Limbo by Danish game developer Playdead points to the serious inroads that small download only games are making into rejuvenating a tired and repetitive games industry.
Variety in games from around Playstation 2 onwards seemed to have been taking a seriously generous amount of holiday time but thankfully it appears that download only content may change that. There were of course always unique games dotted about the landscape, games like Ico for instance but for a long time they seemed to be drowning in a sea of space marine/counter terrorist first person shooters and free roaming hooker killing simulators.
With a download only market available for developers to exploit smaller less ambitious games can be made. Distribution and promotion costs are less. So inevitably there is less to lose on a flop. When there is not as much of a gamble on every game developers can afford to experiment as opposed to adopting the Rockstar approach of throwing 100million at a desert hooker killing simulator where the main character handles like a shopping trolley with only three wheels. Limbo on the other hand probably cost about 0.5% what Red Dead Redemption cost to make and yet it remains easily the more memorable of the two.
Playing Limbo is ridiculously easy to get the hang of and even easier to get drawn in by. Anyone who has played Braid will appreciate this game. The world of Limbo has an incredibly familiar feel without a single line of text or any onscreen icons to suggest what the player is supposed to be doing. It is essentially a playable example of the Roald Dahl/ Brothers Grimm school of fairytales.
Criticism for the game seems to be squarely aimed at its price to length ratio and admittedly it is frustrating how short the game is, coming in at just under two hours. On Xbox live this will set you back 15 euros worth of Microsoft points so its not exactly cheap but even with its brevity and cost taken into consideration it is still highly recommended to anyone looking for a great story that they already know.
Posts
