Limbo: A beautiful and horrible experience

(Artical was originally part of assessment for a narrantology/ludology module for my postgraduate)

I started playing a game called Limbo; it’s a small indie game that’s gotten a good reputation from fans. It’s a beautiful looking game that sets the environment up perfectly, with its minimalist scenery and monotone colours. Everything on screen matches the beautiful but depressing path the boy character follows.

But what surprised me the most was the amount of attachment I had gained in the first 60seconds of gameplay. A boy wakes up in a forest. The smooth running animation glides you across the grass to the next scene. My first reaction was ‘awww how sweet, I’m going to love this game’. I see something on the floor, I go to investigate but get too close. The bear trap snaps shut around the boy’s body which ricochets like a rag doll with the force, decapitating him with a small squirt of blood. It happens so fast it makes me jump. My mouth just dropped, I was in complete shock and within 60seconds of me starting the game, it had managed to make me feel guilty. I shouted ‘IM SO SORRY!’ at the little boy. This theme continues throughout the game but never seems to get old. I felt so attached to this boy; I felt so much responsibility towards his survival. When he fell from a tree and broke his legs, when he got flattened by a rolling boulder, when his convulsing body drowned in a small pond, I had exactly the same reaction each time.

It’s got nothing to do with the graphic deaths. I've played games with much more gore than this. Nor has it anything to do with the death of a child, this concept isn’t one of much horror to me. It is however completely down to the atmosphere the environment makes. The simplicity of each scene draws all your attention to the death, it allows for no visual dilution. The smoothness and fluidity of the boy’s animations are in contrast with the large, sparse surroundings making him seem far more vulnerably and human like. The death events can happen so quick that in less than a second you’re left with nothing, and the boy always dies in one hit. I think this is a fantastic example as to how effective spatial use can be in games, compared to any other medium in which it barely exists at all. This game would not be viable in any other format.