Limbo

Since it's still been ridiculously hot and humid out, I finally made my way through a third game that I got through the Humble Indie Bundle.  This time, I played through a puzzle platformer game called Limbo, by the company Playdead. 

Seems peaceful enough.  I'm sure nothing bad will happen...

In Limbo, you control a boy who is trying to find his sister in a world where everything and everyone is trying to kill him.  You start out in a forest, which seems peaceful enough until you start coming across bear traps, spikes, and.... this:

I sure do hope those are just oddly shaped tree branches!

Just in case what that is isn't entirely clear, here's a shot from just a little further on:

Gaaaaaah!

But it's not like it could get any worse, like, say, the spider wraps you up in silk and then you have to try and bounce away from it on a rolling boulder that could crush you if you make a wrong move.

Nonononononononononono!!!

Eventually, you travel out of the forest and into more industrial-type zones that have machines, saws, and guns that all, of course, are out to kill you.

Every single one of those letters wants me dead.

As you could probably have guessed from the screenshots up there, the game is entirely in black and white, which is surprisingly effective.  It leaves things to the imagination which really enhances the creepiness of the game.  There's also a distinct lack of music; there are a few musical cues (which you really only notice if you're really listening for them), but most of the sound comes from whatever is taking place on screen. 

Limbo is definitely an interesting game, and one I definitely recommend to people who like puzzle games, with a couple of caveats.  If you only like games that have clear stories, you might not appreciate this one very much.  That first sentence in the second paragraph above is really the only plot you ever get.  Also, if you don't like puzzles that require precise timing, you'll become really frustrated with this game around halfway through.  I haaaaaaate timing puzzles since I'm so bad at them, and they become more common as you progress.  One of the really nice things about Limbo, though, is it saves your progress as soon as you get through a puzzle, so you never have to go back too far if you die.  And you will die.  Lots and lots and lots of times.  The boy has no special powers to survive this world.  Fall too far?  Dead.  Get into water that's too deep?  Dead (guess he never learned how to swim).  Step in a bear trap, crushed by a box, cut into bits by a buzzsaw, electrocuted, impaled by a spider leg, forced by a mind-controlling slug to walk off a cliff... it goes on and on (and is another reason to appreciate the monochrome nature of the game).

If you're interested in checking the game out, you can buy it for $9.99 for the PC or Mac directly from the game's website, from Steam, the XBox 360, or the Playstation 3.  And if you're someone who likes special editions of things, you can pick that up from Amazon for $24.99.