As the first non-independently published title from Danish developer Playdead, Limbo had a lot riding on its success. The developer has been tooling around with this game idea for several years (after finding independent funding in 2006), but much of the work (around 70%) was scrapped at various points and remade, hence the long development time. I’m actually glad Playdead took their time on this one, as they ended up creating one of the most hauntingly endearing platformers to come out in a long time.

The gameplay of Limbo is actually really straightforward, as there aren’t many tricks or gimmicks to speak of. Instead, the focus seems to be on the mood of the game, and the way the puzzles play into the feeling of dread that pervades the environments. Each of the puzzles in the game is a deadly trap that must be disarmed in the proper manner in order to progress. This isn’t exactly original, but the visual presentation keeps things feeling really fresh in spite of this fact.

As you progress through the game, the puzzles get progressively more complicated, though they never reach the disturbing level of difficulty that some of the latter Braid challenges did. Each of the game’s puzzles feels pretty unique, and throughout the experience, it did feel like I was encountering new things to do despite the lack of any additions to my moveset. The pacing was perfect throughout, with some moments of beautiful tension inserted between tough challenges to help keep the game flowing forward nicely.

Unfortunately, though the latter half of the game is more complicated than the first, it just isn’t as cool. There are several awesome encounters with a spider beast early in the game that were reminiscent of the Shelob fight in Lord of the Rings. It’s too bad that this sort of interesting scripted event starts to be less and less common as the game progresses. It’s as if most of the 70% of the game that got retooled involved awesome moments like these, but were axed to make room for more puzzles. I’m a huge fan of puzzles, but I also like to interact with interesting creatures in surprising ways, like what happened early on in the game.

Still, none of this really hurts the title too much. It’s still really fun throughout and has some of the most stunning visual presentation I’ve ever seen in a 2D title. I long thought that the black & white visuals in the game might prove to be a gimmicky turn-off in practice, but they are actually more charming than I thought possible. The main character moves with beautiful fluidity and is nicely juxtaposed with the stark, mechanical deadliness of the game’s environments. As I worked my way through the game, the natural surroundings gave way to man-made settlements and foundries, each of which was no less beautiful than the last.

The visual beauty of the game may have been enough on its own, but Playdead also incorporated some enchanting minimalist audio design. There’s hardly any music to speak of in the game; instead most of the audio is ambient environmental designs, which add to the haunting feeling that pervades this game from start to finish. The world sounds suitably empty, and this just increased the apt feeling of isolation.

However, Limbo does fall a little short of others of its ilk in terms of story. I understand that it is supposed to be as understated as possible, and that any kind of text or dialogue might have ruined the mood. Still, I don’t think that this means that the story had to be as uninteresting as what was presented in the game. The ending left me thoroughly unimpressed, especially when compared with similar “artsy” games like Ico or Braid. If you’ve read some of my other reviews, you know I usually hate story in games, but this was one of the few times where I felt that the addition of something more interesting at the end might have helped the overall experience. Though a minor complaint, I just wasn’t left with a feeling of completion at the end liked I hope I would.

In spite of the few shortcomings, Limbo manages to be an excellent puzzle-platformer. Its visuals will certainly stand the test of time, and the feeling of dread and aimlessness throughout the game is more palpable than in many retail titles that strive for the same thing. Limbo was certainly a fun experience, and one that I will likely be coming back to. It just wasn’t as mind-blowingly excellent as I had thought that it might be.