Why LIMBO Is My Favorite Indie Game Of All Time!

Gaming is something that holds a very special place in my heart because I have been playing games since I was maybe like 10 and I have played some really cool and popular classics like Contra,Super Mario Bros,PacMan,etc,and so many more and I still remember how much I enjoyed them.Some of my best memories are me playing games.Even today,most of those experiences feel so fresh and It is kind of sad that now days it is pretty much impossible to get that feeling.But those feelings come back here and there and are not completely gone.There are still some special games that pop up that are at another level!And I have noticed on multiple occasions that some of the best games are actually made by individual groups or creators instead of a massive corporation.I remember that a few years back,I really started getting into horror and searched the entire web for good horror games and I found so many amazing titles that I played and enjoyed to the fullest but The one game that is the most special to me is Limbo.

Limbo was probably the first game that I ever played that was made my an Independent game studio and I never even Imagined that I would love it so much, that I would go on a quest to play even more Indie Games.This was the game that broke me out of the box that confined me to big games and allowed me to search for hidden gems.
What is Limbo?Well Limbo is actually nothing but a very dark puzzle-platformer video game developed the by the Danish Independent studio PlayDead and was released on July 2010.It has a very in-depth 2.5D side scrolling environment that also incorporates realistic physics system that governs the player and all the objects in the environment.The puzzles in the game are designed by the developers in such a way that forces the players to fail at least once before they actually figure a way around it which is what makes the majority of the gameplay.The game opened up to critical acclaim by both critics and audiences and honestly when I played it the very first time,I was blown away by the experience!By the time the game ended,I was shivering and my heart was beating faster and that ending is so abrupt and so beautiful all at the same time which only expanded my imagination as I started to form my thoughts and possibilities about the happenings in the game.

The Criptic Story!
Limbo is different in a way that it does not really have a story,at least not in the more traditional sense.The story-telling style here is rather minimalistic. The only real information that is given is in the game's Steam Page that states "Uncertain of his sister's fate, a boy enters LIMBO."
Now that is all the information that is given and game has no dialogues or cut-scenes. Instead the story is told through the events in the game and the changing environment in the game and most of it is left up to the players imaginations.The events of the game show a very bleak world where things are very messed up and this young boy is going against all odds to survive and look for his sister.I always love games that follow this very different and unique approach to story-telling and leave things rather open ended which really pushes the aspect of theorizing.And Limbo is a game that is very hard to even make theories on because how random and bizarre are the events of the game.Its almost as if the player is thrown in this world that is basically a test that they have to overcome, a world that makes no sense realistically, almost as if it is some other dimension.And the ending is so shivering,beautiful,strong,emotional and thought provoking because of its abrupt nature.

The Gameplay,Puzzles,Shifting Environment

The Dark And Gloomy Environment and Atmosphere!

The gameplay mechanics of the game are very simple and straight-forward because of its 2.5D nature.The player can move left and right and can jump and climb ladders and can interact with a very few objects like boxes,hanging ropes,levers,stone boulders and carts which helps the player to navigate through the environment and solve the puzzles.The game has a surprisingly realistic physics engine that plays a very important role in moving through some complicated obstacles and solve lots of gravitational puzzles late in the game.The atmosphere is very dark and gloomy but has a very strong lightning effect that provides an amazing contrast and almost gives it a 'Light at the end of the tunnel' vibe to it.The sound design is also very minimalistic and has minimal ambient sounds that help to create a very eerie and haunting atmosphere that is very immersive.The Dark environment and shadows hide monsters and Traps that can kill the players very easily if not careful.It also has a white shiny brain control worm that when attached to the characters head can force the player to move only in one fixed direction.
The environment is amazing and the way the environment shifts is very well done along with the direction.The game starts in a huge open forest with simple traps like bear traps and very simple navigation but the more it progresses,the jungle environment starts to fade away and gets replaced with more mechanical city environment that are more harder to navigate and the puzzles get more mechanical by implementing weird gravitational and magnetic aspects to them and the traps get replaced with motion based machine guns,circular saws and electronic lines that are more dangerous and harder to pass.
The puzzles of the game are so well designed which makes them really fun and satisfying to solve.The puzzles are not very complicated and hard but still require some brain usage.Playdead has called the puzzle style as 'Trial & Death' which means that the players will need to fail some puzzles before they understand how they work.Sometimes the player may get stuck in a puzzle but once they figure out the solution,they will laugh at themselves because the solution was very easy and right in front of their eyes.The puzzles are more raw and simple physics based in the first half and turn into more complex gravitational and magnetic puzzles in the second altering the experience and keeping things a lot more fresh.Again,I was very impressed by the game's usage of realistic physics.

The Amazing Art-Style

The thing that really got me into this game is the masterful art-style of the game that is very pleasing to the eye.Visually,the game represents itself through dark Grey-scale colour graded graphics and very minimalistic ambient sounds that give the game a very mysterious and nervous atmosphere aided by some film grain and depth effects.The visuals strike the eye immediately because of how different it looks.I think Limbo is the easiest example of Video Games being Art.Some of the elements in the game like the dense forest and the Spider are directly inspired from the game director Arnt Jensen's own past since they are similar to the forests near the farms he grew up in and the spider(minor spoiler) being the direct out come of his arachnophobia.The game almost feels like an alive painting and you are always emotionally connected to do this boy even though he never says anything and has a fixed facial expression.The art makes for a very immersive experience and I absolutely loved it!The art style was heavily inspired by noir films.

The Sound Design

The audio was created by Martin Stig Anderson who was drawn to the work of Jensen after watching the first trailer for the game specially because of the boy characters's expression.The audio in the game along with the music is very unique because the game avoids the more traditional and recognizable sounds and distorts them so that player can figure what it is on his/her own and give his/her own meaning to the sounds.The most impressive thing about the soundtrack is that it is part of the physical gameplay elements of the game.There is so much detail in the subtle ambient sounds throughout the game.The Music has its own emotions attached to it and compliments the gameplay incredibly without compromising the emotions of the gameplay itself.I have to say that the Limbo has the best Soundtrack I have ever heard and it always brings tears to my eyes and makes me shiver.It is a masterpiece on its own.This SoundTrack made me a fan of the Dark-Ambient music Genre and Martin Stig Anderson did an amazing job.The game literally has a secret level that is completely dark and has a mix of all the Traps in the game and is completley Sound based as the player has to figure out the position of the traps based on the sound they make in the pitch black!
CLICK HERE to listen to the soundtrack that will blow your mind!But only people who have played the game can relate to it.

What more can I say about Limbo,It is such a beautiful game and there were moments when I just froze mid-game just to appreciate the gorgeous art style and scenery in the background.Never ever I thought that a Monochrome game can be this vivid.This game is a Masterpiece and everyone should play it before they die since it is just a little over 2 hours long.Limbo has a special place in my heart and it was an experience I can never forget.Headphones are a must to play this masterpiece!

For Trailer CLICK HERE!