Developed by PlayDead Games, A downloadable title for PSN and XBLA.
A boy tries to rescue his sister from what is essentially Hell.
While similarities can unavoidably be drawn to Braid, the Indie-produced but super-successful genre-subverting platformer, there is more than meets the eye to Limbo.
It's clever use of monochrome and light within the game highlights the obstacles in a clear 'one-at-a-time' way, so much that it holds your attention and doesn't divert from the core principles of the game. The physics system also looks pretty robust, and would be interesting to see if any object manipulation is used at any point to take advantage of this.
I am loving the regeneration of 2D platformers at the moment - I truly think this was a lost genre in the advent of the 'true 3D' era brought on by the original Playstation, N64 and Dreamcast consoles. Now developers are given a platform to produce cheaper, less time-consuming games in the forms of the downloadable networks, it is giving them more opportunities to experiment and go back to basics. If the game reaches minor success, they have made a quick buck with not a massive loss of expense. If not, they have at least used the game as a test, or precursor to use similar ideas in a more polished 'blockbuster' game. Watching producers and creators use the download networks as a playground is really interesting, and if it turns up more gems like 'Limbo', I am all for it.
