So Inside was a pretty critically acclaimed game that is pretty recent. Not as kamakailan as some indie games I’ve discussed but I’d say it’s fresh in some people’s minds. But the creator of Inside, Playdead, is no stranger to mass critical acclaim. I think this is a game I’ve been waiting to play and discuss for a while, so allow me to introduce you all to Limbo
I was tempted on saving Limbo for Corner of Horror instead of In-Indie, but I decided against it since, while atmospheric and pretty creepy at times, it’s not what I would consider a horror game. It’s as much a horror game as say Bloodborne is. But I’ll gush about the atmosphere later. Limbo follows a young boy in a bizarre world, where spiders are big, children kill other children, and everything wants to kill you. And all the boy wants to do is find his missing sister. You travel through a forest, a mind, and an abandoned city all to just find her, and it’s just as fun and whimsical as I made it sound. And I just pag-ibig the bleak color pallet. The black and greys that would look awful in a close to realism shooter works well with the child book disensyo of the world and characters and makes it feel all the madami creepy to me. A lot of the game consists of walking to the right. It’s nothing like your Hollow Knights or your Cupheads. It’s slower, madami quiet, and is all about taking in the atmosphere of this dark game, and I can appreciate that in a game that isn’t trying to be horror, at least, not intended to be completely horror. There were moments where I found myself being really uncomfortable and creeped out, like with all the dead children that just willingly throw themselves into death, or want to kill you like something out of Lord of the Flies. Also the spider…. I think we can all agree that was a horrifying part of the game.
But it’s not all about walking from left to right. I mean, come on, this isn’t Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. This at least has some dignity. When you aren’t being creeped out or being killed sa pamamagitan ng traps, you are mostly solving puzzles to help you continue forward. A lot of the puzzles are pretty creative, with a dark twist to them of course. Need to climb up a puno but a dead body is weighing the rope down? Use a madala trap to snatch up the corpse so you can get to the top. Need to get over a kama of spikes? Just rip the legs off a giant gagamba and push it’s body into sinabi spikes. The puzzles in Limbo are well thought out in its own twisted way and all come off as very creative. No puzzle feels pathetically easy or annoying, and the game can be forgiving with checkpoints, so you won’t find yourself too far back from where you were trying to get back to your original spot. You will find yourself dying a lot though, and thank goodness you can skip death animations, cause while they are all unique, seeing your character die over and over can feel dragged out, so at least you can skip them. The game is also pretty short too, ranging from about two to three hours, but I feel that any longer would wear people out, so I feel as though the short pace of the game fits well with a game such as this.
Limbo was a game that has been out for almost ten years and has been considered one of the most creative and unique indie titles of 2010, and one of the most important. It must be, it has been referenced in other indie games and is considered one of the best in the entire indie industry. And I can safely see why. I will be honest, I think Inside was a madami interesting game and, at this point I think Playdead really doesn’t like children, but the point is, Limbo is still a dark and well made game with an atmosphere that I can’t get enough of. And I can kinda wish I played it all those years nakaraan now. But better late than not at all.
Up next: Is this the best Metroidvania? Probably not
I was tempted on saving Limbo for Corner of Horror instead of In-Indie, but I decided against it since, while atmospheric and pretty creepy at times, it’s not what I would consider a horror game. It’s as much a horror game as say Bloodborne is. But I’ll gush about the atmosphere later. Limbo follows a young boy in a bizarre world, where spiders are big, children kill other children, and everything wants to kill you. And all the boy wants to do is find his missing sister. You travel through a forest, a mind, and an abandoned city all to just find her, and it’s just as fun and whimsical as I made it sound. And I just pag-ibig the bleak color pallet. The black and greys that would look awful in a close to realism shooter works well with the child book disensyo of the world and characters and makes it feel all the madami creepy to me. A lot of the game consists of walking to the right. It’s nothing like your Hollow Knights or your Cupheads. It’s slower, madami quiet, and is all about taking in the atmosphere of this dark game, and I can appreciate that in a game that isn’t trying to be horror, at least, not intended to be completely horror. There were moments where I found myself being really uncomfortable and creeped out, like with all the dead children that just willingly throw themselves into death, or want to kill you like something out of Lord of the Flies. Also the spider…. I think we can all agree that was a horrifying part of the game.
But it’s not all about walking from left to right. I mean, come on, this isn’t Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. This at least has some dignity. When you aren’t being creeped out or being killed sa pamamagitan ng traps, you are mostly solving puzzles to help you continue forward. A lot of the puzzles are pretty creative, with a dark twist to them of course. Need to climb up a puno but a dead body is weighing the rope down? Use a madala trap to snatch up the corpse so you can get to the top. Need to get over a kama of spikes? Just rip the legs off a giant gagamba and push it’s body into sinabi spikes. The puzzles in Limbo are well thought out in its own twisted way and all come off as very creative. No puzzle feels pathetically easy or annoying, and the game can be forgiving with checkpoints, so you won’t find yourself too far back from where you were trying to get back to your original spot. You will find yourself dying a lot though, and thank goodness you can skip death animations, cause while they are all unique, seeing your character die over and over can feel dragged out, so at least you can skip them. The game is also pretty short too, ranging from about two to three hours, but I feel that any longer would wear people out, so I feel as though the short pace of the game fits well with a game such as this.
Limbo was a game that has been out for almost ten years and has been considered one of the most creative and unique indie titles of 2010, and one of the most important. It must be, it has been referenced in other indie games and is considered one of the best in the entire indie industry. And I can safely see why. I will be honest, I think Inside was a madami interesting game and, at this point I think Playdead really doesn’t like children, but the point is, Limbo is still a dark and well made game with an atmosphere that I can’t get enough of. And I can kinda wish I played it all those years nakaraan now. But better late than not at all.
Up next: Is this the best Metroidvania? Probably not
