History VideoGame / Limbo

The game's story is simple. You control a [[NoNameGiven nameless]] young boy in [[EldritchLocation Limbo]], searching for his sister. There is no dialog or text of any kind to guide you. Just the boy and an incredibly [[SceneryGorn dark]], [[EverythingTryingToKillYou oppressive]], [[CrapsackWorld crapsack]] environment. There are many deadly puzzles, challenges and traps that can get you killed, in many [[{{Gorn}} shockingly violent]] ways. A Gore Filter can make the deaths less grisly, but no less terrifying. When combined with the protagonist's limited moveset -- he's entirely unarmed and can only jump, push/pull objects (like boxes and levers), climb ledges, and swing on ropes -- ''Limbo'''s sense of helplessness and trepidation is intense. Something of a huge contrast and surprise between regional ratings, the [[UsefulNotes/MediaClassifications ESRB]] somehow let the game pass with only a T for Teen rating, while [[UsefulNotes/MediaClassifications PEGI]] gave it an 18, the strictest rating they have. If you see the [[TheManyDeathsOfYou more graphic deaths]] (though, to be fair, they're all [[DeliberatelyMonochrome completely silhouetted]]), you'll understand why some think the ESRB would have, or even ''should'' have given it an M for mature rating instead.

* FeaturelessProtagonist: He's a silhouette with eyes, and that's it.

* FollowTheLeader: The game is very similar in many ways to ''VideoGame/{{Lucidity}}'', except the latter is LighterAndFluffier, and ''colorful''. ''Deadlight'' takes the same aesthetic and play mechanics and puts it [[RecycledInSpace in the middle of a]] ZombieApocalypse.

* NoOSHACompliance: Justified. This is limbo after all.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[TheFerrymanOne of the first things the boy does is cross a river on a boat.]]

''Limbo'' is a 2-D puzzle platforming horror game by Playdead, an independent game studio based in Copenhagen, Denmark. This is their first game. It was originally released on XboxLiveArcade, and was later ported with additional content to the PlaystationNetwork, {{Steam}}, Android and [=iOS=].

* [[spoiler:DeadAllAlong]]: Never outright said, but certainly possible.

* LightEmUp: The parasitic brain slugs [[WeakenedByTheLight hate direct light]]. They can be heard screaming as they force their victim to move away.

''Limbo'' is a 2-D puzzle platforming horror game by Playdead, an independent game studio based in Copenhagen, Denmark. This is their first game. It was originally released on XboxLiveArcade, and was later ported with additional content to the PlaystationNetwork and {{Steam}}.

* BigBrotherInstinct[=/=]{{Determinator}}: Not even [[EverythingTryingToKillYou the MANY horrors of Limbo]] will stop the boy from finding his sister.

* NoSidePathsNoExplorationNoFreedom: The game and puzzles are much more rigid than Braid. But secrets are still out there.

* SuperPersistentPredator / {{Determinator}}: The spider. It never gives up hunting the kid for as long as it lives, despite [[spoiler:having ''only one leg'' in its final appearance.]]

** In one of the puzzles, there are two compressors with buttons. One compressor crushes you if you ''do'' press the button, and the other crushes you if you ''don't''. Good luck remembering that, and especially when you're being chased by the hostiles.
* VideogameCaringPotential: The protagonist is a child. A cute kid who is getting slaughtered by everything. Give it a few deaths and you'll be dodging the puzzles for his sake, not your own.
* VideogameCrueltyPotential: After beating the game the player has the option of replaying any of the chapters. Kind gamers can enjoy their favorite puzzles over and over while helping the boy reach his goal. Sadistic players can see just how many different ways its possible to kill the poor kid...

->''"Insects are [[RuleOfSymbolism a recurring theme]] in the game, because that's exactly what ''you'' are: a tiny, scared, insignificant insect, gazing up incomprehensibly at the towering food chain [[EverythingTryingToKillYou at the bottom of which you lie.]]"''

The game's story is simple. You control a [[NoNameGiven nameless]] young boy in [[EldritchLocation Limbo]], searching for his sister. There is no dialog or text of any kind to guide you. Just the boy and an incredibly [[SceneryGorn dark]], [[EverythingTryingToKillYou oppressive]], [[CrapsackWorld crapsack]] environment. There are many deadly puzzles, challenges and traps that can get you killed, in many [[{{Gorn}} shockingly violent]] ways. A Gore Filter can make the deaths less grisly, but no less terrifying. When combined with the protagonist's limited moveset -- he's entirely unarmed and can only jump, push/pull objects (like boxes and levers), climb ledges, and swing on ropes -- ''Limbo'''s sense of helplessness and trepidation is intense. Something of a huge contrast and surprise between regional ratings, the [[UsefulNotes/MediaClassifications ESRB]] somehow let the game pass with only a T for Teen rating, while [[UsefulNotes/MediaClassifications PEGI]] gave it an 18, the strictest rating they have. If you see the [[TheManyDeathsOfYou more graphic deaths]], you'll understand why you'd think the ESRB would have, or even ''should'' have given it an M for mature rating instead.

* DamnYouMuscleMemory: In one of the puzzles, there are two compressors with buttons. One compressor crushes you if you ''do'' press the button, and the other crushes you if you ''don't''. Good luck remembering that, and especially when you're being chased by the hostiles.

* MemoryGame:

* EldritchLocation: The entirety of Limbo with all its darkness, peril, cruelty of the residents, and the strange gravity levels near the end. You end up inside of it by mysteriously waking up in its forest. [[spoiler: You leave it by somehow passing through a magical wall at the last gravity level.]]

* FissionMailed: At one point, you get caught by a GiantSpider and get AllWebbedUp. However, you are able to struggle free and continue onwards.

* HeartbeatSoundtrack: Not a ''human'' heartbeat, but the GiantSpider has a distinctive, low-pitched buzzing noise that plays in the background whenever it's around. It finally stops [[spoiler: when you shove the thing into a spike pit.]]

* KidsAreCruel: The first third or so of the game is populated by what appears to be a ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies''-style tribe of evil children, who've set up traps ([[DeadGuyOnDisplay among other things]]) for the boy. Also, they seem to set traps for ''each other'' as well

* StupidityIsTheOnlyOption: The parasitic worms are easy to see. Doesn't matter; you still have to pass under them and get infected. There's no avoiding them.

* [[spoiler: DownerEnding: The boy finds his sister. Roll credits. The title screen fades in to the same area, but the player might just see resemblances between the final image and the title screen. See NoodleIncident.]]

* NothingIsScarier: A lot of things in the game are scary specifically because you can't see them clearly � strange bundles lying in the grass or hanging from ropes that might be dead bodies, unearthly creatures that run away or attack you before you can get a good look at them, deserted industrial landscapes and creaking machinery whose function remains a mystery, and so on.

* ControllableHelplessness: Early on, you run across some goop on the floor that slows you to a crawl, then finally immobilizes you. You twig that it's spider webbing just as the giant spider approaches and [[AllWebbedUp webs]] [[FissionMailed you up]]. In the demo, the spider just kills you at this point instead.

Do not confuse with ''LimboOfTheLost'', although that's pretty terrifying in its own special way. For the ''opposite'' of ''Limbo'', there is ''VideoGame/{{Lucidity}}''.

* NightmarishFactory: The later levels take place on one. Whatever it produced, it involved a lot of flattening and sawing.

* MindScrew: This trope eventually shows up when [[spoiler: the fake ending occurs. The sister is up ahead, but a brain slug turns you around. A light mysteriously appears in the previous area, spinning you forward again; but by the time you get back to where she should be, you're in more of the factory instead�]]

* DarkIsNotEvil: There are some very sinister-looking black worms that hang from the ceiling and have vicious mandibles. They're no threat to you, but they do a good job eating those brain slugs. There's also some sort of dog-gerbil thing at one point, but all it does is run away when you go near it. You can even earn it as a pet for your Xbox avatar after beating the game.
** This player could have sworn those were birds and a frog...

The game's story is simple. You control a [[NoNameGiven nameless]] young boy in [[EldritchLocation Limbo]], searching for his sister. There is no dialog or text of any kind to guide you. Just the boy and an incredibly [[SceneryGorn dark]], [[EverythingTryingToKillYou oppressive]], [[CrapsackWorld crapsack]] environment. There are many deadly puzzles, challenges and traps that can get you killed. In many [[{{Gorn}} shockingly violent]] ways. A Gore Filter can make the deaths less grisly, but no less terrifying. When combined with the protagonist's limited moveset -- he's entirely unarmed and can only jump, push/pull objects (like boxes and levers), climb ledges, and swing on ropes -- ''Limbo'''s sense of helplessness and trepidation is intense. Something of a huge contrast and surprise between regional ratings, the [[UsefulNotes/MediaClassifications ESRB]] somehow let the game pass with only a T for Teen rating, while [[UsefulNotes/MediaClassifications PEGI]] gave it an 18, the strictest rating they have. If you see the [[TheManyDeathsOfYou more graphic deaths]], you'll understand why you'd think the ESRB would have, or even ''should'' have given it an M for mature rating instead.

* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: At the very start of the game, going in the wrong direction actually gets you an achievement.