As my tastes in games have matured over the years into more mechanically challenging and artistically insightful experiences, a game I once adored for its spectacle and simplicity ultimately lost its favor with me; however, LIMBO is by no means a bad game.

The poor aging of LIMBO as a game; the saturation of indie-platformers as well as the overused mechanics LIMBO popularized with puzzle-platformers in a strange setting; the shortcomings of a design based on pure trial-and-error—all these have contributed into making this game a less charming experience than when I first played it.


Even before the mass popularity of LIMBO, games like ICO capitalized on what is considered an “indie-award” trope best summarized by Yahtzee Croshaw of “a tale about small, young boy lost in a big, dark scary world losing his innocence.” Why then does LIMBO resonate so well with audiences back then as well as audiences now?

Part of the reason why people perhaps gravitate towards LIMBO so much is its nostalgic appeal from what was once a haven for indie-hits, the Xbox Live Summer Arcade, as well as being many people’s first game into the cinematic platformers like Another World. There is also the shock appeal of challenging the taboo of children dying in video-games, not only of the protagonist but also fighting children on an island that harkens back to Lord of the Flies. The visual style of an utterly hostile world of naturalistic terrors from the dark combined with death-trap machinations of a modern world as well as the minimalist story approach is another reason why so many people fall in love with LIMBO.

The simple fact of the matter is no matter how many better games I can point towards that handle one or more qualities better than LIMBO or point out the problems within its gameplay the admiration behind LIMBO is something I’ll never change, nor am I seeking to ruin its name. It’s simply waking up from the honeymoon moments with a game that ends up magnifying its many faults.


As sparse as I was when I originally wrote my review for LIMBO, I felt the problems with this genre were obvious enough not to go into too much detail. However, to make sure my point comes across as genuine concern I will give these matters some more depth.

The biggest problem with these cinematic-focused puzzle platformers is how mechanically deficient they are when you strip away the bare-bone puzzles within these games. To its credit, LIMBO does a little bit more than other similar games with thematic puzzles for variety, challenges like the mind-worm, cocoon wrapping and antigravity gimmicks. Although I feel the vast number of games that use similar ideas has diminished LIMBO’s appeal, the implementation of all these various challenges keeps the gameplay from becoming dull. It’s when you remove these interesting modifiers that you’re left with the most cookie-cutter of gameplay types, trial-and-error and box-puzzles.

When people defend trial-and-error gameplay from notorious games like Dragon’s Lair or I Wanna Be the Guy, this type of gameplay is not skill-based but designed to test your patience and memory so when you go out to play these games with others you can appear to be a master simply because you know what to expect. The challenge itself is superficial, and LIMBO does a couple of things to make this style of gameplay worse. Not only does it require precise jumps and timing at certain sections but there are also chase sequences where the solution won’t appear until the very end to instil a false sense of being trapped and making it out barely. These scripted sequences occupy the majority of LIMBO as well as bleeding into the quieter sections when objects break down and require immediate action.

The other prevailing puzzles are the reused box-and-switch puzzles that involve pushing, pulling and manipulating the environment around you like with lifts to MacGuyver a single solution for success. Unlike the trial-and-error puzzles, these are based on skill with the player’s observation, sometimes requiring quick reaction time that may result in doing it over or death. The problem with these puzzles is that they show up so many times with modifiers of difficulty, so when the modifiers are taken away or replaced with another one these box puzzles feel like anchors on the potential of making truly unique puzzles. If anything, these types of puzzles make anything possibly compelling become mundane.

These issues along with the lack of a concrete, rewarding narrative or attachment with the player that often holds up the genre to warrant such simple gimmicks and mechanics to maintain its pace, and LIMBO is neither an experience I feel deserves to be replayed but also fails to reward the player’s investment into the storyline for anything other than the strangeness itself.


The ironic thing about LIMBO is that the name itself is indicative of the problems it helped to establish by its popularity by once appearing innovative now seems hollow, devoid of all its former prestige. A game once idolized by its unique qualities is now lost among the many iterations and imitations that came before and after its success, leaving this game with nothing more than echoing praise for solace amongst the gradual encroaching reality of its indifference. Instead of being forgotten or remembered, it’s given a curse of damnation of eternal existence of waning interest.

In other words, I guess you can say that LIMBO has become a state of its own self.

As my tastes in games have matured over the years into more mechanically challenging and artistically insightful experiences, a game I once adored for its spectacle and simplicity ultimately lost its favor with me; however, LIMBO is by no means a bad game. The poor aging of LIMBO as a game; the saturation of indie-platformers as well as the overused mechanics LIMBO popularized with puzzle-platformers in a strange setting; the shortcomings of a design based on pure trial-and-error—all these have contributed into making this game a less charming experience than when I first played it. [h1]The More Things Change The More Seems the Same[/h1] Even before the mass popularity of LIMBO, games like ICO capitalized on what is considered an “indie-award” trope best summarized by Yahtzee Croshaw of “a tale about small, young boy lost in a big, dark scary world losing his innocence.” Why then does LIMBO resonate so well with audiences back then as well as audiences now? Part of the reason why people perhaps gravitate towards LIMBO so much is its nostalgic appeal from what was once a haven for indie-hits, the Xbox Live Summer Arcade, as well as being many people’s first game into the cinematic platformers like Another World. There is also the shock appeal of challenging the taboo of children dying in video-games, not only of the protagonist but also fighting children on an island that harkens back to Lord of the Flies. The visual style of an utterly hostile world of naturalistic terrors from the dark combined with death-trap machinations of a modern world as well as the minimalist story approach is another reason why so many people fall in love with LIMBO. The simple fact of the matter is no matter how many better games I can point towards that handle one or more qualities better than LIMBO or point out the problems within its gameplay the admiration behind LIMBO is something I’ll never change, nor am I seeking to ruin its name. It’s simply waking up from the honeymoon moments with a game that ends up magnifying its many faults. [h1]Gravity Can Be Such a Downer[/h1] As sparse as I was when I originally wrote my review for LIMBO, I felt the problems with this genre were obvious enough not to go into too much detail. However, to make sure my point comes across as genuine concern I will give these matters some more depth. The biggest problem with these cinematic-focused puzzle platformers is how mechanically deficient they are when you strip away the bare-bone puzzles within these games. To its credit, LIMBO does a little bit more than other similar games with thematic puzzles for variety, challenges like the mind-worm, cocoon wrapping and antigravity gimmicks. Although I feel the vast number of games that use similar ideas has diminished LIMBO’s appeal, the implementation of all these various challenges keeps the gameplay from becoming dull. It’s when you remove these interesting modifiers that you’re left with the most cookie-cutter of gameplay types, trial-and-error and box-puzzles. When people defend trial-and-error gameplay from notorious games like Dragon’s Lair or I Wanna Be the Guy, this type of gameplay is not skill-based but designed to test your patience and memory so when you go out to play these games with others you can appear to be a master simply because you know what to expect. The challenge itself is superficial, and LIMBO does a couple of things to make this style of gameplay worse. Not only does it require precise jumps and timing at certain sections but there are also chase sequences where the solution won’t appear until the very end to instil a false sense of being trapped and making it out barely. These scripted sequences occupy the majority of LIMBO as well as bleeding into the quieter sections when objects break down and require immediate action. The other prevailing puzzles are the reused box-and-switch puzzles that involve pushing, pulling and manipulating the environment around you like with lifts to MacGuyver a single solution for success. Unlike the trial-and-error puzzles, these are based on skill with the player’s observation, sometimes requiring quick reaction time that may result in doing it over or death. The problem with these puzzles is that they show up so many times with modifiers of difficulty, so when the modifiers are taken away or replaced with another one these box puzzles feel like anchors on the potential of making truly unique puzzles. If anything, these types of puzzles make anything possibly compelling become mundane. These issues along with the lack of a concrete, rewarding narrative or attachment with the player that often holds up the genre to warrant such simple gimmicks and mechanics to maintain its pace, and LIMBO is neither an experience I feel deserves to be replayed but also fails to reward the player’s investment into the storyline for anything other than the strangeness itself. [h1]A Game Without Borders; Its Heaven, It’s Hell; LIMBO[/h1] The ironic thing about LIMBO is that the name itself is indicative of the problems it helped to establish by its popularity by once appearing innovative now seems hollow, devoid of all its former prestige. A game once idolized by its unique qualities is now lost among the many iterations and imitations that came before and after its success, leaving this game with nothing more than echoing praise for solace amongst the gradual encroaching reality of its indifference. Instead of being forgotten or remembered, it’s given a curse of damnation of eternal existence of waning interest. In other words, I guess you can say that LIMBO has become a state of its own self.