Limbo: Video Game
This is one of those games that I just keep playing. Pretty much every time I need to kill forty five minutes to an hour, I turn this one on. I have a pretty decent sized game collection, but for some reason I always pick either this one or “Portal.” I’ve played through it twice in the past two days to keep my mind and hands occupied while talking on the phone. That makes at least seven play-throughs. It’s weird because it’s not like the game changes or there’s some kind of “New Game +” mode. I just feel compelled to play the same puzzles and try to die less when I should probably be doing something more productive or playing another of the many titles I haven’t finished (or even opened in some cases).
This is a great game, one of my favorite indie titles. It reminds me of the glorious 90’s, when developers made video games because they wanted to make them. Things are just so commercialized and dumbed down nowadays that we don’t get that same quality. Most games now are either slightly tweaked repeats of previous successes or indulge in shameless handholding early on for a thoughtless introduction of gaming mechanics.
Limbo is guilty of neither. Everything about this title, from in game physics, to it’s stellar graphics, to it’s ever changing mix of puzzles is unique in this era of game development. The game actively puts you in simple positions that demonstrate its mechanics and your characters capabilities and then progressively moves you forward into more difficult situations that involve the same things. Without a single line of dialogue or hints, this is the way to go. You have to learn through trial and error and witness all of the surprisingly gruesome ways to die in order to move forward. The longline for this game should be “If it looks like it can kill you, it probably already has.”
I love when a game makes me use my brain and I particularly enjoy this game’s visual storytelling. It’s worth at least two play-throughs for anyone that likes to actually think. It’s so gratifying to finally reach the girl under the light at the end of all of your grueling puzzle solving. Please play this game, it is a demonstration that indie games are the future.
Jonathan Thomas Jones is a speculative fiction author and founder of geekhavenreviews.com. He has been passionate about all things geek for his entire life. See more about him at jonathanthomasjones.com and follow him on twitter @jtgloryjones.
