Review: Limbo
- Thread starter Susan Arendt
- Start date
Got this last week. It looks very good and is clever but definitely not worth 1200MSP. I was told it was 5-6hrs and I finished it in 3.5-4hrs and that was with being cautious. It's true that replay value isn't very high apart from the the 'die less than 5 times' achievement (which is actually really hard for a mere 10G). Unfortunately Susan you have given away far far too many of the awesome pieces from the game, essentially spoiling a lot of the game. I would be pissed if I hadn't already played it. Also, I was under the impression that the ending was really good but it sucked really hard IMHO.
I just finished the game last night, and I absolutely loved it. This is easily the best game on 360 so far this year. Considering how many games I've played, it takes a lot of skill for a game to surprise me with something new. Yet, every few minutes I would audibly gasp because of something amazing or shocking that just happened. It was absolutely stellar.
I usually hate "symbolic, wordless" stores, but this one was actually pretty neat. Though we never really understand the big picture behind it all, there are definitely a couple of mini-twists that rack your brain.
EDIT: By the way, Susan, I'm not entirely sure that the deaths were ever really meant to be comical or charming. I, for one, was still wincing at each death until the very end; dying is handled so coldly and gruesomely in this game that I found it tough not to. At the very least, it definitely didn't seem to be going for "funny" at any point. That might just be me, though.
I usually hate "symbolic, wordless" stores, but this one was actually pretty neat. Though we never really understand the big picture behind it all, there are definitely a couple of mini-twists that rack your brain.
Baby Tea said:
I saw it as this:
1. The boy faces different types of evil spanning history. But, keep in mind that, per the ending, the entire thing is a giant circle. I saw it as a statement that history literally repeats itself, and regardless of the tools we make to help us, our objectives/goals never really change; in other words, technology is no help to us and can in fact be used against us.
When you start, there is no man; there are only creatures (the beginning of time). There are artifacts left by man (crates, mine cart, boat), which in my opinion highlights the circular ending (we end up back where we started). I consider those to be remnants of the humans that existed before history repeated again.
After you deal with simple creatures, you finally encounter humans (the birth of humanity). They're very primitive humans, as you can tell by their blow darts and such, but they try to tweak what has been left behind to their advantages. Note that they don't actually make the bear traps. They just tie them on ropes and swing them at you. Same thing with the giant spider leg; they just hoist a rope to it and try to use it as best they can, with no technology of their own.
Finally, we end up in a modern-ish time (where we see the lit "HOTEL" sign as well as automated turrets), and even go to the future, where gravity manipulation is apparently possible. Note that the humans have been replaced by technology in these times (we no longer see people past a certain point); I feel that this a statement of not only the "evils" of technology, but also that we've lost our humanity with technological advances (machines replacing humans).
But, note that regardless of the obstacles you're presented with, human or not, the object is always the same: somehow advance to the next area (and find the girl, which I cover below). But, this objective gets harder as the technology advances (and, with it, the puzzles get harder and more complex) until the very last puzzle, where you have absolutely no control over gravity and the world is absolute chaos. Then, after you go through the glass pane (which I assumed to be a mirror), you end up at the realization that technology was frivolous all along, and that true serenity is accompanied by a lack of it. This is very notable considering the contrast in stress you feel between the last puzzle, and the slow, silent ending.
2. I think the girl just represents an arbitrary objective; she is an embodiment of the goal that society always works towards, the true "happiness" that is always sought, but never found. As far as the game goes, "finding your sister" represents the end of one's journey through life. The boy, who is a faceless shadow, represents the generic person throughout time, who is always trying to find this happiness. Yet, with the increasing complexity of technology, he is less able to do so.
He sees this happiness at one point (when he sees his sister but is forced away), but is unable to actually reach it. In the end, the only way he can truly find happiness is to symbolically break out of the technology that consumes him and embark down a simpler path. And, even then, we don't know for sure if he ever reaches it; the ambiguity in this case is actually a definite conclusion.
Well, that was a bit longer than I intended. Oops.
1. The boy faces different types of evil spanning history. But, keep in mind that, per the ending, the entire thing is a giant circle. I saw it as a statement that history literally repeats itself, and regardless of the tools we make to help us, our objectives/goals never really change; in other words, technology is no help to us and can in fact be used against us.
When you start, there is no man; there are only creatures (the beginning of time). There are artifacts left by man (crates, mine cart, boat), which in my opinion highlights the circular ending (we end up back where we started). I consider those to be remnants of the humans that existed before history repeated again.
After you deal with simple creatures, you finally encounter humans (the birth of humanity). They're very primitive humans, as you can tell by their blow darts and such, but they try to tweak what has been left behind to their advantages. Note that they don't actually make the bear traps. They just tie them on ropes and swing them at you. Same thing with the giant spider leg; they just hoist a rope to it and try to use it as best they can, with no technology of their own.
Finally, we end up in a modern-ish time (where we see the lit "HOTEL" sign as well as automated turrets), and even go to the future, where gravity manipulation is apparently possible. Note that the humans have been replaced by technology in these times (we no longer see people past a certain point); I feel that this a statement of not only the "evils" of technology, but also that we've lost our humanity with technological advances (machines replacing humans).
But, note that regardless of the obstacles you're presented with, human or not, the object is always the same: somehow advance to the next area (and find the girl, which I cover below). But, this objective gets harder as the technology advances (and, with it, the puzzles get harder and more complex) until the very last puzzle, where you have absolutely no control over gravity and the world is absolute chaos. Then, after you go through the glass pane (which I assumed to be a mirror), you end up at the realization that technology was frivolous all along, and that true serenity is accompanied by a lack of it. This is very notable considering the contrast in stress you feel between the last puzzle, and the slow, silent ending.
2. I think the girl just represents an arbitrary objective; she is an embodiment of the goal that society always works towards, the true "happiness" that is always sought, but never found. As far as the game goes, "finding your sister" represents the end of one's journey through life. The boy, who is a faceless shadow, represents the generic person throughout time, who is always trying to find this happiness. Yet, with the increasing complexity of technology, he is less able to do so.
He sees this happiness at one point (when he sees his sister but is forced away), but is unable to actually reach it. In the end, the only way he can truly find happiness is to symbolically break out of the technology that consumes him and embark down a simpler path. And, even then, we don't know for sure if he ever reaches it; the ambiguity in this case is actually a definite conclusion.
Well, that was a bit longer than I intended. Oops.
EDIT: By the way, Susan, I'm not entirely sure that the deaths were ever really meant to be comical or charming. I, for one, was still wincing at each death until the very end; dying is handled so coldly and gruesomely in this game that I found it tough not to. At the very least, it definitely didn't seem to be going for "funny" at any point. That might just be me, though.
This game wasn't on my must-play list, but it now definitely is. Especially since there isn't coming much out anyway, at the moment.
I disagree.Susan Arendt said:
The thing Limbo does with considerable skill is to paint just enough of a picture of the world you travel through to allow your imagination to start filling in the gaps. What happened to the folks who built X? Are the brain worms the reason for Y? Who are the lost children? And so on. Limbo is a brilliantly written short story. It's a piece of sinister poetry.
The game's atmosphere is astounding. Even with barely a note of music, it effortlessly draws you in. It's remindes me of Portal - simple story, simple gameplay and utterly compelling.
Pffft...you would say that.EmbraAgain said:I disagree.Susan Arendt said:
The thing Limbo does with considerable skill is to paint just enough of a picture of the world you travel through to allow your imagination to start filling in the gaps. What happened to the folks who built X? Are the brain worms the reason for Y? Who are the lost children? And so on. Limbo is a brilliantly written short story. It's a piece of sinister poetry.
I certainly see where you're coming from, but I think that what few story elements there are are so subtle that many, many players won't even notice them.
great review, i think im gonna steal the xbox i gave my brother so i can play it, i was however disappointed by the lack of mentioning Denmark, we may be a small and unimportant country, but we are the masters of making sick shit, even our comedies are about mentally sick dads molesting their children, and the same children killing off their family members so the dad can speak at the funeral so he wont molest them, oh yes thats the plot of a comedy, no wonder i dont find American horror movies scary.
God bless Denmark.
God bless Denmark.
I, in all honesty, never felt that into Limbo or really liked it all that much. As a platformer, it delivers, but behind the traps, there really isn't much to it and it is a very simple game to beat if you know the cycle of your progression.
Walk forward, Trigger a Trap, restart, avoid your last mistake and repeat and thats all I really saw in Limbo.
Walk forward, Trigger a Trap, restart, avoid your last mistake and repeat and thats all I really saw in Limbo.
About 4 hours.Vodka Dude said:
We took our time, really enjoyed the scenery, and pondered each puzzle with some trial and error.
It was really quite excellent.
This game has the kind of replay value that means you get it, beat it right away because you can't put the controller down, play something else, and then a few days later you're like 'Man...I want to play that again.' Plus, watching other people play it for the first time is awesome. It's a great game.
I agree with your part about corpses and death, but when you think about it your dragging the corpses of children out of the dark, lonesome lakes they drowned in and your watching a small boy looking for his sister being decapitated and drowned, not to mention the bands of seemingly desperate children roaming the bleak landscape trying to kill you. I watched it reviewed on Good Game the other day and I was genuinely unsettled by all that, but it's nice to see a game push the boundaries and garner a response like that.
I'll probably purchase it.
I'll probably purchase it.
I'd say that, very generally, it's because if they want to make a deal and get their game published, they must come to the table with absolutely no power in the negotiation process. Both they and their products are unknown quantities, meaning publishers are free to make their demands. The choice left to the indie developers is often to accept a raw deal, or try and sell the game themselves.Fensfield said:
The latter option is not often successful.