Limbo

I had seen photos and videos of this game and thought that it would be fun to play. A bit of a platform game with some puzzles to solve. I ended up getting it on the PS4 system and I will say that I enjoyed the game, but at a certain point in the game it just stopped being as fun and atmospheric as the beginnings. Basically, when you got out of the woods and into the industrial type setting, the game just lost some of what made it so entertaining in the earlier stages.

The story, from what everyone seems to deduce has a boy waking up in the middle of a creepy forest. They then speculate that he is hunting for his sister, though not sure why it could not be his girlfriend or just a friend rather than a sister. The world he awakens in, is one of quiet and eeriness. It is also one filled with danger as there are traps and other obstacles to overcome in this nightmarish landscape!

The game play is basically a side scroll game with puzzles to figure out to get through the many obstacles present in the game. You can jump, pull things, push things and activate things. It was really entertaining during the stages when you had to get by spiders and such, but once again, the game just kind of lost its magic when you were in the world simply activating gravity plates that just did not seem to fit the motif of this world that had been created.

So, not my favorite game ever, but it had its moments. If only the game play had been more like the first portion of the game throughout I would have rated it higher. Figuring out that you could rip a spider leg off then roll the spider was just more interesting than activate this thing to make crate fall in right spot. I am wondering if these stages I am complaining about are all just add on stages for the PS4 as the original Xbox 360 version only had 24 stages while this had 39 so it may be a cause of them lengthening the game, but not really putting much effort into the stages and puzzles as they had originally done.

"Limbo" is a 2-D game in black and white and gray tones that might sound retro, but it uses modern game physics. (Please note that not all aspects of modern game physics are utilized in this game. It is not "Portal") It is a series of puzzles that become more complex as the game proceeds.

When you move the controls, you find that you are animating a small boy in silhouette. You are in a very atmospheric world, where the creepiness and tension are achieved by a combination of excellent art design and sound. There are also elements of humor to keep it light. It never devolves into horror. The focus is on the puzzle challenges, which must be solved before you can proceed on your (linear) way.

Sometimes simplicity is sophisticated. Less is more, they say. "Limbo" is thus attractive. And few puzzle games are as reliably entertaining and engaging.

I recommend it for puzzle gamers and anyone who might want to try a different twist on the puzzle experience.

This game is a dark game in which you complete puzzles to go to the next stage.

It is very rewarding and it is great black and white game.

Take a game with no color, no dialogue, no 3D, and a musical score so subtle it might as well be ambient noise. In most cases that sounds like a terrible game, but Limbo pulls it off incredibly well. This indie release has received much deserved praise for its simplicity, yet very effective gameplay. I think this game masters one aspect incredibly well, and that is the sound of the environment. Heavy footsteps, loud electrical crackles, and scurrying spider steps all are done to perfection to a point where no background noise is necessary at all. 2-D sidescrollers have been done to death, but Limbo feels almost entirely original because of how it is presented. The plot is very simple and almost doesn't need to exist for this game to work. It is more about the tension, and players will be on edge the first time they play this game. The platforming, with some exceptions, is satisfactory. The game is a bit short, but much like Portal, this game is better because it is shorter, not overstaying its welcome. I did have a few gripes about some of the ludicrous amount of precision required for certain platforming sections, and some false paths will lead you to nowhere except certain death, but all in all it is a unique little platformer that I am glad is in my collection.

I'm not a fan of old school 2d platformers. That's why I didn't play Limbo when it was first released. But I bought it on sale on PSN, and I was surprised by how much I liked it. The dark, colorless atmosphere is creepy and engaging. But the puzzle solving is what had me staying up late playing. I doubt I'll be playing it much in the future, but I enjoyed it while it lasted.