Limbo - EDIT: Just Blew My Mind

[Clearing the Eye]

So, I got the latest Humble Bundle. I didn't actually want any of the games, but so far they've actually been cool--I'm really looking forward to getting deeper into Lone Survivor and Super Meat Boy is agonizingly frustrating and yet super addictive. I hopped into Limbo and ended up finishing it in, I think three hours. I knew it was short so the time didn't bother me and you can't measure enjoyment in hours spent, anyway. It was cool, the art was kind of sketchy in spots, but nice overall, the music and ambiance made a great atmosphere, but the puzzles were a little too obvious and came down to trial and error through death to get them just right.

Now I'm left wondering... what's all the fuss about? There was zero actual story and an ending out of nowhere that was entirely unrelated to the rest of the experience.

Spoiler: * SPOILERS * How it should have ended. * SPOILERS *

When you finish the last puzzle and zip past the sawblade, landing on the ground in slo-motion, the game had gone full-circle and reached the beginning again, our blurry eyed protagonist laying on the ground among wavy grass. "Oohhh, cool," I thought. "The game is just a big loop that goes nowhere. I bet I'll retake control of the character and it'll be the first level again. How neat. The name Limbo fits perfectly.

Instead an otherwise unique and quirky game falls back on a tired cliche and we're left with not a real cliffhanger per-se, but a very generic and hollow gesture. Sure, it's almost a touching moment and the silence is palpable. After coming so far, enduring darkness and horror, a moment of light. But it's token and ultimately shallow, having no purpose beyond tying the bow on an otherwise kind of cool game.

I've seen a lot of people praise it and go on and on about how great and artsy it is--as if being art is a form of praise. I don't see it. Am I missing something?

 

[thatonedude11]

The game may not have made this very obvious, but

Spoiler

the kid is dead.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

The game may not have made this very obvious, but

Spoiler

the kid is dead.

Spoiler

I didn't get that message at all. While it would imbue the title credit, I'm not sure what it really... adds to the game at all. Nothing in the world seemed to fit with a limbo inspired plane of existence, for example. I kind of hope that's not true. That's more backwards and hollow than what I thought before! lol

 

[Clearing the Eye]

Oh, my, god. Now, I consider myself a philosopher and I've written a great many articles on a wide array of subject matter. I'm not boasting or claiming to be smart, but I think I've a good grasp on metaphor and idea. But wow. Just, wow. I've been out thought, lol. Check out this comment a user named Claustrofos made on GameFAQS.

Spoiler: This pretty much spoils the entire story. Heads up.

Here is my interpretation of the game:

You know what they say when you have a near death experience; They say that your life flashes right through your eyes. And that is what this game is about. A brother and a sister were in an accident, but just before the brother dies, he recounts his whole life up till the point of the accident.

At first you are in a forest, as a child who has no obligation to the world, he could just wonder around. The spider I'd say is a metaphor to all the insecurities you have to go through in your childhood. Then as he got older, and maybe started school, he was bullied. Hence the other children at this point in the game. After school, he started working in some kind of a factory. The way I see it, the girl he sees the first time is not his sister, but maybe the love of his life, or maybe some kind of unrequited love since he never actually gets to her.

Now I'm not so sure about what is going on in his life after that point, but I'd say that when you find the switches that spin the world, his life was at a turning point. And maybe later on his life went so upside down that he actually committed a suicide. But the way how they died is clear: It was a car accident. In the main menu, if you look at the thing in the upper right corner, you'll notice the thing is actually in the shape of a car. The front wheels are visible. And right before the end the main character actually flies through a glass: It's actually the windshield.

So that's it. This game is a about a car accident and the last moments before the guy's death.

While I would disagree with their interpretation of the spider right off the bat--I believe it much more likely a child's vision of the creatures that go bump in the night, a general metaphor for fear--and while not written all that well, the basic idea of the rest seems about right. I would say, though, that the world going upside down and the like is perhaps more akin to the

Spoiler

car accident shaking him around.

But the rest... The children... The factories and industrial style areas... I clearly went into this with the bar too low. I didn't even bother to think that deeply on the story and symbolism.

Amazing.

 

[Cranky]

Snip.

Damn! Thanks for that insight, Eye! Limbo is a much more cathartic experience for me now. I did wonder why the factories were relevant. Perhaps the hotel had to do with living conditions?

 

[Clearing the Eye]

Snip.

Damn! Thanks for that insight, Eye! Limbo is a much more cathartic experience for me now. I did wonder why the factories were relevant. Perhaps the hotel had to do with living conditions?

Yeah, I'd say something like that.

Spoiler

The head worms, I think, symbolize peer pressure and addiction. While you can still control yourself to a degree, you feel the need to go where they want you to and any attempt to walk towards light (reason) is met with hissing and discomfort. Just another little thing I noticed.

I think the ending carries a lot more impact once you've realized the weight of the story. The woman is probably your partner or a family member. She is seen kneeling and busying her hands by the dirt in front of her when you arrive behind. She seems to feel your presence and reacts the way one would expect of someone seeing a ghost. I think she is placing flowers by your grave and shivers when you take a step towards her--the "cold" feeling people say you get when near a ghost. The light is shining on her possibly because it is taking place outside the cold darkness of Limbo and is on Earth.

The butterflies and moths that are seen frequently are usually in pairs. This seems to represent the change and growth you and the girl are going through.

Notice how much of the game involved broken trees and ruined ladders? Trees and ladders are something we associate with life and family--the family tree. Combining the emphasis on snapping trees and the broken ladder featured on the start screen, I think the woman may be your wife and the aforementioned broken ladder is the treehouse you will never build for your future children and the branches of family that were cut short. Separate from that, the ladders could also be the figurative ladder to heaven/out of hell.

The boat ride you take across the small lake possibly represents crossing over to the other side.

There's so many examples of metaphor and clever symbolism. It's fun working them out, lol. Even if it's just your perception of what they mean.

 

[Daget Sparrow]

Oh, my, god. Now, I consider myself a philosopher and I've written a great many articles on a wide array of subject matter. I'm not boasting or claiming to be smart, but I think I've a good grasp on metaphor and idea. But wow. Just, wow. I've been out thought, lol. Check out this comment a user named Claustrofos made on GameFAQS.

Spoiler: This pretty much spoils the entire story. Heads up.

Here is my interpretation of the game:

You know what they say when you have a near death experience; They say that your life flashes right through your eyes. And that is what this game is about. A brother and a sister were in an accident, but just before the brother dies, he recounts his whole life up till the point of the accident.

At first you are in a forest, as a child who has no obligation to the world, he could just wonder around. The spider I'd say is a metaphor to all the insecurities you have to go through in your childhood. Then as he got older, and maybe started school, he was bullied. Hence the other children at this point in the game. After school, he started working in some kind of a factory. The way I see it, the girl he sees the first time is not his sister, but maybe the love of his life, or maybe some kind of unrequited love since he never actually gets to her.

Now I'm not so sure about what is going on in his life after that point, but I'd say that when you find the switches that spin the world, his life was at a turning point. And maybe later on his life went so upside down that he actually committed a suicide. But the way how they died is clear: It was a car accident. In the main menu, if you look at the thing in the upper right corner, you'll notice the thing is actually in the shape of a car. The front wheels are visible. And right before the end the main character actually flies through a glass: It's actually the windshield.

So that's it. This game is a about a car accident and the last moments before the guy's death.

While I would disagree with their interpretation of the spider right off the bat--I believe it much more likely a child's vision of the creatures that go bump in the night, a general metaphor for fear--and while not written all that well, the basic idea of the rest seems about right. I would say, though, that the world going upside down and the like is perhaps more akin to the

Spoiler

car accident shaking him around.

But the rest... The children... The factories and industrial style areas... I clearly went into this with the bar too low. I didn't even bother to think that deeply on the story and symbolism.

Amazing.

Holy. F*cking. Sh*t. I never thought about it like that. Up until this EXACT POST, I always thought Limbo was just a cool looking game. I'd heard of it being considered art, but I thought that was just people confusing 'Art Style' with 'Art'.

Congratulations. You have moved Limbo up my metaphorical ladder of favorite games.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

Oh, my, god. Now, I consider myself a philosopher and I've written a great many articles on a wide array of subject matter. I'm not boasting or claiming to be smart, but I think I've a good grasp on metaphor and idea. But wow. Just, wow. I've been out thought, lol. Check out this comment a user named Claustrofos made on GameFAQS.

Spoiler: This pretty much spoils the entire story. Heads up.

Here is my interpretation of the game:

You know what they say when you have a near death experience; They say that your life flashes right through your eyes. And that is what this game is about. A brother and a sister were in an accident, but just before the brother dies, he recounts his whole life up till the point of the accident.

At first you are in a forest, as a child who has no obligation to the world, he could just wonder around. The spider I'd say is a metaphor to all the insecurities you have to go through in your childhood. Then as he got older, and maybe started school, he was bullied. Hence the other children at this point in the game. After school, he started working in some kind of a factory. The way I see it, the girl he sees the first time is not his sister, but maybe the love of his life, or maybe some kind of unrequited love since he never actually gets to her.

Now I'm not so sure about what is going on in his life after that point, but I'd say that when you find the switches that spin the world, his life was at a turning point. And maybe later on his life went so upside down that he actually committed a suicide. But the way how they died is clear: It was a car accident. In the main menu, if you look at the thing in the upper right corner, you'll notice the thing is actually in the shape of a car. The front wheels are visible. And right before the end the main character actually flies through a glass: It's actually the windshield.

So that's it. This game is a about a car accident and the last moments before the guy's death.

While I would disagree with their interpretation of the spider right off the bat--I believe it much more likely a child's vision of the creatures that go bump in the night, a general metaphor for fear--and while not written all that well, the basic idea of the rest seems about right. I would say, though, that the world going upside down and the like is perhaps more akin to the

Spoiler

car accident shaking him around.

But the rest... The children... The factories and industrial style areas... I clearly went into this with the bar too low. I didn't even bother to think that deeply on the story and symbolism.

Amazing.

Holy. F*cking. Sh*t. I never thought about it like that. Up until this EXACT POST, I always thought Limbo was just a cool looking game. I'd heard of it being considered art, but I thought that was just people confusing 'Art Style' with 'Art'.

Congratulations. You have moved Limbo up my metaphorical ladder of favorite games.

I'm glad

Read the other posts we've made here, too. Lots of really cool stuff. Very glad I ended up getting the bundle now. Charity and a mind blowing story? Score, and that's just one game! Lol.

 

[Beautiful End]

Fudge! That game has earned my respect. I played the demo and part of the full version at a friend's house and I really didn't like it, mostly because I hate scary games. Because I probably wouldn't be able to finish one walkthrough, I read through all those spoilers and...dang!

Makes me kinda sad for being a wuss. :[

 

[Cranky]

I like how the afterlife symbolisms are universal and known among different cultures and backgrounds, doing so is a true stroke of genius. Such as crossing a river, the insects, etc. absolutely brilliant.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

Fudge! That game has earned my respect. I played the demo and part of the full version at a friend's house and I really didn't like it, mostly because I hate scary games. Because I probably wouldn't be able to finish one walkthrough, I read through all those spoilers and...dang!

Makes me kinda sad for being a wuss. :[

I really, really recommend playing it. The spoilers won't ruin the experience at all, in my opinion. Hell, once you know the general idea, all the metaphors come to life and you notice so much more. The pay off will be just awe worthy. It's honestly not scary. The only part that I think could be kind of creepy, is the spider bit and that's only a very small portion of the game. It's mostly platforming and puzzles.

I like how the afterlife symbolisms are universal and known among different cultures and backgrounds, doing so is a true stroke of genius. Such as crossing a river, the insects, etc. absolutely brilliant.

Yeah. Once you look beneath the surface, the metaphors are genius in their simplicity.

 

[Bad Jim]

Oh, my, god. Now, I consider myself a philosopher and I've written a great many articles on a wide array of subject matter. I'm not boasting or claiming to be smart, but I think I've a good grasp on metaphor and idea. But wow. Just, wow. I've been out thought, lol. Check out this comment a user named Claustrofos made on GameFAQS.

Spoiler: This pretty much spoils the entire story. Heads up.

Here is my interpretation of the game:

You know what they say when you have a near death experience; They say that your life flashes right through your eyes. And that is what this game is about. A brother and a sister were in an accident, but just before the brother dies, he recounts his whole life up till the point of the accident.

At first you are in a forest, as a child who has no obligation to the world, he could just wonder around. The spider I'd say is a metaphor to all the insecurities you have to go through in your childhood. Then as he got older, and maybe started school, he was bullied. Hence the other children at this point in the game. After school, he started working in some kind of a factory. The way I see it, the girl he sees the first time is not his sister, but maybe the love of his life, or maybe some kind of unrequited love since he never actually gets to her.

Now I'm not so sure about what is going on in his life after that point, but I'd say that when you find the switches that spin the world, his life was at a turning point. And maybe later on his life went so upside down that he actually committed a suicide. But the way how they died is clear: It was a car accident. In the main menu, if you look at the thing in the upper right corner, you'll notice the thing is actually in the shape of a car. The front wheels are visible. And right before the end the main character actually flies through a glass: It's actually the windshield.

So that's it. This game is a about a car accident and the last moments before the guy's death.

While I would disagree with their interpretation of the spider right off the bat--I believe it much more likely a child's vision of the creatures that go bump in the night, a general metaphor for fear--and while not written all that well, the basic idea of the rest seems about right. I would say, though, that the world going upside down and the like is perhaps more akin to the

Spoiler

car accident shaking him around.

But the rest... The children... The factories and industrial style areas... I clearly went into this with the bar too low. I didn't even bother to think that deeply on the story and symbolism.

Amazing.

This also applies to Braid, art is about expression. If I have to go on the internet to find the one guy on the planet who figured out what the **** the game was about, then the game has failed miserably as a form of expression, and therefore fails as art.

I did enjoy the puzzles though.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

I found this game to be so much better than the other popular art game "Braid", mainly because it's so much less pretentious. You aren't given long poetic passages to slog through, you are simply given a dark and creepy world that's up to your interpretation. I personally kind of agree with OP's interpretation of the game, but I'd like to add something of my own.

Spoiler

I find that actually, the boy has been going through that loop for ages now, and when he finally gets to the end, and crashes through the glass signalling his death he's broken out of the loop.

Limbo was an amazing game, and I would recommend it to anybody who wants something that's arty, but not in your face arty.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

Oh, my, god. Now, I consider myself a philosopher and I've written a great many articles on a wide array of subject matter. I'm not boasting or claiming to be smart, but I think I've a good grasp on metaphor and idea. But wow. Just, wow. I've been out thought, lol. Check out this comment a user named Claustrofos made on GameFAQS.

Spoiler: This pretty much spoils the entire story. Heads up.

Here is my interpretation of the game:

You know what they say when you have a near death experience; They say that your life flashes right through your eyes. And that is what this game is about. A brother and a sister were in an accident, but just before the brother dies, he recounts his whole life up till the point of the accident.

At first you are in a forest, as a child who has no obligation to the world, he could just wonder around. The spider I'd say is a metaphor to all the insecurities you have to go through in your childhood. Then as he got older, and maybe started school, he was bullied. Hence the other children at this point in the game. After school, he started working in some kind of a factory. The way I see it, the girl he sees the first time is not his sister, but maybe the love of his life, or maybe some kind of unrequited love since he never actually gets to her.

Now I'm not so sure about what is going on in his life after that point, but I'd say that when you find the switches that spin the world, his life was at a turning point. And maybe later on his life went so upside down that he actually committed a suicide. But the way how they died is clear: It was a car accident. In the main menu, if you look at the thing in the upper right corner, you'll notice the thing is actually in the shape of a car. The front wheels are visible. And right before the end the main character actually flies through a glass: It's actually the windshield.

So that's it. This game is a about a car accident and the last moments before the guy's death.

While I would disagree with their interpretation of the spider right off the bat--I believe it much more likely a child's vision of the creatures that go bump in the night, a general metaphor for fear--and while not written all that well, the basic idea of the rest seems about right. I would say, though, that the world going upside down and the like is perhaps more akin to the

Spoiler

car accident shaking him around.

But the rest... The children... The factories and industrial style areas... I clearly went into this with the bar too low. I didn't even bother to think that deeply on the story and symbolism.

Amazing.

This also applies to Braid, art is about expression. If I have to go on the internet to find the one guy on the planet who figured out what the **** the game was about, then the game has failed miserably as a form of expression, and therefore fails as art.

I did enjoy the puzzles though.

It was my failing for not being prepared to look at it on a deeper level than a simple platformer with a quirk. If I had gone into it like I would a painting or a good book, I may have gotten a lot more from it at the start.

 

[Mariakko]

I never thought of it as an artsy thing. I always thought of it as a platformer that uses black, white, and shades of grey because it looks pretty neat. Symbolism of the after life? I didn't get that at all. A deep look into the human condition? Not that either. I thought it was one of those games that likes to kill you a lot for giggles, And honestly I giggled my way through it while I was being brutally murdered.

 

[Beautiful End]

Fudge! That game has earned my respect. I played the demo and part of the full version at a friend's house and I really didn't like it, mostly because I hate scary games. Because I probably wouldn't be able to finish one walkthrough, I read through all those spoilers and...dang!

Makes me kinda sad for being a wuss. :[

I really, really recommend playing it. The spoilers won't ruin the experience at all, in my opinion. Hell, once you know the general idea, all the metaphors come to life and you notice so much more. The pay off will be just awe worthy. It's honestly not scary. The only part that I think could be kind of creepy, is the spider bit and that's only a very small portion of the game. It's mostly platforming and puzzles.

Believe me, I am a big wuss. Let me put it this way: I refrain from playing Minecraft on Easy because the spiders and Creepers scare me a bit. Suspense is what kills me, not the horror.

I'll keep it in mind, though. I might get it if I get the Humble Bundle.

 

[Erana]

I never thought of it as an artsy thing. I always thought of it as a platformer that uses black, white, and shades of grey because it looks pretty neat. Symbolism of the after life? I didn't get that at all. A deep look into the human condition? Not that either. I thought it was one of those games that likes to kill you a lot for giggles, And honestly I giggled my way through it while I was being brutally murdered.

Well... "Limbo" kind of is a not-so-bad part of Hell, so the afterlife connotations are not unwarranted...

 

[Solo-Wing]

Oh, my, god. Now, I consider myself a philosopher and I've written a great many articles on a wide array of subject matter. I'm not boasting or claiming to be smart, but I think I've a good grasp on metaphor and idea. But wow. Just, wow. I've been out thought, lol. Check out this comment a user named Claustrofos made on GameFAQS.

Spoiler: This pretty much spoils the entire story. Heads up.

Here is my interpretation of the game:

You know what they say when you have a near death experience; They say that your life flashes right through your eyes. And that is what this game is about. A brother and a sister were in an accident, but just before the brother dies, he recounts his whole life up till the point of the accident.

At first you are in a forest, as a child who has no obligation to the world, he could just wonder around. The spider I'd say is a metaphor to all the insecurities you have to go through in your childhood. Then as he got older, and maybe started school, he was bullied. Hence the other children at this point in the game. After school, he started working in some kind of a factory. The way I see it, the girl he sees the first time is not his sister, but maybe the love of his life, or maybe some kind of unrequited love since he never actually gets to her.

Now I'm not so sure about what is going on in his life after that point, but I'd say that when you find the switches that spin the world, his life was at a turning point. And maybe later on his life went so upside down that he actually committed a suicide. But the way how they died is clear: It was a car accident. In the main menu, if you look at the thing in the upper right corner, you'll notice the thing is actually in the shape of a car. The front wheels are visible. And right before the end the main character actually flies through a glass: It's actually the windshield.

So that's it. This game is a about a car accident and the last moments before the guy's death.

While I would disagree with their interpretation of the spider right off the bat--I believe it much more likely a child's vision of the creatures that go bump in the night, a general metaphor for fear--and while not written all that well, the basic idea of the rest seems about right. I would say, though, that the world going upside down and the like is perhaps more akin to the

Spoiler

car accident shaking him around.

But the rest... The children... The factories and industrial style areas... I clearly went into this with the bar too low. I didn't even bother to think that deeply on the story and symbolism.

Amazing.

Jesus Christ. the game just got a lot more morbid for me now. I honestly thought was a loop like the name suggested...

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Do people really not know what "Limbo" is? I thought it was pretty obvious that he was dead.