GAME REVIEW: LIMBO

[This short (but brilliant) game shall be getting a short (and hopefully brilliant) review.]

Games very rarely astound me.

Games very rarely astound me for reasons I cannot explain.

LIMBO astounded me.

I cannot explain why.

No cut scenes, no explanation, no words, no instructions. Just you, an impressively realised black and white world and some of the best sound design I’ve ever witnessed.

You start the game waking up in what looks like a forest, you walk right, you have a lot of different and treacherous terrain to cross and only the environment around you to help you. Or kill you. You’re looking for your lost sister. Everything else wants to kill you, for reasons unknown.

The joy of LIMBO is that it doesn’t ever treat you like an idiot. There are no hints or tips on how to progress; you just have to work it out for yourself using the environment. And if you get stuck, well, just keep trying. The solution is there, you’re just too dumb to see it. The only other game I could compare it to is Portal, which is kind of similar with all the puzzle elements, but at the same time it’s nothing like Portal.

It’s very rare a game offers up no definite resolution. Without spoiling anything, I’m still thinking about the end of LIMBO three days after completing it. There are a lot of theories on what the game world of LIMBO actually is, and what actually happened throughout the game, but I was incredibly impressed with the bold ending and its implications when you consider it in the context of the entire game. So, an existentialist game that causes you to think, as well as solving a series of devilishly difficult puzzles.

And it has a giant spider. Aces.

To paraphrase Morpheus, you cannot be told what LIMBO is. You have to play it for yourself.

5 stars, easily.