With its fragile protagonist and a black and white aesthetic reminiscent of German expressionism, Limbo makes a spellbinding first impression. As the game’s young protagonist, you awaken in a woodland clearing, your identity and purpose unknown. Your journey will take you from the forest to the city, from the heights of industry to the end of days. You’ll solve diabolical mysteries and encounter your most primal nightmares, all in a desperate attempt to grasp something that lies just beyond your reach. Worst of all, you’ll come face to face with humanity’s dark potential. Prepare yourself for a fairytale unfiltered by Disney’s lens.
You’ll learn everything you need to know about controlling the game in the first 30 seconds of play. The left stick is used for movement, the A button for jumping and the B button for context sensitive actions. During the early stages, you’ll spend a lot of time lugging crates, throwing switches and riding elevators. Limbo certainly doesn’t break any new ground in terms of gameplay. However, the challenges are always well executed and they do become more imaginative as you progress. One level involves manipulating gravity on the fly in order to propel yourself to safety. Another sees you being tossed around like a rag doll as the entire environment is rotated on its vertical axis.
Some brainteasers require you to complete multiple actions in order to progress, so try to plan at least one step ahead. On one inglorious occasion, I was tasked with releasing a crate from a dangling chain. On my first attempt, I was carved up by a turret gun. On the second, I tricked the gun into firing at the chain, only to then be crushed by the falling crate. Being outsmarted by a wooden box is a humbling experience, let me assure you.
If dying several dozen times over the course of about five hours sounds insufferable, this may not be the game for you. While you’ll be forced to accept responsibility for all manner of indignities, the majority of your failures will be virtually unavoidable. The game follows the trial and error school of progression and you’ll often need to perish at least once in order to fully comprehend what is being asked of you.
The potential for frustration is alleviated by the presence of expertly positioned checkpoints, which are often inserted halfway through particularly demanding puzzles. Very occasionally, you’ll find yourself respawning well short of the scene of your demise. Invariably, this is an indication that you have overlooked or discarded something crucial in this vicinity. You may discover, for instance, that an item you turfed after solving one mystery is also integral to overcoming the next obstacle.
Another way to hold death at bay is to keep an eye out for traps. Anything short of constant vigilance will see you drowned, crushed, dismembered, impaled or electrocuted. Luckily, some of the traps can be turned to your advantage. I should emphasise that this requires a degree of care. After twice lopping off my own head while attempting to lay traps in the path of enemies, I can speak with authority on this issue.
Though Limbo offers an impressive variety of gameplay, it is occasionally guilty of revisiting the same territory with diminishing returns. A sequence in which your movement options are severely curtailed by a parasitic worm is novel. Upon repetition, it is merely frustrating. The same goes for a series of physics tests involving ladders on wheels.
As you’ve probably gathered by now, Limbo’s many death sequences are brutal and explicit. In one particularly gruesome animation, you’re sawn in half at the waist. Your severed spine twitches uncontrollably as your legs fall to the ground in a shower of blood. You can elect to censor these moments, but having the screen dissolve to black moments before your demise is somehow even more unsettling. Repeatedly witnessing your own death highlights both your vulnerability and, paradoxically, your immortality. Yours is the eternal quest.
Will this become the latest indie darling to taste mainstream success? Though its trial and error gameplay will test the patience of some, Limbo’s thought provoking narrative and unsettling presentation will win it plenty of admirers.
