Limbo
On the outskirts of a black-black forest stood a black-black city. It was inhabited by black-black people, black-black mosquitoes, black-black spiders in two human heights, black-black thorns and black-black traps sticking out from everywhere. And in the midst of this outrage was a boy. Black-black.
How scary!
Limbo's plot is not particularly original. A little boy with burning eyes wakes up in the middle of a black forest, located somewhere near hell. At first it is completely unclear what exactly he forgot here, but then it turns out that the child came for his sister. All that remains is to find it.
This is where a leisurely run through the gloomy black forest begins. In general, the whole game is made in a dark style, so it quickly plunges you into a not very clear mood. Nothing in the Limbo universe looks like a ray of hope. The forest is dark and empty (and sometimes it would be better to be empty), the city is dark and no less empty, the rest of the locations are the same. Sad, scary, a little awkward. It seems that all the characters here have successfully died, and now they are experiencing their hellish suffering and torment.
Developers are also in no hurry to explain what is happening. They even end up with Limbo in an open cut - and sit and guess what it was. One interpretation is that the boy and his sister have already died and ended up in the Catholic limb, the place where the souls of virtuous people who have not become Christians are located. Another is that the Limbo world is part of ours, and none of the characters completed their life path. The third is that the boy was just having a bad dream, and at the most inopportune moment he was awakened.
But Limbo captivates not with the plot, but with the gameplay. On the one hand, it's a classic platformer. On the other hand, everything is done here in order to scare the player and make him feel a pang of conscience. After all, only a truly heartless person will be able to calmly watch how a little boy repeatedly finds himself in a deadly trap, danger or the mouth of another monster.
How to play Limbo
Limbo from the point of gameplay is a classic platformer. You run around the location from left to right (sometimes from right to left), drag various boxes and boxes to overcome obstacles, jump over spikes and bear traps.
But the black and white visual changes the atmosphere of the game a little. It becomes much more frightening, even if you do not think about the fact that a giant spider lives in the forest. Both the main character and the objects around him are just black silhouettes against a gray smoky background.
Further, the gameplay becomes darker, more disgusting and harder. Many people quit passing Limbo just a few minutes after the start, when it is proposed to use the body of a dead child as a step or trigger, while dragging him by his legs through a large half of the location. But in vain, because in the future the game launches experiments with gravity and other additional mechanics that make the passage even more difficult.
At the same time, it is also impossible to stop to rest. A giant spider lives in the forest where most of Limbo's action takes place. And if you stand, he will get to the character to turn him into prey. However, at some point it is necessary for the spider to practically reach the unfortunate boy.
However, Limbo's bestiary is not limited to one giant spider. There are also dangers here, luminous parasitic worms that instantly take control of the child and lead him to the nearest danger (and the player at this time looks in horror at what is happening, being unable to do anything), dog-like monsters and other huge mosquitoes. p>
In this regard, Limbo is more like a nightmare than a game. The complete absence of music, except for quiet ambient and sounds of the surrounding world, further emphasizes the unrealistic experience.
Puzzle Limbo
There are a lot of puzzles in Limbo - and it would be better if they were the classic "pick the right key" or "turn the switches in the right order." No, each of the puzzles is capable of killing a character. Actually, puzzles often manifest themselves through the death of the protagonist. The boy dies - and the player realizes that here he needs to try to go in some other way.
At the same time, many of the puzzles are tied either to physics, or to hard timing (or both). If you launch the stone too early, it won't hit the spider, and the monster will get to the child. Too late, and the cobblestone will hit the boy. And you need to very accurately select the moment. And this is one of the first puzzles! Further - it is more difficult, you will have to remember both mechanics and physics.
Fortunately, checkpoints in Limbo are located quite often. The developers have foreseen this moment, so that you will not have to run through the entire location after some unsuccessful death. But to pass without a single death - too.
