With it's release on Steam coming on August 3rd, what better time for another look at one of the most loved and praised indie games in recent history.
When I think of platformers, I think of Shinobi, Alex Kidd, Gunstar Heroes, Sunset Riders and Splosion Man (to name a small selection of my favourites). These are all games in which you already have, or are given the tools to make it past various obstacles, environmental or otherwise. Platformers are mostly filled with double-jumps, bottomless pits and crazed enemies that all require careful timing or a spamming of the power button to negotiate. Once these obstacles are dealt with, we are usually left with a sense of power and control over of our environment as we look back on the impossible tasks we have just performed.
Limbo is a different kind of beast. At it's heart Limbo is a puzzle/platformer, but the emphasis is not on power and control, but rather atmosphere and vulnerability. There is no music, no health bar, no dialogue or text. You wake up in a dark and frightening forest not knowing anything except that you are a small boy in a bad place, and you need to get out.
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| The grass up ahead looks unusually lethal. |
The first thing that strikes you when looking at Limbo is it's aesthetic; a completely monochrome world, housing sinister shapes silhouetted against faintly lit backgrounds. The corners of the screen are darkened and flicker softly like a movie from the silent era (Nosferatu would not look out of place here) adding that extra layer of drama. Objects and hostiles become slightly ambiguous at times as they blend together in the dark, as do the many traps scattered all the way through the game.
So much so that there is sometimes no way of telling where a trap is until you are shocked by the SNAP of a bear trap closing on your little guy, causing his head to be sent flying to the ground and a Tarantino-esque fountain of shadowy-blood spurts from where it used to be.
Dying is used merely as a tool of learning, as almost every puzzle requires you to learn how not to solve it by accentuating your mistakes with gruesome, resonating death animations. You can fall into a punji pit and be impaled by several spikes, crushed by a giant boulder, made into a kebab by a giant spider, but one of my favourites is watching your boy struggle for breath and eventually become limp as he drowns. Brutal.
As your deaths are meant to happen frequently, the checkpoints are in the right places so you never feel frustrated by a mistake, you just learn from it and move forward.
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| Unless that is a giant can of Raid - I'd run |
The puzzles you encounter are varied and unique. You are given only a 'use' button, which enables you to push and pull objects (like logs) and position them so they can be used as platforms to progress further. This, combined with rotating levels and mechanical obstacles can make you think and anticipate in some interesting ways, the timing of which can be a bit tricky. Some puzzles later on in the game include buttons that shift the gravity of the world which makes for some cool and satisfying solutions. Logical thinking can usually get you out of any tight spots, while dying a few times in the name of trial and error will solve the rest.
As I have grown to learn, nothing is for everyone, but if there is any question as to whether Limbo is one of those games you could file under “style over substance” (read: Shank), the answer is definitively 'No'. Limbo has as much challenge in it as it does beauty. It is a must for anyone who hasn't had the pleasure yet. Fans of Braid or Machinarium are sure to appreciate what Limbo has to offer.
- robeywan
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