i’ve gotten more into the habit of writing little game reviews as i wade through my gaming backlog, and it occurred to me that i could be sharing them here too. so, here’s my review of LIMBO (2010), which i honestly hadn’t played or even really seen before yesterday:
LIMBO is a fun little boy death simulator, and the graphic and sound design are great and all, but i think they forgot to have writers? which is sad, i was so ready to finally get into this game i’d heard so many good words about and be really blown away, but it was just okay. it feels like it just needed an extra push to actually go somewhere, but instead kind of loses its way as you progress. it is entertaining though, don’t get me wrong, i don’t think anyone would have a bad time playing it. it’s something of an everyman’s game, not being particularly challenging from either an action or puzzle standpoint (finding all the optional secrets has eluded even me though). it’s also a good length, with a blind playthrough maybe taking 2½ hours at the high end for someone with at least a little gaming experience, so if you decided to play a game with your evening instead of watch a movie, you can get a complete experience here. i just think it was perhaps more impactful and stand‐outish in its time than it is with the much larger wealth of smaller games we have nowadays.
i am interested to see how different INSIDE is when i (probably) play it next.
an additional thought containing spoilers is below the break.
the first time you approach the girl, i was very underwhelmed that this game’s idea of “desirable goal” is just “getting the girl”. but then the parasite drops down and forces you to walk the other way, and by the time you get back the girl and that whole scene are gone. i was like, wow is this actually making some feminist commentary or something?? but then the game just ends with actually getting the girl. i was so ready to just be back at the very start of the game and do the whole thing again or something, which would also have been interesting, but instead the ending was very uninteresting and also made that earlier part of the game which piqued my curiosity fall more flat afterwards.