During the past week and a half, I started to play Limbo mainly because it didn’t require an internet connection. Being at my parents’ house, their DSL connection is much slower than the cable connection at my apartment. My mom also watches copious amounts of YouTube videos, essentially eating up all of the available bandwidth. So, I installed Limbo obtained from the last Humble Bundle and finished it.

There wasn’t a story that I could immediately see, which made immersion a little difficult. While searching for guides, I found out that it’s the typical story of a brother looking for his lost sister. The shades, luminous brain-controlling worms, demon said-worm-eating plants, and dead bodies were all interesting characters but left for the imagination to piece together a story around. It’s an interesting concept, but didn’t work very well during gameplay.

The controls are quite simplistic, requiring just arrow keys and the control button (or a controller). I imagine the pseudo-analog joystick control on a controller determines how fast the character can run, whereas on a keyboard, it is all or nothing. I mention this particular fact because there is one puzzle involving a mosquito where approaching slowly up to a certain point was punctuated by me tapping the movement button and pausing whenever the mosquito raised its head. Otherwise, the PC controls were not a bad port.

Limbo contains a lot of puzzles, but I would say it is more about skill than problem solving. A lot of these so-called puzzles required timing and proper execution. Even understanding what to do became difficult if the skill in controlling the character wasn’t there. There is one alcove where you have to get a box out using a switch that controls gravity in that alcove. To get the box out, you have to keep hitting the switch so it practically floats out with the proper momentum. If it hits the ceiling or floor, the momentum is reversed and you have to start over again.

Needless to say, I did extensively use a guide because I didn’t want to try to problem solve when my skills were constantly being tested. I think I would have gotten more frustrated if I hadn’t been playing in little chunks. The game makes checkpoints after each little obstacle you complete, not necessarily each chapter which consists of multiple puzzles. This saves on time and frustration from not having to redo everything from the beginning. It is also convenient if you play for 10-20 minutes at a time as I did because it makes it easy to put down and pick up again.

The graphics are nicely done in a minimalist fashion, essentially, shades of gray. There is a subtle texture to give it a dream-like quality which plays well in the ending. What separates your character from the other shades is his luminous eyes, which makes it easy to locate him when he is in dark spaces, but not necessarily when he is obscured by objects like grass. The animations can be both cute and gruesome (especially the many ways the character can die), generally well-done. The ambient background music compliments the graphics quite well. The fact that I can’t recall any of the tracks means it’s done its job in being unnoticeable.

I think in terms of what I was looking for in playing a game with what was going on (visitors/guests) made Limbo appropriate for its ease in picking up and putting down. I did load it up and close it down quite a lot. I wished there was a way to set it to windowed mode so I could more easily tab between the game and the guide in another window. It wasn’t too bad, though. This game is good for really casual play and if you want to test your skills in handling a character through various obstacles. The puzzle aspect is a nice touch, but I didn’t feel it was the focus of the game – then again, I did use a guide. Finally, there isn’t much of a narrative and it’s really left to your imagination to construct a story if you wish. I’m still asking why there are shades trying to kill you (what did you do to them?) and why they seem to have a vendetta against other little boys as evidenced from their bodies laying about in various parts of the game.