Limbo
As Steve Jobs tightens his iStranglehold on our home planet and street-side cafes internationally endure the regret of free wireless offers, Apple’s docile takeover of humanity is slowly revealing an upside in the form of indie game production. With all the pods and tablets being released every year comes huge opportunity for independent developers to flex their creative muscles, leading to plenty of fresh ideas and a metric plethora of new games in a wide range of flavours.
Whilst Playdead’s first entry into the indie market is currently only available for the Xbox 360, it’s sheer brilliance is a testament to how much the gaming industry as a whole is benefiting from the letter ‘i’ and a unified defiance of the prevalent ‘bigger-is-better’ format seen in most recent general releases. Having only sat down with Limbo for a couple of hours I’m not yet privy to the full extent of its genius, but I will say that short time was enough to convince me of its certified classic potential and status as a new benchmark for art direction in gaming. It’s escapism meets problem-solving at its best as you guide an innocent young man through a beautiful and sinister environment, bending your brain in ways you never thought possible every step of the way. By avoiding blockbuster explosions, cheesy dialogue and alternative soundtracks, Playdead have created a minimalistic and engaging masterpiece that is more than worthy of your time.
The demo is available now on Xbox Live, but I suggest you just blindly purchase the full game instead of wasting your money on trivial expenditures like ‘Rent’ and ‘Food’.
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