Sparkle

Its Halloween and I thought it nice to do a review on a dark game I played a few months back (and I luckily still have on my phone).

So a few months back, I was bored as I usually am, and I though to download a new game in-which I could enjoy myself with. I am not picky when it comes to games, but I do play games that has a sort of suspense to it.

I saw LIMBO on the android playstore and decided to go for it. I do not regret my decision.

Before I continue I would also like to give note that Limbo is also the name of a song by Jhene aiko. Limbo happens to be my favourite song in her souled out album/mixtape.
Those intro pads,the drums, ambience and the periodic bass makes everything just so mesmerising.

LIMBO?

the startup splash screen
Limbo could also be defined as an edge, from my little knowledge playing devil may cry, I know that the word limbo is associated with nothingness, hell , death, whatever the developer and/or story teller could come up with.

I went in-depth on the subject and found out that the Catholics actually have an old doctrine revolving about original sin, limbo for the infants and limbo for the patriarchs.

Limbo for the infants, happened to be the place where children who had died at infancy or too young to know about sin happen to go if they were not baptised, (as the original sin was not washed away)

This limbo for the infants seems to be the lore in-which this game seems to follow.

Limbo the game

played through in like 5 hours

Limbo the game drops you in a dark, mysterious out-worldly arena that seems pulsing with darkness and afterlife kind of feels. The backgrounds are beautifully designed with the entire scenery seeming to shift at all times. Light streams from the from the top and a far distance, like you are in a deep pit with the light(read heaven) barely reaching you from where you are.

You wake up as a little boy in the woods with no explanation on what is happening or what you should do.

The game is a typical scroll-type game, where your movement is mainly restricted to the left or right direction,ladders available to climb up and down and jumping over obstacles.

when your controls are simply simple

The controls of the game is really simple. The screen is set up in such a way that the left of the screen is used for movement, and the right of the screen is used for interaction( such as moving boxes, jumping, operating levers etc)

The character you control is a little boy clad in black with glowing white eyes. He walks, jumps and moves convincingly like a little boy.

Gameplay

The game acts like a typical game(abi na), becoming progressingly difficult the further you go. At first you start out in a forest, an eerie forest that has giant spiders, spikes and a 1001 ways to die.

Then you start progressing along, you pass a river, you get to the ‘’land’’ and ‘’village’’ where residents of the limbo world start to attack you and foil your attempts to rescue your sister.

The part of the game I hate the most is when you enter the ‘’factory’’ I feel the game losses its dread or errie feeling, and instead turns fully into a puzzle solving game. This 2nd half of the game, however, also entails the challenging part of the game.

You start playing with gravity, and the fundamentals of physics. You get into rooms that rotate.

After all that you get to the end of the game where you are given a sudden drop in activity and end up back in the setting of the first half of the game : The forest setting. You walk up a little and you get to your objective.

Good things about the game

• It has an eerie atmosphere that is sure to make you think deep
• It has its scare jumps that get you going and sudden moments
• It progresses nicely
• Never a dull moment as game play is always interactive

Bad things about the game

• The game forgets eeriness in favour of puzzle solving game-play
• The ending is too abrupt!!(same complain a thousand people give)
• The game runtime is a bit too short at 3 hours