Developer(s) Playdead
Publisher(s)
Playdead
Microsoft Game Studios (X360)
Director(s) Arnt Jensen
Producer(s)
Dino Christian Patti
Mads Wibroe
Designer(s) Jeppe Carlsen
Programmer(s) Thomas Krog
Artist(s)
Morten Christian Bramsen
Stine Sørensen
Composer(s) Martin Stig Andersen
Platform(s)
Xbox 360
PlayStation 3
Microsoft Windows
OS X
Linux
Xbox One
PlayStation 4
PlayStation Vita
Nintendo Switch
iOS
Android
Release
21 July 2010
Genre(s) Puzzle, platform
Mode(s) Single-player

Limbo is a puzzle-platform video game developed by independent studio Playdead. The game was released in July 2010 on Xbox Live Arcade, and has since been ported to several other systems, including the PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows. Limbo is a 2D side-scroller, incorporating a physics system that governs environmental objects and the player character. The player guides an unnamed boy through dangerous environments and traps as he searches for his sister. The developer built the game's puzzles expecting the player to fail before finding the correct solution. Playdead called the style of play "trial and death", and used gruesome imagery for the boy's deaths to steer the player from unworkable solutions.

The game is presented in black-and-white tones, using lighting, film grain effects and minimal ambient sounds to create an eerie atmosphere often associated with the horror genre. Journalists praised the dark presentation, describing the work as comparable to film noir and German Expressionism. Based on its aesthetics, reviewers classified Limbo as an example of video games as an art form. Limbo received positive reviews, but its minimal story polarised critics; some critics found the open-ended work to have deeper meaning that tied well with the game's mechanics, while others believed the lack of significant plot and abrupt ending detracted from the game. A common point of criticism from reviewers was that the high cost of the game relative to its short length might deter players from purchasing the title, but some reviews proposed that Limbo had an ideal length. The title was the third-highest selling game on the Xbox Live Arcade service in 2010, generating around $7.5 million in revenue. The title won several awards from industry groups after its release, and was named as one of the top games for 2010 by several publications. Playdead's next title, Inside, was released in 2016, and revisited many of the same themes presented in Limbo.

Story, art and music direction
From the game's inception, Jensen set out three goals for the final Limbo product. The first goal was to create a specific mood and art style. Jensen wanted to create an aesthetic for the game without resorting to highly detailed three-dimensional models, and instead directed the art towards a minimalistic style to allow the development to focus its attention on the gameplay.[15] Jensen's second goal was to only require two additional controls—jumping and grabbing—outside of the normal left-and-right movement controls, to keep the game easy to play. Finally, the finished game was to present no tutorial text to the player, requiring players to learn the game's mechanics on their own.[50] The game was purposely developed to avoid revealing details of its content; the only tagline the company provided was, "Uncertain of his sister's fate, a boy enters Limbo."[51] This was chosen so that players could interpret the game's meaning for themselves.[23]

Some aspects of Limbo bore out from Jensen's own past, such as the forest areas that were similar to forests around the farm where he grew up, and the spider coming from Jensen's arachnophobia.[16] Jensen drew inspiration from film genres, including works of film noir, to set the art style of the game; the team's graphic artist, Morten Bramsen, is credited with recreating that art style.[52][53] Much of the game's flow was storyboarded very early in development, such as the boy's encounters with spiders and mind-controlling worms, as well as the overall transition from a forest to a city, then to an abstract environment.[3] As development progressed, some of the original ideas became too difficult for the small team to complete. The storyline also changed; originally, the spider sequences were to be present near the end of the game, but were later moved to the first part.[3] In retrospect, Jensen was aware that the first half of the game contained more scripted events and encounters, while the second half of the game was lonelier and puzzle-heavy; Jensen attributed this to his lack of oversight during the latter stages of development.[3] Jensen purposely left the game with an open ending though with a specific interpretation only he knew, though noted after the game's release that some players, posting in forum boards, had suggested resolutions that were "scary close" to his ideas.

свернуть