Last blog post so let's make it a good one...

I'll start off by saying I was so happy to play Limbo because it has what I consider the most important quality for a horror video game: atmosphere. The vastness of the forest contrasted with the tiny stature of the boy, made me feel powerless, like something bigger was looming over me, waiting to strike. The fuzzy black and white reminded me of watching David Lynch's Eraserhead, giving the game a similar creepy vibe. The game was almost completely silent, save for the slight crunch of footsteps, sliding logs or swinging ropes.

But it wasn't just that the surroundings looked and felt scary -- they were actually the threat. From spike pits to drowning pools to entrapping webs, it felt like the whole environment was conspiring to kill the little hero I controlled (often in ways that would have been quite graphic if not for the silhouette nature of the graphics). That's another important point: the game is not just in black white, but plays with light and shadow. We really only see the shadowy outline of our character, so he almost blends in with the ground and the trees.

Even though dark sinister world I found myself in left me anxious, I still felt curious and wanted to explore. Running ahead blindly, searching for the 11 hidden points, my recklessness meant I walked straight into traps many times. But I think that's the charm of the game -- the immense and enthralling world call to be discovered, so that the lurking dangers sit in the back of your mind until it's too late. This made the many gruesome deaths I suffered all the more shocking. Especially the final one! What a cruel, cruel ending to a demo, I almost bought the game then and there. But I think it was just more than mere marketing leaving the boy's life in our hands that way -- it put the player's role in the game into perspective. Not as an observer, or a controller, but as a guardian, trying to keep the boy from falling astray into traps and hazards. It almost felt like instead of making the boy traverse the forest, I was intervening from the forest killing him, like a benevolent protector lending a guiding hand.