For the 2007 video game, see Limbo of the Lost
2010 video game
Reading: Limbo (video game) – Wikipedia
Limbo is a perplex – platform video recording game developed by autonomous studio Playdead and in the first place published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360. The game was released in July 2010 on Xbox Live Arcade, and has since been ported by Playdead to several other systems, including the PlayStation 3, Linux and Microsoft Windows. Limbo is a second side-scroller, incorporating a physics system that governs environmental objects and the player character. The player guides an nameless boy through dangerous environments and traps as he searches for his sister. The developer built the game ‘s puzzles expecting the player to fail before finding the decline solution. Playdead called the expressive style of play “ trial and death ”, and used ghastly imagination for the boy ‘s deaths to steer the player from impracticable solutions. The plot is presented in black-and-white tones, using ignition, film grain effects and minimal ambient sounds to create an eerie air often associated with the repugnance genre. Journalists praised the darkness presentation, describing the ferment deoxyadenosine monophosphate comparable to film noir and german Expressionism. Based on its aesthetics, reviewers classified Limbo as an case of video recording games as an art shape. Limbo received critical acclaim, but its minimal fib polarised critics ; some critics found the open-ended work to have deeper meaning that tied well with the game ‘s mechanics, while others believed the miss of significant diagram and abrupt ending detracted from the game. A park point of criticism from reviewers was that the high cost of the game relative to its brusque length might deter players from purchasing the title, but some reviews proposed that Limbo had an ideal length. The game has been listed among the greatest games of all time. Limbo was the third-highest sell plot on the Xbox Live Arcade servicing in 2010, generating approximately $ 7.5 million in gross. It won several awards from industry groups after its let go of, and was named as one of the top games for 2010 by several publications. Playdead ‘s following championship, Inside, was released in 2016, and revisited many of the same themes presented in Limbo .
Gameplay [edit ]
A pre-release growth screenshot, showing the boy crossing a dangerous chasm on a rope bridge. The bet on ‘s artwork style and display have been reproducible through the game ‘s development bicycle. The player controls the son throughout the crippled. As is typical of most planar chopine games, the boy can run left or right, leap, climb onto short ledges or up and down ladders and ropes, and push button or pull objects. Limbo is presented through dark, greyscale graphics and with minimalist ambient sounds, creating an eerie, haunting environment. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The dark visuals besides serve to conceal numerous deadly surprises, including such environmental and physical hazards as deadly bear traps on the forest floor, or deadly monsters hiding in the shadows. Among the hazards are glowing worms, which attach themselves to the boy ‘s head and storm him to travel in entirely one direction until they are killed. [ 3 ] The game ‘s second gear half features mechanical puzzles and traps using machinery, electromagnets, and gravity. many of these traps are not apparent until triggered, often killing the boy. The player is able to restart at the last meet checkpoint, with no limits placed on how many times this can occur. Some traps can be avoided and used late in the game ; one bear trap is used to clamp onto an animal ‘s carcase, hang from the end of a rope, tearing the carcase off the rope and allowing the branch and rope to retract upwards and allow the male child to climb onto a ledge otherwise out of scope. As the actor will likely encounter numerous deaths before they solve each puzzle and complete the game, the developers call Limbo a “ test and death ” plot. [ 4 ] Some deaths are animated with images of the son ‘s dismemberment or decapitation, although an optional gore filter on some platforms blacks out the screen door alternatively of showing these deaths. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] Game achievements ( optional in-game goals ) include finding hidden worm eggs and completing the game with five or fewer deaths. [ 7 ]
plot [edit ]
The primary character in Limbo is a nameless boy, who awakens in the middle of a forest on the “ edge of hell “ ( the game ‘s title is taken from the Latin limbus, meaning “ boundary ” ), [ 8 ] where he encounters a elephantine spider who tries to kill him. After using a trap to cut off the crisp points on half of the spider ‘s leg, it retreats further into the forest, and the boy is allowed to pass. however, he is by and by caught in vane and whirl into a cocoon. After breaking free from the threads that attached him to the ceiling, he is forced to hop, and finally gets them off. late, while seeking his missing sister, he encounters only a few human characters who either fire him, run away, or are dead/dying. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ] At one compass point during his travel, he encounters a female character, who he thinks might be his baby, but is prevented from reaching her. [ 12 ] The forest finally gives way to a crumbling city environment. [ 11 ] On completion of the final examination puzzle, the boy is thrown through a paneling of glass and back into the forest. After he wakes up and recovers from the pain and shock, he walks a short distance until he again encounters a daughter, who, upon his approach, stands up, startled. At this degree, the screen cuts to black, abruptly ending the game. [ 13 ] [ 14 ]
Development [edit ]
According to Playdead co-founder Dino Patti and lead architect Jeppe Carlsen, Playdead ‘s game director, Arnt Jensen, conceived Limbo around 2004. [ 8 ] [ 10 ] At that time, as a concept artist at IO Interactive, Jensen became dissatisfy with the increasingly bodied nature of the party. He had sketched a “ mood image ” of a “ mystery place ” to get ideas, and the solution, similar to the backgrounds of the final game, inspired Jensen to expand on it. [ 3 ] Jensen initially tried on his own to program the game in Visual Basic around 2004, but found he needed more help and proceeded to create an art style trailer by 2006. [ 15 ] He had alone intended to use the trailer as a mean to recruit a programmer to help him, [ 8 ] but the television attracted significant interest in the project from across the Internet, finally leading him to meet with Patti, who was besides dissatisfied with his caper. [ 3 ] Their collaboration led to the initiation of Playdead. [ 3 ] Although Patti helped in the first few months with program, he realised that the project was much larger than the two of them could handle, and Patti developed the commercial enterprise around the game ‘s expanded development. [ 3 ] initial development was funded personally by Jensen and Patti along with danish politics grants, including fund from the scandinavian Game Program, while large investors were sought late in the development cycle. [ 3 ] Jensen and Patti did not want to commit to major publishers, preferring to retain full creative control in developing the title. [ 10 ] Jensen in the first place planned to release Limbo as a free Microsoft Windows title, but by this point, Jensen and Patti decided to make the bet on a retail deed. [ 3 ] Playdead chose to ignore away advice from investors and critics during growth, such as to add multiplayer play and adjustable difficulty levels, and to extend the game ‘s length. According to Patti, Playdead felt these changes would break the integrity of Jensen ‘s original vision. [ 7 ] Patti besides felt that the investors “ tested to control the ship’s company with no functional cognition or respect ”, citing that after Microsoft raised concerns about the death of the son, “ one of the investors suggested we make him appear older by giving him a mustache. ” [ 16 ] numerous iterations of the game took place during a 2+1⁄2-year development cycle, including changes Jensen had demanded to polish the title, [ 7 ] some elements being added two months anterior to the game ‘s release. [ 17 ] Patti stated that they “ trashed 70 % ” of the capacity they had developed, due to it not fitting in well with the context of the game. [ 8 ] The core growth team size was about 8 developers, expanding to 16 at versatile stages with freelancers. [ 18 ] Playdead developed the design tools for Limbo in ocular Studio ; Patti commented they would likely seek third-party applications for their following project given the challenges in creating their own technology. [ 8 ] Patti late revealed they had opted to use the Unity engine for their future plan, citing the development of their customs engine for Limbo as a “ double over product, doing both engine and game ”, and that their Limbo engine is limited to monochromatic visuals. [ 19 ] Limbo was released on 21 July 2010 on the Xbox Live Arcade military service, as the beginning championship in the annually “ Summer of Arcade ” forwarding. [ 20 ] Although the Entertainment Software Rating Board ( ESRB ) had listed entries for Limbo for the PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows platforms, Playdead confirmed that this was a mistake on ESRB ‘s part, and that they had no plans for the crippled on these systems. [ 21 ] Patti later clarified that they had planned on Windows and PlayStation 3 versions alongside the Xbox 360 version initially, but after reviewing their options, decided to go with Xbox 360 exclusivity, in part that “ Microsoft provided us with an excellent opportunity, which included a fortune of support for the title which in the end would mean a better visibility for Limbo ”. [ 22 ] According to manufacturer Mads Wibroe, separate of their decision not to release for the Windows platform was to avoid issues with software piracy, something they could control on the Xbox 360. [ 23 ] Patti stated that staying exclusive with the Xbox chopine was an assurance that they would be able to recoup their investment in the game ‘s development. [ 24 ] [ 25 ] Sony Computer Entertainment administrator Pete Smith stated later that while they had tried to vie with Microsoft for exclusivity for Limbo, Playdead refused to relinquish its intellectual property to Sony as function of the deal. [ 26 ] Patti affirmed that Limbo would not be released for another comfort, but that their future game, already in development as of October 2010, may see wider release. [ 24 ] [ 25 ] however, in June 2011, users found that a preview for Limbo appeared on the Steam software service, which video bet on publications such as PC Gamer took as a preliminary augury that a Microsoft Windows version would be released. [ 27 ] similarly, a possible PlayStation 3 interpretation was projected based on the title appearing on the Korea Media Rating Board in June 2011. [ 28 ] On 30 June 2011, Playdead announced their ports of the game to the PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Network, and to Microsoft Windows via Steam, late set for 19 July and 2 August 2011, respectively. [ 29 ] [ 30 ] Patti clarified that their change of heed from their earlier Xbox 360-exclusive approach was because “ we want as many people to play our games as possible ”. [ 29 ] The unblock was set for about a class after the original handiness of the Xbox 360 version, after the exhalation of the Xbox 360 exclusivity rights for the game. [ 22 ] [ 31 ] Both the PlayStation 3 and Windows versions of the game have extra secret content, according to Patti ; it is unknown if this content will be added in a patch to the Xbox 360 version. [ 32 ] Playdead has since published a Mac OS X interpretation of the game through the Mac App Store in December 2011, fulfilling their promise to release the title before the end of 2011 ; though they had wanted to besides release the Mac Steam translation by then, this adaptation was ultimately delayed to mid January 2012. [ 33 ] [ 34 ] A Linux version of the game, based on a Wine -encapsulated package prepared by CodeWeavers, premiered in the Humble Indie Bundle V charitable sales event in May 2012. [ 35 ] [ 36 ] A native port for Linux was later released on 19 June 2014, with porter Ryan C. Gordon delivery over the Wwise sound recording middleware that previously prevented a native port from being possible. [ 37 ] The PlayStation Vita version of the game was developed by Playdead with aid from the UK studio apartment Double Eleven, and was released in June 2013. [ 38 ] The Vita adaptation does not use the hand-held ‘s touchpad features ; Patti stated that they “ did n’t feel it would suit Limbo at all ” and wanted to provide the “ original feel ” of the crippled to Vita players. [ 39 ] The Vita interpretation has Cross-play support with the PlayStation 3 interpretation, allowing the exploiter to buy the game once to play on either platform. [ 39 ] The io version of the bet on was announced shortly before its release in July 2013, and was designed to optimize the game for habit on the touch screen devices. [ 40 ] In April 2011, an Xbox 360 retail distribution of Limbo alongside early indie games Trials HD and ‘Splosion Man was released. [ 41 ] [ 42 ] Playdead began selling a “ particular edition ” physical transcript of Limbo for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, which included art cards, the game ‘s soundtrack, and anaglyph stereoscopic glasses that work with a especial interpretation of the game to simulate three dimensions. [ 43 ] The title was late ported to the Xbox One console and released in December 2014, with early adopters of the comfort getting the title for free ; Microsoft ‘s Phil Spencer called the title a “ must have played ” game that affected their decision to give the game to the majority of early on adopters. [ 44 ] The Xbox 360 version was added to the Xbox One backwards compatibility lists in November 2016. [ 45 ] A PlayStation 4 version of the game was released in February 2015. [ 46 ] In September 2017, 505 Games published Limbo along with Playdead ‘s following title, Inside, as dual-game retail package for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. [ 47 ] [ 48 ] A version of Limbo was released on the Nintendo Switch on June 28, 2018. [ 49 ]
Story, artwork and music steering [edit ]
From the game ‘s origin, Jensen set out three goals for the final Limbo product. The beginning goal was to create a specific temper and art dash. Jensen wanted to create an aesthetic for the game without resorting to highly detailed three-dimensional models, and rather directed the artwork towards a minimalistic style to allow the development to focus its care on the gameplay. [ 15 ] Jensen ‘s moment goal was to only require two extra controls—jumping and grabbing—outside of the normal left-and-right bowel movement controls, to keep the bet on easy to play. finally, the complete bet on was to present no tutorial text to the actor, requiring players to learn the game ‘s mechanics on their own. [ 50 ] The plot was intentionally developed to avoid revealing details of its content ; the only tagline the ship’s company provided was, “ unsealed of his sister ‘s destiny, a boy enters Limbo. ” [ 51 ] This was chosen therefore that players could interpret the game ‘s mean for themselves. [ 23 ] Some aspects of Limbo bore out from Jensen ‘s own past, such as the forest areas that were similar to forests around the farm where he grew up, and the spider coming from Jensen ‘s arachnophobia. [ 16 ] Jensen drew inspiration from movie genres, including works of film noir, to set the art expressive style of the game ; the team ‘s graphic artist, Morten Bramsen, is credited with recreating that art manner. [ 52 ] [ 53 ] Much of the crippled ‘s menstruate was storyboarded very early in exploitation, such as the male child ‘s encounters with spiders and mind-controlling worms, a well as the overall transition from a forest to a city, then to an abstract environment. [ 3 ] As development progressed, some of the original ideas became besides difficult for the minor team to complete. The storyline besides changed ; originally, the spider sequences were to be present near the end of the game, but were late moved to the first base function. [ 3 ] In review, Jensen was mindful that the first half of the game contained more scripted events and encounters, while the second half of the game was lonelier and puzzle-heavy ; Jensen attributed this to his miss of oversight during the latter stages of development. [ 3 ] Jensen intentionally left the game with an clear ending though with a specific rendition alone he knew, though noted after the game ‘s unblock that some players, posting in forum boards, had suggested resolutions that were “ chilling close ” to his ideas. [ 17 ]
| Limbo | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Soundtrack album by Martin Stig Andersen | |
| Released | 11 July 2011 ( ) |
| Genre | Acousmatic, ambient |
| Length |
19 : 40 |
| Label | Playdead |
| Producer | Martin Stig Andersen |
The game ‘s audio was created by Martin Stig Andersen, a calibrate from the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus. [ 3 ] Andersen ‘s specialization was in acousmatic music, non-traditional music created from generated sounds that have no apparent ocular source. He was drawn to work with Jensen on the crippled after seeing the initial dawdler, having been drawn in by the expressions of the boy character ; Andersen compared the early visuals to his acousmatic music : “ you have something recognizable and realistic, but at the lapp time it ‘s outline ”. [ 54 ] Andersen sought to create acousmatic music entirely incorporating the sound effects of the bet on ‘s environments. Two examples he pointed to was the practice of electricity noises while in the bearing of a ruin neon “ HOTEL ” polarity, [ 3 ] and silencing the wreathe sound as the spider approached the son in the forest. [ 55 ] Andersen avoided the consumption of well recognizable sounds, distorting them when needed as to allow players to interpret the sounds ‘ meanings for themselves. [ 54 ] Andersen constructed most of the game ‘s sounds through a number of “ grains ” rather of longer voice loops, allowing him to adjust the playback to give better feedback to the actor without sounding repetitive ; one model he cites was the function of distinguish sounds for the son ‘s toe and heel when they make touch with the labor, giving a more naturalistic good for motion. [ 56 ] many reviews for the game stated that there was no music in Limbo, but Andersen countered that his sound arrangements helped to evoke emotions ; the acousmatic music was intended to leave board for interpretation by the player in the same manner as the plot ‘s art and story. [ 3 ] Andersen noted that this helps with ingress within the game by making no attempt to control the aroused tone ; “ if [ the players are ] scared it will credibly make them more frightened when there ‘s no music to take them by the hand and tell them how to feel ”. [ 54 ] due to fans ‘ requests, Playdead released the game ‘s soundtrack on iTunes Store on 11 July 2011. [ 31 ] [ 57 ]
Read more: David Prowse
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | “Menu” | 3:10 |
| 2. | “Boys’ Fort” | 2:17 |
| 3. | “City” | 3:38 |
| 4. | “Rotating Room” | 3:02 |
| 5. | “Sister” | 3:21 |
| 6. | “Gravity Jump” | 4:12 |
| sum distance : | 19:40 | |
Gameplay direction [edit ]
Limbo ‘s puzzles, speaking at the 2011 Game Developers Conference Jeppe Carlsen, the lead couturier forpuzzles, speaking at the 2011 Game Developers Conference The gameplay was the second element created for the game, following the graphics created by Jensen. [ 17 ] The gameplay was created and refined using fundamental graphic elements to establish the types of puzzles they wanted to have, but aware of how these elements would be presented to the musician in the released interpretation. [ 17 ] Limbo was designed to avoid the pitfalls of major titles, where the same gameplay automobile mechanic is used repeatedly. [ 3 ] Carlsen, initially brought aboard as a programmer for the custom game engine, became the lead graphic designer after Playdead found him to be capable at creating puzzles. [ 3 ] Carlsen stated that the puzzles within Limbo were designed to “ [ keep ] you guessing all the way through ”. [ 10 ] Jensen besides wanted to make the puzzles feel like a natural separate of the environment, and to avoid the feeling that the player was just moving from puzzle to puzzle through the course of the game. [ 3 ] Carlsen identified examples of puzzles from early games that he wanted to avoid. He wanted to avoid simple puzzles that gave the player little atonement in its solution, such as a puzzle in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves that involved merely moving a sun-lit mirror to specific points in a room. In contrast, Carlsen wanted to avoid making the puzzle indeed building complex with many separate parts that the player would resort to trial-and-error and finally come out with the solution without thinking about why the solution worked ; Carlsen used an case of a puzzle from the 2008 Prince of Persia game that had seven different mechanics that he never bothered to figure out himself. [ 58 ] [ 59 ] Carlsen designed Limbo ‘s puzzles to fall between these limits, demonstrating one puzzle that alone has three elements : a switch jury, an electrify floor, and a chain ; the goal—to use the chain to cross the electrify floor—is immediately obvious to the player, and then tasks the player to determine the right combination of moves and timing to complete it safely. [ 59 ] They much had to strip off elements to make the puzzles more enjoyable and easier to figure out. [ 17 ] The decision to provide little information to the actor was an initial challenge in creating the game. From their initial consortium of about 150 playtesters, several would have no mind of how to solve sealed puzzles. [ 17 ] To improve this, they created scenarios before troublesome spots that highlighted the appropriate actions ; for model, when they found players did not think about pulling a gravy boat onto shore to use as a platform to reach a higher ledge, they presented the player with a box-pulling perplex earlier to demonstrate the pull mechanics. [ 50 ] The team developed the game ‘s puzzles by first gear assuming the actor was “ their own worst enemy ”, and made puzzles arsenic devious as possible, but then scaled back their difficulty or added ocular and audible aids as if the player was a friend. [ 50 ] One model given by Carlsen is a puzzle involving a spider early in the crippled ; the solution requires pushing a behave ambush to snare the spider ‘s leg in it. early design of this puzzle had the yield trap on the lapp screen as the spider, and Playdead found playtesters focused excessively a lot on the trap. The developers altered the perplex to put the trap in a tree in an earlier off-screen section when facing the spider ; the spider ‘s actions would finally cause this trap to drop to the ground and become a weapon against the spider. Carlsen stated that this arrangement created a position where the player felt helpless when initially presented with the deadly spider, but then assisted the musician through an audible prompt when the trap had dropped, enabling the musician to discover the solution. [ 50 ] One animator was dedicated full-time during three years of the game ‘s growth to work out the male child ‘s animations, including animations that showed anticipation on the player ‘s actions or events in the game, such as reaching out for a haul handle as the player moved the boy near it. [ 17 ] Jensen felt this was important as the character was always at the center of the actor ‘s screen, and the most authoritative element to watch. [ 17 ] Playdead included ghastly death sequences to highlight wrong solutions and deter players from repeating their mistakes. [ 50 ] While they expected players to run the son into numerous deaths while trying solutions, Carlsen stated that their finish was to ensure death was n’t a penalty in the plot, and made the death animations entertaining to keep the actor matter to. [ 50 ] Carlsen noted respective early puzzles were excessively complex for the game, but they would end up using a parcel of these larger puzzles in the final examination release. [ 50 ]
reception [edit ]
Limbo ‘s initial spill on the Xbox 360 has received applaud from video game critics and journalists ; the subsequent publish of the game for the PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows platforms received alike praise, holding Metacritic aggregate scores of 90/100 and 88/100, respectively, compared to the 90/100 earned by the Xbox 360 translation. [ 51 ] [ 60 ] [ 61 ] Some journalists compared Limbo to former minimalist platform games such as Another World, Flashback, Heart of Darkness, Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, Ico, Portal and Braid. [ 69 ] [ 72 ] [ 73 ] [ 74 ] [ 75 ] Reviews systematically noted Limbo ‘s short length for its higher sell price : two to five hours of gameplay for 15 euros or 15 U.S. dollars. Reviewers asserted this length-to-price ratio was the largest drawback for the game, and would be a hindrance for potential buyers. [ 11 ] [ 4 ] [ 68 ] [ 76 ] Some journalists contended that the length of the game was ideal ; [ 76 ] The Daily Telegraph ‘s Tom Hoggins considered the brusque game to have a “ perfectly formed run time ”, [ 77 ] while Daemon Hatfield of IGN commented that “ it ‘s better for a game to leave us wanting more than to overstay its welcome ”. [ 4 ] Numerous mugwump game developers, in an form “ size Does n’t Matter ” campaign, commented on the critical reaction to Limbo ‘s length-to-price proportion. The independent developers questioned the need to quantify that ratio, and noted that it only seems to be used as a gene in judging video games and not other forms of entertainment such as films. [ 78 ] Limbo was by and large praised for its puzzle invention and the simplicity of its controls. Jake Gaskill of G4 television receiver was impressed by the complexity of the puzzles based on the two simpleton actions of jump and grabbing onto objects, similar to LittleBigPlanet, with a assortment of elements to assure “ you ‘re constantly facing something new and ambitious ” during the game. [ 6 ] Game Informer ‘s Matt Miller commented that function of the success of Limbo is that “ every one of these [ puzzles ] stands alone ” ; the game accomplishes this in Miller ‘s opinion by varying the elements throughout the game, and preventing the musician from getting excessively accustomed to similar solutions since “ everything changes ”. [ 67 ] GameSpy ‘s Ryan Scott believed that the game empowered the player to work through solutions themselves, and its perplex purpose, “ with its elegant chasteness, offers up what feels like a world of meaningful possibilities ”. [ 69 ] The frequency of death was not considered a distraction from the game ; not entirely were the deaths seen deoxyadenosine monophosphate necessity as partially of teach and overcoming each obstacle, [ 75 ] [ 79 ] but reviewers found the checkpoints where the player would restart to be bountiful throughout the game. [ 11 ] Will Freeman of The Guardian praised the game but noted that beyond the “ smoke and mirrors ” of Limbo ‘s artwork, the game is “ undermined by the title ‘s miss of advanced gameplay ”, which he says has been seen in earlier platform games. [ 80 ]
display [edit ]
Limbo ‘s graphic and audio presentation were considered by reviewers as exceeding and potent elements of the game. The monochrome approach, coupled with film granulate filter, focusing techniques and lighting, were compared to both film noir and dreamlike tableau of silent films, allowing the ocular elements of the game to carry much of the floor ‘s weight. [ 4 ] [ 81 ] [ 82 ] Cian Hassett of PALGN likened the effect to watching the game through an antique film projector that creates “ one of the most faze and eerily beautiful environments ” in television bet on. [ 70 ] Garrett Martin of the Boston Herald compared the art style and plot design decisions to german expressionism with “ dreamlike levels that twist and spin in unexpected angles ”. [ 20 ] The art style itself was praised as minimalistic, and considered evocative of the art of Lotte Reiniger, Edward Gorey, Fritz Lang, and Tim Burton. [ 52 ] [ 81 ] [ 83 ] The habit of mismanagement in the visuals was besides praised, such as by using silhouettes to avoid revealing the true nature of the characters or shadows, or by showing human figures across a chasm who disappear once the musician crossed the chasm. [ 84 ] Reviewers found the sound effects within the game critical to the plot ‘s impingement. Sam Machkovech, writing for The Atlantic, called the phone focus, “ far more colored and constituent than the fuzzed-out looks would lead you to believe ”. [ 85 ] Edge magazine ‘s review noted that the few backdrop noises “ [ do ] little else than lend towards Limbo ’ s spirit ”, while the sound effects generated by moving the son fictional character “ are given an eerie clearness without the presence of a conventional soundtrack to cover them ”. [ 66 ] IGN ‘s Hatfield concluded his review by stating, “ very few games are as original, atmospheric, and systematically brilliant as Limbo ”. [ 4 ] Chad Sapeiha of The Globe and Mail summarised his opinion of the game ‘s atmosphere as an “ intensely chilling, queerly beautiful, and immediately arresting aesthetic. ” [ 5 ] Limbo is said to be the first bet on to attempt a shuffle of the horror fiction genre with platform games. [ 77 ] [ 84 ] The game has been considered an art game through its ocular and audio elements. [ 5 ] [ 20 ] [ 80 ] [ 86 ]
plot [edit ]
The game ‘s floor and its ending have been open to much interpretation ; [ 5 ] the ending was intentionally left undefined and unanswered by Playdead. [ 7 ] It was compared to other open-ended books, films and video games, where the spectator is left to interpret what they have read or seen. [ 69 ] [ 87 ] Some reviews suggested that the game is a representation of the religious nature of Limbo or purgatory, as the boy character completes the travel only to end at the lapp place he started, repeating the same journey when the player starts a new game. [ 77 ] Another interpretation suggested the game is the boy ‘s travel through Hell to reach Heaven, or to find closure for his sister ‘s end. [ 13 ] Another theory considers that either the boy or his sister or both are dead. [ 13 ] Some theories attempted to incorporate details from the crippled, such as the change in setting as the boy travels through the crippled suggesting the progress of man from child to adult to elder, or the similarities and differences between the final screen of the crippled where the boy meets a daughter and the main menu where what could be human remains stand in their places. [ 13 ] The absence of direct narrative, such as through cutscenes or in-game text, was a interracial indicate for reviewers. John Teti of Eurogamer considered the game ‘s base history to be metaphorical for a “ narrative of a search for company ”, and that the few encounters with homo characters served as “ emotional touchstones ” that drove the narrative advancing ; ultimately, Teti stated that these elements make Limbo “ a game that has very few humans, but a excess of world ”. [ 11 ] Hatfield praised the simplicity of the game ‘s report, commenting that, “ with no text, no negotiation, and no explanation, it manages to communicate circumstance and causality to the player more merely than most games ”. [ 4 ] Both Teti and Hatfield noted that some of the narrative elements were weaker in the second half of the game, when there are about no homo characters with whom the player comes into contact, but that the game ends with an unexpected revelation. [ 11 ] [ 4 ] GameSpot ‘s Tom McShae found no issues with the game posing questions on “ death versus life and reality versus ambition ”, but intentionally providing no answers for them, allowing the musician to contemplate these on their own. [ 68 ] McShae besides considered that the brief but ghastly death scenes for the boy helped to create an “ emotional immediacy that is unmanageable to forget ”. [ 68 ] The New York Daily News ‘ Stu Horvath noted that Limbo “ turns its lack of obvious narrative into one of the most compelling riddles in videogames ”. [ 88 ] other reviews disliked the lack of floor or its presentation within Limbo. Justin Haywald of 1UP.com was critical of the lacking narrative, feeling that the game failed to explain the function of the reconstruct traps or rationale for how the game ‘s world worked, and that the final work left him “ more baffled than when [ he ] began ”. Haywald had contrasted Limbo to Braid, a similar platform game with minimalistic elements which communicates its metaphorical story to the musician through in-game textbook. [ 89 ] Roger Hargreaves of Metro stated that the game has “ very little evidence that [ Playdead ] in truth knew where they were going with the game ”, citing the second half, when the player is traveling through a factory-type setting and where he felt the game became more like a typical planar platform game, and led to an anticlimactic ending ; Hargreaves contrasted this to more ghastly elements of the first half, such as encountering corpses of children and having to use those as part of the puzzle-solving aspects. [ 90 ]
Sales and accolades [edit ]
Before its passing, Limbo was awarded both the “ technical excellence ” and “ Excellence in Visual Art ” titles at the Independent Games Festival during the 2010 Game Developers Conference. [ 91 ] At E3 2010 —about a month before its release— Limbo won GameSpot ‘s “ Best Downloadable Game ”, [ 92 ] and was nominated for several other “ Best of Show ” awards, including “ Best Platformer ” by IGN, [ 93 ] “ Most original bet on ” by G4 television, [ 94 ] and “ Best Puzzle Game ” by GameSpot. [ 95 ] The bet on was nominated as one of 32 finalists at the 2010 IndieCade festival for mugwump developers, ultimately winning the “ Sound ” award. [ 96 ] [ 97 ] Following its liberation, Limbo was named “ Game of the year ”, “ Best indie Game ”, and “ Best Visual Art ” at the 2010 european Milthon Awards during the Paris Game Show in September 2010. [ 98 ] Game Informer named Limbo their plot of the Month for August 2010. [ 67 ] Limbo was awarded the “ Best Indie Game ” at the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards. [ 99 ] The game received the most nominations for the 11th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, earning seven nominations including for the “ Best Debut Game ”, “ invention ”, and “ Game of the year ” awards, [ 100 ] and ultimately won for “ Best Visual Art ”. [ 101 ] The style won the “ Adventure Game of the year ” and “ Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design ” Interactive Achievement Awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and was nominated for “ Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction ” and “ Outstanding Innovation in Gaming ”. [ 102 ] [ 103 ] The Academy besides named Limbo as the achiever of the 2010 Indie Game Challenge award in the “ Professional ” class, along with a $ 100,000 loot. [ 104 ] [ 105 ] The game was selected as the 2010 Annie Award for Best Animated Video Game. [ 106 ] Limbo was named as one of ten games for the publicly vote 2011 “ Game of the year ” BAFTA Video Game Awards. [ 107 ] In addition, the game was nominated for the committee-determined BAFTA awards for “ aesthetic accomplishment ”, “ Use of Audio ”, “ Gameplay ” and “ Best game ”. [ 108 ] The inclusion of the independently developed Limbo among other larger commercially backed games such as Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood and Call of Duty: Black Ops for such “ Best game ” awards is considered an indication that the video game diligence has started to give more recognition to these smaller titles. [ 108 ] several publications, including Time, [ 109 ] Wired [ 110 ] and the Toronto Sun [ 111 ] placed Limbo as one of the top ten-spot video games of 2010. IGN named it the third best Xbox Live Arcade title of all time in two lists, published in 2010 and 2011, in both cases following Shadow Complex and Pac Man Championship Edition. [ 112 ] [ 113 ] Limbo was spoofed by the drollery troope Mega64 during the 2011 Game Developers Conference, [ 114 ] and late by the CollegeHumor baby web site, Dorkly. [ 115 ] Within two weeks of its exhaust on Xbox Live Arcade, Limbo gained more than 244,000 players to the global leaderboards—a rough measure of wide sales of the game—which was considered an “ fabulously impressive feat ” compared to former Xbox Live Arcade titles, according to GamerBytes ‘ Ryan Langley. [ 116 ] Within a calendar month of its free, more than 300,000 copies of the game were sold. [ 50 ] By the end of August 2010, the number of players on the global leaderboard grew to 371,000, exceeding the number of players of other Summer of Arcade games released in 2009, and approaching the number of life players of Braid, released two years earlier. Langley, who had expected Limbo ‘s sales to fall “ due to the miss of repeatable message and being a strictly unmarried musician experience ”, considered that these figures had “ beaten everyone ’ s expectations ”. [ 117 ] Phil Spencer, the Vice-President of Microsoft Game Studios, stated in September 2010 that Limbo was “ our numeral one Summer of Arcade game by a long stretch ”, and further posed that Limbo represents a shift in the type of crippled that gamers want out of on-line on-demand game services ; “ it ‘s becoming less about iconic [ intellectual property ] that people know and it ‘s becoming more diverse ”. [ 118 ] Limbo was the third-highest selling Xbox Live Arcade deed in 2010, selling 527,000 and generating about $ 7.5 million in tax income. [ 119 ] In March 2011, Microsoft listed Limbo as the 11th-highest sell game to go steady on Xbox Live. [ 120 ] Playdead stated that more than two million users on the Xbox 360 servicing played through the show within the class of the game ‘s dismissal. [ 22 ] The developers announced that as of November 2011, they had sold over 1 million copies of the game across the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Microsoft Windows platforms. [ 33 ] By June 2013, just prior to the io secrete, Playdead announced that total sales of Limbo across all platforms exceeded 3 million. [ 40 ] The PlayStation 3 version was the crown sell third-party downloadable game on the PlayStation Network service in 2011. [ 121 ] The PlayStation 3 translation was besides voted “ Best Indie Game ” in the 2012 PSN Gamers ‘ Choice Awards. [ 122 ] The Mac OS X version of Limbo was awarded with Apple ‘s Design Award in 2012. [ 123 ] Applications for grants from the scandinavian Game Program, which had funded Limbo ‘s initial development, increased 50 % in the second half of 2010, believed to be tied to the game ‘s success. [ 124 ] Playdead was able to buy itself back from its investors in August 2011 from the tax income made from sales of Limbo. [ 125 ] Playdead ‘s follow-up title, Inside, first released in June 2016, is visually and thematically similar to Limbo, and includes some elements that were cut from Limbo ‘s development. [ 126 ]