Void

THEY ADDED WHAT

Hiya fellas. So I don't know how big this game is on cohost but I thought I'd give this a shot cause it's been something I've wanted to talk about for a while. Namely I think Limbo is really friggin cool and even though it's not as challenging as some of the later layers I still think more people should talk about it. So let's go

So at its core ULTRAKILL is a game where you fuck up bitches. At the start of the game and throughout Prelude you're given one goal: get down into Hell and drink up all that tasty blood. Prelude exists to show you the ropes of the game and even give you a fun surprise with the Cerberus fight. Pretty clearly this game is based on Dante's Inferno and hits you with the ol' "abandon hope all ye who enter here" as a parting gift before you leave. You're about to enter Hell, and whatever depictions you've got in your head are no doubt pretty grizzly and not very nice.

Prelude sets this expectation pretty well and you'd think it'd all come to a head once you drop down into the first layer of Hell, where the vile landscapes and endless suffering are finally revealed to the player in the form of...

A serene garden, with green rolling hills, marble paths and peaceful music. Here we get to one of my favourite aspects of Limbo: its use of diegetic music. Having diegetic music for our purposes basically means that the characters ingame can also hear whatever music the player is hearing. Think, like, the radio from Portal or something. ULTRAKILL's music usually isn't diegetic but it makes an exception here to complement the themes of Limbo.

To put it bluntly, it's all fake. The trees, grass and landscapes are all manufactured to turn this part of Hell into a sort of "false paradise." The music and chirping birds are literally being played on speakers. Limbo is one of the most claustrophobic areas in the game, as you're constantly boxed in by these holographic walls, in contrast to more "open" layers like Lust and Greed.

(Also note that the first thing you see upon entering 1-1 is a Cerberus, who you should now know can literally just come alive at any time they please, further adding to the unease of this area)

Enemies don't spawn in at first but they quickly make themselves known as the peaceful music literally distorts into "A Shattered Illusion," using samples from the prior music and looping and trimming them, almost as if it's "breaking" or something - the song name says it all, really.

There's also a few secret areas where you can sort of "peek behind the curtain" a little and find these barren mechanical rooms hidden behind the fake scenery. It's pretending to be something it's not, and one can only imagine the pain the husks down here must constantly be going through. Personally I'm driven insane if I have to listen to a song for like an hour straight, nevermind for all eternity.

So you head into the second level and you kinda know what's up at this point. They immediately pit you against an onslaught of enemies but still tries to put up the peaceful façade with the same music as the start of 1-1. Again, it's pretending to be something it's not, and you can probably tell by now.

So what now? Well, after a quick trip inside, Limbo hits you with this.

Yeah, things are fucked. This striking introduction to the Streetcleaner enemy is accompanied with the most "train crash in a dying microwave" song I've ever heard. At this point it really feels like Limbo itself is breaking apart at the seams. If you don't like the song (understandable) then you won't have to hear it for long, as after a few enemy encounters the game doesn't waste much time getting you into 1-3.

Now it's at this point where Limbo basically just gives up and drops the most fire beats you've ever heard in this massive enemy-filled gauntlet, testing you on everything the game has taught you so far. It's rad as hell, by the way, and is one of the best levels in the game. One thing to note, however: the imagery and name of the level (Halls of Sacrilegious Remains) act as VERY heavy foreshadowing for later in Act I, something which can be also be seen in Limbo's final level, 1-4.

The artificial time shift set by 1-3 means that 1-4 is set at "nighttime." You might know this level for a certain someone who shows up here, but that aside I think it perfectly sums up the theming of Limbo.

Clair de Lune plays throughout this level. And if you didn't believe me about the diegetic music thing, the guy who lived in this part of the castle literally mentions a "mocking song" playing all the time. So yeah, Clair de Lune has been driving this guy insane for god knows how long. You can find him praying to a painting of Gabriel because he doesn't really know what else to do here. This isn't a Gabriel analysis tho that's not in the budget

But I think it perfectly highlights the way Limbo presents itself and the reality of those trapped down here. At this point the peaceful atmosphere isn't really fooling anyone, and it's a great way of conveying the layer's theme through just four short levels.

_{(i'm not talking about the secret level shuddup)}

That's basically it from me. Sorry this didn't go super in-depth, I just wanted to share my thoughts on this cause I just think it's neat. And if I've convinced you to pick up this awesome game then even better. Thanks for reading, it's pretty fun to share my random videogame ramblings like this, hopefully I'll do more like these in the future. Laters

_{wait. wait no I didn't talk about the rat. fuck I didn't get to talk about the RAT. NO PLEASE STOP I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE RAT PL}

me when