3.5/5 ★ – isaiahbot's review of Limbo.

A bit a of a polarizing 2nd playthrough for me. Its trial and error design definitely loses its intended effect on a second playthrough, making the first time around the best from a gameplay perspective. It being at the forefront of the indie boom, it’s amazing for its time on a technical level and I found myself appreciating the ambience far more this time around, which was apparently Arnt Jensen’s #1 priority. I had more headspace allocated for the narrative this time since the puzzles were a breeze, and I definitely appreciated and viewed it more this time as a journey through the headspace of a boy plagued by and learning to overcome the trials and tribulations of his childlike fears and views on adulthood in this personal limbo state after the tragic deaths of him and his sister (I personally side with the “tree house death” explanation), being able to overcome them with the drive of hope in finding his sister (the interpretations for this are endless and vary from simple conclusions like mine to theories that this is a loose adaptation of Dante’s Inferno). However, I can’t help but believe that many of this game’s set pieces and mechanics are simply that. Created for the soul purpose of mood and atmosphere, which, as I mentioned earlier, Arnt Jensen himself and other Playdead devs have said #1 priority was creating a mood and atmosphere, and while I obviously acknowledge that many, if not most sections harbor deeper, premeditated meaning, I think others are simply there because it’s a fun or interesting idea (particularly in the ladder half of the game).