As it pulls you in with unimaginable ease, Limbo forces you into a world of death and offers you the gift of wonder.
You start the game in a seemingly unconscious state. Once you finally wake up you are presented with nothing. No tutorials. No "friend" to tell you how to proceed or what buttons to press. You are alone, and you, the player, are just as lost as the character. As you traverse the first 10 minutes of the game you come in contact with one of the game's very few monsters, the spider. You are confronted by this same spider several times throughout the first quarter of the game. Because there is no combat in Limbo, facing the monster is creepy, and at times terrifying, which is something the developers did very well.
Every time you die, and there will be many, it is quick and unexpected, causing you to jump... every time. Once you die, whether it be by a long fall, being impaled, or by the spider, the world continues to move and breath showing you the moments after your death. This makes for an eerie feeling and produces an even stronger sense of caution when you try again.
The puzzles in Limbo are pretty smart. The first few in the game really allow you to get a feel for things, but they do get progressively difficult. The enemies, as few as they are in this game, are defeated with the puzzles. Killing them may require you to reverse a puzzle to drop a rock or cause a flood, or at times you may just have to outrun them. PlayDead implements some pretty intriguing mechanics in Limbo. The best of which being a small worm that forces you in one direction until you hit a beam of light when it turns you in the opposite direction. You are still able to run, jump, and push while effected be the worm which allows you to set up a path for yourself when you eventually turn around. This requires some definite trial and error. Another nice mechanic is one that allows the entire world to turn, much like the hit indie game And Yet It Moves. This does a good job of creating a little panic. While the world seems to be turning faster, you seem to be moving slower. The path you set up for yourself while effected by the worm is now hindering your progression while the world turns. These two mechanics feeding off each other really helps limbo stand out among platformers and next to some of the great puzzlers.
The music in Limbo is moody and, when combined with the world you are in, very un-inviting. The soundtrack throughout seems to be one song. It fits together perfectly to keep some key, and eerie sound elements, but throws in different instruments at times which creates a sense of urgency. The sound design is absolutely gorgeous. Every little sound bite, from a foot step or a rock dropping in the water, to a trap being set off or the spider stabbing you(it will... several times), everything in this game sounds so real. Pulling you into the experience, enabling you to fell the world is something that is done almost instantly thanks to these small sounds and consistently gripping music.
The visuals in Limbo may be what sets this game apart the most. It's a black and white platformer with an aesthetic design that will undoubtedly hook you. It contributes more than any other aspect of the game to create the unsettling and moody experience that is so expertly delivered by the team at PlayDead. Something that really helps pull you into this experience is how the backgrounds are presented. The black and white trees, hills, and dead bodies in the background are presented in layers. The games consists of what seems to be 4 or 5 layers, placing the actual playing field in the middle, which creates amazing depth of field. This creates an immediate sense of place.
The two complaints that I have consistently heard is that the game if far to short and that it ends so abruptly. Your first play through you might clock in at 3 1/2 hours, but the game is just barely an hour long. Personally, I have no problem with this. I dint have the time that I used to to sit down and invest 15+ hours into one single experience. For a game to take up just a few hours of my time and deliver an entirely unique experience is great. As for the ending, it ends EXTREMELY abruptly! It may end that way but for a game to be so unsettling and leave me in shock the way Limbo does... I wouldn't want it any other way. But hey, that's just me I guess.
The consistent surrealism that Limbo provides stands as one of the most gripping gaming experiences in the past few years. The aesthetically eerie world, skin churning sound design, the un-inviting inhabitants, and the unsettling deaths they cause make Limbo a must play for those who claim to love video games. My hat goes off to those at PlayDead that worked so hard to bring such an amazing and accessible experience to the digital market.
Thanks.