All Your Base: LIMBO

All Your Base reviews games created by independent developers. A game with a score of 10 Bases is pretty much the OK Computer of video games.

Download (150 MB)
Developer: Playdead
Platform(s): XBOX, PS3, PC + Mac
Genre: Puzzle/Platformer
Price: $9.99 (roughly Rs. 500)

LIMBO is one of the best games I’ve ever played. It’s up there with Deus Ex, Half Life 2 and Cave Story – all of which are games I play through two or three times a year. It is a masterpiece – a genuine piece of art.

The developer’s description of the game is one line - “Uncertain of his sister’s fate, a boy enters LIMBO.” Without reading this, the player has no idea what his role is, but to be honest, I don’t think it matters all that much. It’s not just the plot though, at no point in the game is anything explained. I had to check the settings to just figure out the controls (arrow keys and alt). As nice as it would be to have things like the controls made a little more clear, LIMBO is all about this feeling of solitude and helplessness.

LIMBO is a dark and sinister world filled with dangerous traps, giant spiders and mind-controlling brain worms. Despite the horrors you encounter, it’s a beautiful game. It’s technically a 2D game, but made with the best example of parallax scrolling I’ve ever seen, giving the feeling of a full and developed world. It doesn’t feel like the areas you play through are all there is to LIMBO. There’s so much more happening in this world than just a boy looking for his sister.

Do a barrel roll!

It isn’t just the 3Dish-ness that makes it look so purdy. LIMBO’s monochromatic, minimalistic design is beautifully simple to steer all the player’s attention to the gameplay. The game also has some clever dynamic blur effects and a blanket film grain effect on the whole screen. Imagine a game designed by an Apple employee, a goth and a film noir enthusiast. Frightening, no?

Copenhagen-based developers, Playdead, describe the game as a “trial and death” platformer, which is an accurate description. Checkpoints are at the start of every puzzle and there’s no limit to the number of times you can respawn. Without a health bar, LIMBO is unrelentingly brutal.

Nearly every tiny mistake results in death, partially due to the frailty of the child you play (who seems to have a similar aversion to water as Sonic the Hedgehog) but mostly due to the world’s design. Every hole is filled to the brim with spikes, bear-traps litter the forest floor, and the only other humans you encounter are either dead or homicidal.

What's over there?

On top of everything, the sound design is insane. I played LIMBO for the first time in a well-lit office surrounded by coworkers. I may or may not have wet myself a little (just a teaspoon) when being chased by the giant spider. Not because I’m petrified of spiders, but because of the noise it made as it clambered its way towards my tiny body.

Even the subtlest of things make their own little sound, which changes based on the situation. Pushing a box over grass sounds different to pushing it over gritty dirt – and everything sounds different underwater.

This is a game that needs playing and you are a person that needs to play LIMBO. Playdead need more recognition for this genius piece of genius mcgenius at genius-o-clock. Sure, they may have won over 90 awards for it, but come on – look how pretty it is!

Bases: 

Playdead is an independent game studio based in Copenhagen. It was founded in 2006.