LIMBO Revised
LIMBO is presented as an atmospheric 2D puzzle game that puts you in the shoes of a child protagonist trapped in a nightmare. For this particular Video Games Source review, I played this ambient arcade platformer puzzle game via STEAM on my PC. When you start LIMBO, you are pushed into the opening act of the game without warning. You see a child who wakes up and the whites of his eyes are only visible. What I found peculiar about my copy of PC was the fact that you cannot do anything “PC” in LIMBO regarding graphical settings. You can, and I used my Xbox 360 gamepad for the game, which worked like a charm. It still amazed me that this game doesn’t allow you to tweak the resolution or graphics anyway. It was ported from the console first, so maybe that has something to do with it.
Initially I perceived that LIMBO was a nightmare. It is a beautiful nightmare of some kind that has captured a child. You and the young man are confused as they are pushed to LIMBO. You never really learn why until the end of the game, where you meet the young woman you were looking for. LIMBO does not tell its story with CGI, voice acting, cutscenes, or in-game cutscenes. This game doesn’t really have a story to tell. The story is that you escape the nightmare trap of LIMBO that is made through the game. For whatever reason, I enjoyed the story even though it tells its story through different mediums. It was like playing a story and when I finally got to the end, the story ended.
The sound design is very similar to the visual effect in the LIMBO presentation. There is no loud and cheeky music in this game. No gunshots or sirens. The sounds you hear are soft and atmospheric, such as the buzzing of insects, the croaking of frogs, and the crunching of crickets, etc. It’s all about the atmosphere in this game. You hear gusts of wind and rain along with lightning and thunderstorms. Orchestral melodies are sometimes triggered when something exciting happens in the game that complements the situation very well.
Where should I start about the game? First of all, it is fun and addictive. In LIMBO, your goal from the beginning is to solve simple puzzles and get to the next chapter of the game. The puzzles at the beginning focus on you pushing and throwing objects to get the desired effect. How to use a beart trap to hurt a giant spider that is stalking you. The physics is precise and very important along with the rhythm. Using the light and memorizing where and when to jump was also very important to me during my game. Riddles execute the tactic with respect to imagination. I had to use water, electricity, gravity in the subsequent puzzles. Many times in LIMBO you will ask yourself “why did this huge rock crush me?” That’s fine. LIMBO forces you to think and prepare. Also, the checkpoints are generously distributed, so close to the puzzles that death is really not an issue and it won’t set you back too far. The gameplay sometimes has a distinct adventure vibe even with the puzzle-focused gameplay.
Playability is probably LIMBO’s only real weakness, it’s short. However, it is not very short. It lasts a couple of hours. Depends on how expert you are at puzzle games I guess. After playing LIMBO, there really isn’t much else to do. You can play different chapters at any time if you want. There were 40 chapters in total. Some more than others, obviously.
I know I’m late for this party, however I must say that LIMBO is a breath of fresh air when it comes to 2D puzzle games. This is an arcade game that you must try even with its low replay value. Thank you for reading.
8.5 / 10