A small boy awakens, completely alone, in the woods. It is not clear to us who he is, but we get
the feeling that he is not alone. The
forest opens up to reveal a Stygian river, and a boat takes the boy
across. Damp noises in the distance
suggest a lurking evil. We come across
another life-form in the woods on the other side, a giant tarantula. The boy deters the titanic spider by making
it step in a bear trap, but is later caught in its web. He manages to wriggle out and escape, but is
still under pursuit. He finally takes
care of the spider by dropping a boulder on its head.
He encounters some other young boys, but they don’t want anything to do with him. The boy approaches one of their camps, and is greeted by the dead body of another, hanging from a noose. They set traps for him, but the boy evades all of them, and getting through the tribal camps, he comes across a massive machine. When he turns it on, the machine starts the rain. He takes refuge from the maelstrom inside of a factory, but it will prove to be no more a sanctuary then the forest.
Limbo (2010) is an indie game directed by Danish game designer Arnt Jensen. It seems that the indie movement of our time is bringing with it a movement of video game auteurs the likes of which was previously inconceivable. The early craftsmen of gaming, such as Shigeru Miyamoto, David Crane, and Hideo Kojima, are the equivalent to film’s John Ford, Cecil B DeMille, and Alfred Hitchcock. Similarly, Arnt Jensen, Suda 51, and Tim Schaffer are equivalent to Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, and Stanley Kubrick.
The game itself is a 2D platformer with puzzles, but it would seem to be much more than that. Much of the game gets its marvelous effect from atmosphere, storytelling, and a logical mystery that challenges the player. The game is entirely black and white. All characters and objects are silhouettes, and the boy is the only one having eyes. Along the way, he will encounter the giant spider, other children (a possible reference to “Lord of the Flies”), mind-controlling worms, and creatures that eat said worms.
The atmosphere is constantly unsettling. The air is stagnant with the feeling of dread and foreboding. The boy will have to make some dark choices to survive. For instance, to evade a trap (a giant press that will be set off by a trip wire) you must use the body of a dead boy to set it off, allowing you to pass unharmed. This game features some heavy gore, mostly by implication, which makes it seem more gruesome than the bloodiest games. I’m not fazed when I see an alien grinded by a chainsaw in Gears of War, but when the boy in Limbo falls from a great height and I hear the snap of his bones, and then see his body go limp and his eyes shut, I cringe.
This is a fairly short game, beatable in about two hours, but it is such an emotional, intellectual, and challenging experience that you will want to play it multiple times. I suppose it is better that I want there to be more of the game than feeling like it overstays its welcome. The ending does feel somewhat abrupt, but it is a mind-bending scene that creates an interesting new puzzle to solve, which has been in my brain like one of those worms, driving me forward until I reach some absolute answer.
He encounters some other young boys, but they don’t want anything to do with him. The boy approaches one of their camps, and is greeted by the dead body of another, hanging from a noose. They set traps for him, but the boy evades all of them, and getting through the tribal camps, he comes across a massive machine. When he turns it on, the machine starts the rain. He takes refuge from the maelstrom inside of a factory, but it will prove to be no more a sanctuary then the forest.
Limbo (2010) is an indie game directed by Danish game designer Arnt Jensen. It seems that the indie movement of our time is bringing with it a movement of video game auteurs the likes of which was previously inconceivable. The early craftsmen of gaming, such as Shigeru Miyamoto, David Crane, and Hideo Kojima, are the equivalent to film’s John Ford, Cecil B DeMille, and Alfred Hitchcock. Similarly, Arnt Jensen, Suda 51, and Tim Schaffer are equivalent to Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, and Stanley Kubrick.
The game itself is a 2D platformer with puzzles, but it would seem to be much more than that. Much of the game gets its marvelous effect from atmosphere, storytelling, and a logical mystery that challenges the player. The game is entirely black and white. All characters and objects are silhouettes, and the boy is the only one having eyes. Along the way, he will encounter the giant spider, other children (a possible reference to “Lord of the Flies”), mind-controlling worms, and creatures that eat said worms.
The atmosphere is constantly unsettling. The air is stagnant with the feeling of dread and foreboding. The boy will have to make some dark choices to survive. For instance, to evade a trap (a giant press that will be set off by a trip wire) you must use the body of a dead boy to set it off, allowing you to pass unharmed. This game features some heavy gore, mostly by implication, which makes it seem more gruesome than the bloodiest games. I’m not fazed when I see an alien grinded by a chainsaw in Gears of War, but when the boy in Limbo falls from a great height and I hear the snap of his bones, and then see his body go limp and his eyes shut, I cringe.
This is a fairly short game, beatable in about two hours, but it is such an emotional, intellectual, and challenging experience that you will want to play it multiple times. I suppose it is better that I want there to be more of the game than feeling like it overstays its welcome. The ending does feel somewhat abrupt, but it is a mind-bending scene that creates an interesting new puzzle to solve, which has been in my brain like one of those worms, driving me forward until I reach some absolute answer.
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