Limbo is the Future of Gaming

From the PlanetXbox360.com feature editorial:

"Where titles like Flower, Braid or Shadow of the Colossus would have been the most relatable games to leap to mind when thinking of examples of digital artistry, they have since been superseded, at least in my mind, by Limbo. Not that the game is now the end all beat all of what gamers should expect or use as a textbook example when comparing the medium to things like film, literature and painting, but it does advance the overall paradigm of ‘games as art’ progressively well. By offering gamers a chance to solve puzzles in a grim, ghastly world filled to the brim with the macabre, the main character – a nameless boy – becomes all the more endearing to us."

[UltimaEnder]

Have to agree with the author - loved Limbo and look forward to future games that do the same type of thing for the emotions!

[jaytv-pyro]

you can become a game designer and make Limbo in LBP & LBP2

[himdeel]

...the future of gaming CANNOT be 2/3-D platforming. We already did that and it's called the golden age of video games.

[Downtown boogey]

That was absolute BS.
No concrete conceit to re-enforce that statement. Just saying why it's a good game in it's proportional ways.
Like Eddy Raja below said, Demon's Souls is a much better example of a corresponding 'challengingly satisfying' game AND it's more. Though I think that even that isn't where were headed nor should be.

[LaurenKB123]

Is LIMBO worth getting for someone that is mainly into side scrollers and RPG type strategy games....

[DelbertGrady]

What Limbo did best imo was it's sparse use of music and sound effects. Most of the time it's dead quiet, with you only hearing the sound of your footsteps, and that alone creates more suspense than I've experienced in most other games I've played.

[alphakennybody]

*cough* demon's souls *cough*

[CosmicTraveler]

I agree

[futurenana]

Quite like DS in atmosphere actually.

DS has a tenser atmosphere though, cause it feels more realistic, if you get what I mean. That and it's a lot harder.

I think it's a shame DS didn't have puzzles. :o

[frostypants]

Both are great, but I do somewhat agree that Limbo relies more on the artistic experience...it's just bleak. It makes me feel the same way listening to Nine Inch Nails would.

Demons Souls is more liable to make you soil your pants.

[Perjoss]

lol @ all the agrees for Demon's Souls like its the first game to opt out of music, there have been many many more games that do this way before Demon's Souls, but I guess its a ps3 exclusive and this is N4G after all :)

[BornToKill]

awesome game is awesome.

[Rybakov]

limbo was amazing limbo 2 for next year's summer of arcade please

[Tikicobra]

I doubt it's the future of gaming. The only thing about it that I would like to see in future games is the emotional way it handles death. It's not just brutal to a point of being funny; it's quite shocking.

[Lord_Doggington]

okay, let's not go overboard with this game. yes it was good, but in the end it was just a side-scroller with a nice atmosphere. It's no more artistic then Out of This World or Flashback.

[GuruStarr78]

I loved those two games...they should re-release both of them.....

[frostypants]

Darn. You beat me to the "Out of This World" comparison. But damn straight. It's the same thing.

[dizzleK]

the same could be said about certain games that get praised to the high heavens or get multiple goty awards, for example.

[iFLOWLIKEWATER]

hats every game really. Unless it gets shitty reviews. Hell, most games that are praised unanimously with the N4g locals, is overrated.

[Tikicobra]

I completely agree with you, Doggington.

[UndeadAreGo]

I especially enjoyed the mystery - who is this boy, where, why, what happened? - more-so than the in-your-face approach to storytelling that nearly every game takes. Surely, the narrative style (or lack thereof) wouldn't work in Gears of War, but many games could use a dose of intrigue to pull me along.

[ZombieAutopsy]

Great game it deserves all the attention it's getting, now if the would only lower the price to 800md points.

[MysticStrummer]

This is one of very few 360 games that I'd like to have for my PS3, but... the future of gaming? No.

[teh_snuggler]

Limbo is a compelling argument for 'Games as Art.' I also found it somehow better than Braid. I really think the mystery that shrouds the game pulls at your imagination unbelievable hard. The game says a lot, without really saying anything.

[frostypants]

This kind of puzzle-solving side-scroller has been done...20 years ago. It was called "Out of This World" (aka "Another World") and was made for several platforms. The old schoolers will know exactly the game I'm talking about.

Limbo is great...I love the demo and plan to download the full game...but aside from the unusual silhouette-style imagery, it's not ground breaking at all. If anything it's retro.

[himdeel]

...sounds like a younger persons opinion. I'd argue that old folks like myself over the age of 30 appreciate this type of gaming but don't want to go back to this type of gaming.

[Mmmkay]

all i know is it's black and white and console exclusive.. that better not be the future of gaming... :)

[Timesplitter14]

I have a message for all the PS3 fanboys who are trying to downplay Limbo but would be hailing it as the greatest downloadable game ever if it was PS3 exclusive : go home and die.

The funniest part is that I only own a PS3. I'm just not a child

[frostypants]

I believe you when you say you only own a PS3. Dunno about the other part.

I own both systems. I've actually played Limbo...have you? I've actually played the games it takes after, like Out of This World. Have you?

[UnSelf]

why would we first have to go home to die?

cant we jus die here?

and whos to say we're not already home?

[coolbeans]

Can't imagine an adult going overboard to say "go home and die" over fanboys downplaying a game on the internet. While PS3 fanboys have been smearing Limbo unjustly on here, that should be expected anyway given how many there are.

[devilhunterx]

PS3 exclusive, Multiplatform, PS2 exclusive.

Ofcourse a Pro-XB2 will promote a timed exclusive XB2 exclusive :)

[Pillville]

Besides being fun and beautiful, Limbo was great because:

It didn't hold your hand.
Don't know what to do? Too bad, figure it out. A lot of game's puzzles make themselves way too easy to figure out. Like GOWIII's camera that would show you exactly where you needed to go, in what order. Almost like the game needed to say *spoiler warning* before the camera moved.

Short but Cheap.
It's nice to only need a bit of cash to play the game AND it's good that you don't have to dedicate most of your life just so you can experience the entire game.

[Aquarius]

"A lot of game's puzzles make themselves way too easy to figure out. Like GOWIII's camera that would show you exactly where you needed to go, in what order."

are you for real?
All of the GOW games use a non-moveable camera and none of their puzzles are easy.
Even when I progress further into the game and I come back to a previous area, I think shit I never knew that was there and this is when the camera has moved.
It's all part of the experience. More games should ultilise a non-moveable camera.

[Tex117]

I want to play this on my PS3.

Welcome to games as art XBOXers. Maybe with enough demand together with the Sony fanboys we can get developers to develope creative games instead of the next mindless shooter.

It will take all of us.

[pippoppow]

Wish more gamers supported graphically artistic type games. Enough with the fps technical marvels with similar realism graphics. They needlessly continue to throw so much money into deveoping the latest in graphics which puts devs in a hole and stunts creativity due to financial fears. Sure a game every once in a while that really pushes graphics is nice sometimes but a more artistic approach to games can be Just as desirable or even more with less financial risk for devs/pubs.

Glad posters above mention out of this world and flashback. 2 all time favs worthy of a mention.

[Workshyskiver]

Limbo was Awesome.

[Aquarius]

what about

The city of metronome
&
Journey

http://www.tarsier.se/index...

[OrganicMachine]

it's not