LIMBO

[Secant]

 

Director: Arnt Jenson

 

Producers: Mads Wibroe

 

Music: Martin Stig Andersen

 

Rating:

 

 

Plot

A young boy awakens in the midst of a bleak and dreary forest, completely isolated from all society. Why and how he has ended up here is unknown, but the only thing on his mind is a dogged determination to escape, or perhaps to find someone he has lost track of. Taken through trial and more trial, this game centralizes less on any sort of plot development, relying more on abstract themes to convey its message, whatever it may be, to the player.

 

 

Review

This game was recommended to me just the day before I wrote this review, and, finding it included in a very cheap bundle of indie games, I decided to give it a try. After seeing a few of the screenshots, I instantly fell in love with the art style; something dark, sinister and abstract, yet at the same time in some scenes, oddly tranquil and relaxing.

 

After starting up the game, I was not disappointed. Stylistically, LIMBO is very consistent, in that its opening, gameplay, graphical presentation, characters, and even the music all follow a very noir theme. It's most accurately categorized as a puzzle-platformer, but is definitely a few steps away from what you might be used to there. Marked by a few rather intense obstacles, the environment certainly has no sympathy for the lost little boy. Forest savages, electrical walls, falling boulders, buzz saws, and even a spider the size of a house all, for whatever reason, want him dead. Other puzzles are less hectic and not so oriented around timing, but still may require you scratch your head for a long while before finally having an epiphany and solving it.

 

It goes without saying that the game's main selling point is the art style, which I can not stress enough is breathtakingly beautiful and haunting at the same time. Every instant in the gameplay feels as though it's not a render of the scene, but an artist's landscape. Careful attention to detail with regards to depth of field and animations make it just as much an artistic masterpiece as it is a video game.

 

Another aspect that truly adds to the haunting feel of the game is its music--or rather, its near complete and total lack thereof. Sounds for running, jumping, and other natural occurrences are, of course, present, but actual music only plays during very intense or profound events, punctuating it with an extra burst of intensity. This, I feel, is a masterful use of silence, and proves that minimalism in a game's soundtrack can still be quite effective.

 

To be fair, my only real gripe with this game is that some of the puzzles felt a bit strained in complexity. As TV Tropes would put it, your mileage may vary, but I found some puzzles to have completely unobvious solutions whereas the next puzzle was laughably easy. Fortunately I had a friend playing along with me at the same time, without which I likely would not have been able to complete the game in just one sitting. In addition, a few of the more intense puzzles partially involve stumbling blindly through the game and hoping for the best, only to realize far too late that you're already doomed (I'm looking at you, rotating rooms). This, I feel, isn't the best way to create difficulty in puzzles; requiring knowledge of the level layout to be able to feasibly complete a puzzle strikes me as fake difficulty, but perhaps that's just me. And, honestly, my last major complaint

is that when the spider dies, it's really dead. Given that it stalks you and seems to grow to hate you with the burning passion of the hell the little boy seems to be fleeing from, I kept expecting it to make one final appearance, but I was unfortunately disappointed in that. Then again, perhaps that's for the best; by the final encounter I was already terrified enough of its dogged determination in making me suffer. >.>

 

 

 

Overall

I feel like this game should be compared to Portal; a very abstract (if any) plot, but with a unique approach to the genre and an art style that just screams to be seen, and definitely worth a play. Given that this game can usually be found for absurdly cheap prices (we're talking best case scenario less than an eighth of a penny), I strongly recommend anyone who's a fan of platformer or puzzle games to give it a try, and I'm eagerly awaiting to see where this little gem goes in the future.