A little boy wakes up in a gloomy forest, and starts walking – in that peculiar, inexorable logic of platforming games – over to the right, negotiating the myriad obstacles laid in his way. There’s absolutely no narrative context provided, although it becomes apparent he’s looking for someone. From start to finish, it’s depressing in a way that’s difficult to explain, but easy to feel. That’s basically Limbo.
I’m somewhat loathe to make inevitable comparison, but it’s something like Braid. Not like it’s actually anything much like Braid, mind you, but rather that Limbo is quite unlike anything else.
Superficially enough, it’s a 2D puzzle-platformer, and an ostensibly simplistic one at that. There are just two control buttons – jump and use, which mostly involves dragging or pushing stuff around. Solving the game, however, is a matter of some serious cerebral ingenuity and quick reflexes, as you work your way through a series of increasingly subtle, clever, and often rather sly predicaments. You’ll get stuck.
You’ll also die. Frequently, gruesomely, and usually quite abruptly. I don’t think I’ve ever played anything so relentlessly ruthless, perhaps even cruel. The game makes up for this, however, with persistent checkpointing – the idea isn’t to punish the player for mucking up, after all, but to tell you that you’re doing the wrong thing.
It’s not just the elegant gameplay that makes Limbo so significant, however, but also its singularly original presentation. The game is entirely monochrome and silhouette, with a noir film grain and eerie parallax scrolling, and there’s barely any sound at all. The result is a disturbing, oppressive, and profoundly lonely atmosphere that does far more to induce tension and paranoia than any cheap lighting effects or minor keys might have. It’s absolutely masterful, and formidable testament to the power of bleak, uncompromising minimalism.
Simply, Limbo is the must-play XBLA title of the year, and almost certainly the best Xbox exclusive on the service. It’s about as close to perfect as any game can possibly be, and its only shortcoming is that it’s, well, short – you’re likely to complete it in around five hours.
Limbo costs 1200 MS Points and is now available in the Xbox Live store.
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