Limbo

Having been scolded earlier by visose for even daring to touch my Xbox rather than type code, I decided to put some oil on the flames. Most of the games I bought for my Xbox have been somewhat of a let-down. Mirror’s Edge, good concept, but too repetitive (and bloody ninjas). Just Cause II, way too repetitive and even more bloody fucking ninjas. Battlefield 3, utter bunkum, as previously mentioned, despite having no ninjas.

Now however I have finally been able to download Limbo by the small Danish game development studio Playdead. Limbo is both gorgeous and highly sinister. As a software developer I’m very impressed by the minimalistic approach. There are only six controls (left, right, up, down, jump & action), yet the versatility of the main character is quite amazing. There is nothing on the screen except the playing field. No health-bars, no compasses, no maps, no text, no music, hell not even colours. Truly a Zen-experience.

The game is also pretty damn bleak. The main character is clearly a young boy, and the best way, indeed, sometimes the only way, to find out new information about the levels is to kill him in innovative ways. Pretty much every entity you come across —including other young boys— will unfailingly try to murder him as well. Most deaths are fairly gruesome and the sheer frequency with which they occur turn the gaming experience into a decidedly Kafkaesque interpretation of Limbo.