Limbo – A puzzling journey in search of meaning

I like my games with an extra layer of ambiguity, with a certain shade of doubt. Games like Limbo, games that don’t spell it all out for you. Or Inside, the spiritual sequel from the same studio, which takes the same formula but improves it tenfold. I can’t help but also mention Oxenfree, a twisted and unsettling adventure that keeps on popping up in my mind after finishing it many months ago.

So, Limbo it is. A remarkable and almost unsuspicious work, this is a masterpiece of design, a platformer and puzzle game in equal measure. The simple but suitably nightmarish greyscale visuals are perfect to convey its creepy nature, but there’s this film grain that adds to the ominous style. Looking back, it seems like it’s a design choice that works wonders in both ways, as it avoids having a more detailed art style, and it gets praise for its unique mood. It works, in a beautifully gloomy way, and the lighting is quite brilliant and effective.

One of Limbo’s strengths lies precisely in its minimalistic nature. Less is more, as they sometimes say, and the game is only about you, the puzzles and the few enemies that cross your path. There isn’t a single word uttered to pollute its simplicity, no real music per se, only the haunting steps of the boy and a deafening silence most of the time as he searches for his missing sister, occasionally broken by chilling ambient noises. Playdead’s sound artists truly are masters of their craft, as Inside and its human skull technique attested.

Limbo isn’t a game for those who aren’t too fond of spiders. In fact, it could give you nightmares. A huge spider is your first real obstacle, and it won’t be unusual to die many, many times until you figure out what to do. Such is the beauty of Limbo – the simplest solution is usually the last one that you think of.

You will die a lot in Limbo, which is fitting. There are dozens of ways to die in this game, most of them involving some kind of maiming accompanied by a gruesome sound that almost pierces your ears. You can get impaled, crushed, electrocuted, drown, die from a big fall, shredded to pieces by machine gun fire (yes, as odd as it sounds) or circular blades, and so much more. There is quite a bit of trial and error in Limbo, but that is because it is at heart a puzzle platformer, not just a simple side-scroller. Luckily the checkpoints are well placed, so you won’t have to deal with frustrating repeats.

The animation of the boy deserves massive praise. It’s as smooth as butter and it’s amazing how a mere voiceless shadow at heart possesses such a strong personality. He plays by a robust set of physics that may seem a bit floaty, but solid nonetheless, and has a nice set of moves to surpass each obstacle. Controls are incredibly simple and timing is of utter importance.

If there is one thing that I would change about Limbo, it’s due to a matter of personal taste. I would prefer it to be less puzzle-heavy and more exploration-based, more of an adventure through increasingly dark and twisted landscapes. Maybe less industrial and more organic, more hellish… or Limbo-ish. I have to admit that for its short duration, I still grew a bit tired of all those gigantic cogs, although the rotational puzzles are quite brilliant. Inside was a significant step in the right direction, with a more diverse and detailed world and a sense of actually getting somewhere, exploring some new places.

As for the ending, no one can say for sure what it represents. It’s a bit anticlimactic, as it cuts off in a few seconds without any kind of resolution. It reveals nothing, and considering that the developers admitted that they wanted it to be open to interpretation, I guess there is no single way to look at it. In my eyes, the boy finds his sister and both found their peace, but there are other theories about the ending, some imaginative, some particularly perverted. It makes you think.

Limbo is a masterpiece of atmosphere and design. It’s a simple game on the surface, but it has a beating heart that is rarely matched in videogames. Perfectly blending platformer mechanics with interesting puzzles, it will test you, but won’t last long. Limbo deserves a place in videogame history for being as effective as it was surprising upon release. In a way, it’s the perfect embodiment of ‘less is more’.

Final rating: 9.0 giant spiders out of 10

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