accent him. You start by waking up in the middle of a forest with no purpose but to go forward. As you move forward you are met with complex puzzles, horrifying enemies, and perilous traps. All these things can be overcome by using the game's extremely simple control scheme. You move around the 2D plane with the left analog stick, interact with objects using the B button, and jump (more of a small hop) using the A button.
Despite this simple control scheme, you are going to die…a lot. The game has been designed to clearly be a trial and error experience. It's good then that the developers added an auto save system that saves in front of every obstacle you come across. If you do end up dying, you are placed only seconds before you died so you can attempt the obstacle again. It gets rid of the frustration and tedium of other games of this type.
There is quite a bit of shock factor each time the young boy dies. It's really jarring to see him impaled by spikes, sliced by buzz saws, crushed by rocks, or drowned, all of which somberly end in his eyes slowly fading. The shock factor doesn't come from over the top gore, but rather the realistic portrayal of the deaths. Some may be further stunned that these brutal deaths are happening to a young boy. The fact that the few characters and creatures you meet in the game often run into the same fate make the overall experience a very dark and emotionally stirring one.
The puzzles in LIMBO start out rather easy. You'll be pushing boxes to jump over walls, pulling switches to open doors, and dodging unexpected dangers. Slowly but surely though, the games puzzles become mind bending. It won't be long before you're using the game's physics like water (which is dangerous since the boy has not learned to swim) gravity, and magnetism to manipulate the world. It's satisfying to have a sudden epiphany over a difficult puzzle you've been failing time and time again. All the puzzles are designed with care and are nicely done; however, they really offer nothing new. We've seen puzzles like these in games before. While everything is designed nicely, don't expect to come in and be wowed by unique new game play mechanics.
The audio in the game is lacking, but for the right reasons. There is hardly any music in the game except for a few moments of blaring horns to accent a terrifying situation or rare instance where the game's sound effects go mute and are replaced by a haunting soft pad. Instead, LIMBO's sound effects are put center stage. You'll be drawn into the experience with the ominous howl of wind, the loud clatter of rain, the screaming of industrial equipment, and the soft tapping of the boy's footsteps. Much like Demon's Souls (one of my favorite games to come out recently), the overuse of sound effects instead of music makes everything feel very ethereal and, again, unsettling. It works extremely well for a game like this.
The game's pacing is something that does not feel as fleshed out as the games aesthetic. The first area of the game is packed with cinematic moments containing a giant spider and mysterious children. These moments completely drew me in had me sitting on the edge of my seat as I played through them. As the game moved forward though, these cinematic situations vanished. I found that I was just playing through the puzzles in a somewhat monotonous fashion. Without the immersive cinematic experiences throughout the middle and latter portions of the game, I wasn't drawn into the fascinating world and experience as much as I was during the beginning.
The biggest downside of the game is that it is short…really, REALLY short. I had completed the game in around the time it takes to watch a long movie. It ends in an abrupt fashion as well. The final puzzle did not feel like final puzzle. I just continued through it expecting see the next part of the level only to be cast in the ending cut scene. It's a bit jarring but perhaps that's point.
I was actually satisfied with the conclusion of the game. There practically no explanation of the story in the beginning, and there was not much to be revealed in the end. Instead, there are several clues littered about LIMBO that leave much open for interpretation, which is something I enjoy.
Upon completing the game, I looked back upon the entire experience and was torn. The world that is designed is absolutely amazing, and the puzzles offered are solid and satisfying. But the short length of the game is quite disappointing. The lack of cinematic events later on also limits the drawing in of the player, and even though the puzzles are well done, they kind of have a "been there done that" feel to them.
LIMBO is a difficult game to recommend. It's an experience I think people should take part of as it is such an immersive and emotional journey, but the price of $15 for a very short package offering more of an artistic experience than a fleshed out game makes me wonder if it is worth it. LIMBO easily proves with its striking design that video games can be an art form. But when the entire experience is looked at, it's not as consistent as I wish it could be.