Depressing, but great atmosphere building, and never does the same puzzle twice. A MUST-PLAY if you love puzzle games.
I'm going to tell you, right-of-the-bat, you WILL DIE, a lot.
However, this is expected, there are no lifes and no penalty, no time-out, no loading screen.
You respawn at the puzzle you died at.
The game is a good length. I hear people saying that it's too short, but I spent a solid four hours on it, and I'm glad that they ended it as soon as they ran out of ideas. Personally, I dislike it when developers try to pad out a game, either by having you repeat the same thing over and over, or by making the game a sandbox, not for the purpose of a sandbox, but to make you waste a long time walking from one objective to the next.
Limbo does not pad itself, AT ALL, and I'm glad for that.
If you have ever seen a screenshot of the game, you will know that it is monochrome (black/white/gray) and that it has a number of filters to add effects like foreground shadowing and fog. In addition to the artwork, this all creates a great atmosphere to the game. Despite every character, enemy, object, and the environment itself being only portrayed in silhouettes, the game actually has amazing detail and is at times, quite violent.
The gameplay most revolves around platforming, finding, moving, and climbing on boxes, and figuring out the physics puzzles.
The story is simple enough. You are looking for your sister in a forest, try not to die too much.
There are other areas as well, but mostly the game takes place in a forest, and in a factory of some sort.
As I mentioned earlier, you will die a lot in this game. "Trial & Error" is now "Trial & DEATH".
A lot of the time, that is just how you figure-out how things work. What is where, and how to use it. This is more towards the beginning. Near the end, it turns into more of 'Find the box' for the physics puzzle, and you will only die if you turn the gravity the wrong way.
The controls for this game are nearly as simple as you can get.
Up, Down, and Side-to-side for movement, as well as a "Use" key.
You will do this to move moveable thing, or to activate activatable things.
Now for my opinion I speak for myself, only.
I really enjoyed Limbo. I expected a short dark world of silhouetted puzzles, and that's exactly what I got. I'm impressed that they never made me do the same puzzle twice, and still kept me entertained for four hours or so.
I give this game a ten, but also mostly for value. The amount of fun versus the price I paid. Limbo cost me $2.49, and for the amount of fun that it gave, I rate it a perfect ten.
Furthermore, I cannot think of a single point against it. You die a lot, but they worked it as a game-mechanic.
It's depressing, but in an artsy-fartsy sort of way. I was told that before I bought it.
The game is hard, but only until you stop a second to think the puzzle out, afterwards you have a laugh and a sense of achievement.
In summery, I recommend this game.