The first title from indie team Playdead, LIMBO (2010) marked the arrival of this studio to the gaming world.
It's since launched the outstanding INSIDE (2016), which we rate as one of the best indie games of all time. You can see where that came from. LIMBO may not be as complete an experience, but it's still an incredible horror game.
Dark and Disturbing Horror in LIMBO
LIMBO is a classic example as to why the indie game scene has grown so much since 2010. The concept here is deceptively simple, but stunningly effective.
On first glance some gamers may dismiss it as a basic 2D platformer.
That's how it begins in its opening phase. But what builds and builds is so deep, dark, and disturbingly effective. A macabre horror masterpiece that sends shivers down your spine all right. It's a spooky one!
Your mysterious boy, who awakes in a misty forest with no explanation, runs to the right. In tense, brooding fashion you avoid horrifying spiders and locals—everyone, and everything, is hellbent on killing you.
There's one hour of gameplay overall. Just over, actually, but in that time LIMBO established itself as a modern classic.
It's classed as a puzzle-platformer, a concept so successful the likes of Planet of Lana (2023) are still trying to replicate the formula (just not as effectively as Playdead).
The style of play was classed by the studio as "trial and death". It's a bit like Prince of Persia (1989) back in the good old days of gaming... when gamers were PURE and TRUE and character deaths were gruesome and horrifying.
The boy will be squished plenty good.
But as the player you learn from trial and error and on you progress on, solve puzzles, and get creeped the hell out by Playdead's brilliant sense of dread and tension.
Everything wrapped about that is minimalistic. On a smaller budget, the graphics are monochrome and scaled back. Composer Martin Stig Andersen's work is also subtle, often absent until it needs to swell up in the background to freak you out.
We're pleased to confirm LIMBO was a big hit, earning the Danish studio over $7 million in revenue. It's available on everything to this day. Consoles, PC, mobiles etc.
That success allowed Playdead to improve on the experience with INSIDE, making the latter the game we highly recommend. It's phenomenal.
But LIMBO is unquestionably brilliant. Critically acclaimed in 2010, the only criticism remains with the short playing time and open-ended nature of the plot.
We've pointed out often in the past how extensive narratives in big blockbuster games tend to spoil the gameplay for us (Witcher 3 we're looking at you) so we have no problem with that.
The endless cutscenes. The tedious dialogue. The movie-like experience for a video game. All of that's absent here.
It's just you and what lurks in the depths of LIMBO. It's genuinely unnerving as a game and certainly deserves the awards it bagged back in 2010. That included various Indie Game of the Year and even Game of the Year nominations and wins.
Again, since 2010 it pales in comparison to the scope of INSIDE and other indie titles. But LIMBO's reputation as a landmark piece of gaming is well deserved.
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