YMMV / Limbo (2010)

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • "Limbo with a Flashlight" gives an… interesting interpretation.
  • About the spider: If it really was another limbless spider that you saw earlier in the game, then it's not really hunger that drives the giant spider to kill every human it finds. It's revenge for its fallen brethren. Another interpretation is that it's coming after you out of self defense.
  • The tribal kids. They keep out strangers by using a fake spider made out of wood, trap their whole village, and when they spot you, run away. You later find some other kids, who look like them, but they chase you down, through their own traps, killing themselves one by one. They most likely saw you as an intruder, but it makes you wonder why they are so hostile when you look a little like them.
• Awesome Music: The menu theme, a simple, ethereal piece that perfectly captures the dark, cold atmosphere of the game.
• Creepy Awesome: The spider pursuing you is horrifying, but it's so nonstop and persistent that you'll likely end up both afraid and incredibly happy at its arrival.
• Crossover Ship: The boy is paired with Princess Aurora from Child of Light a good deal in fan art. It may be because both of them are young children who wake up in a scary lonely forest and set out to reunite with a family member in an atmospheric game with heavy Light/Darkness Juxtaposition. And both of them died before the start of the game.
• Disappointing Last Level: The second half of the game definitely doesn't disappoint in terms of peril or challenge, but the heavily industrial flavor and lack of other entities (living and dead) means it isn't nearly as bleak or disturbing as the earlier chapters, which can be accurately described as looking like a Stephen Gammell drawing terrifyingly come to life.
• Evil Is Cool: The spider, obviously, a shadowed and nightmarish spider. Critics often decreed it the best part of the game.
• Fan Nickname:
  • The white slug creatures are called "brain slugs" or "maggots" by fans.
  • Some fans refer to the player character as "Limboy".
• Heartwarming Moments: The horrors of the game's visuals can be made even more powerful if one considers that the boy is going through all of it just to find his sister.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: Four to five hours long for a first run (and $10 in 2D). The game caught the same flak as Braid for that reason.
• It's Easy, So It Sucks!: The game's puzzles are comparatively easier than those in Braid. "Comparatively" is to be emphasized.
  • Two achievements can avert this greatly: Getting all the eggs and doing a no-death run. The eggs are usually easy to get to, but the last one players will have trouble with is the physics-based puzzle that requires you to manipulate boxes and gravity to get over to it. The no-death run can be completed with 5 deaths or less, with the challenge being how much you can remember of the game.
• Once Original, Now Common: The game got a lot of attention and praise for its distinctly dark minimalist atmosphere and unique sound design that were not seen in any other video game at the time. It naturally spawned a slew of copy-cats, making the design style far less unique.
• Paranoia Fuel: Once you die your first death, you will be scared and cautious. And you will stay scared and cautious. And it won't help you.
• Player Punch: Right from the horrid deaths of the boy, to finding hundreds of corpses of other kids, having fallen to traps and the environment. It really makes you feel alone.
• Squick: Turning off gore can ease some of the squickness or avert it, but here's a few examples of squick, in case you're debating if you should turn it on:
  • Your deaths, the deaths you inflict, and the er… "objects" surrounding you that you must use to progress. Such as ripping out a one-legged spider's leg and rolling its body into a pit of spikes to cross said pit. Or using surrounding dead bodies as flotation devices, or to trigger traps… or the wasp later on.
  • The leech-things that land on your head, controlling your directional movement. They look like they burrow into your brain. Compared to some examples above, they aren't changed when the gore-filter is turned on.
• Sweet Dreams Fuel: Most of the soundtrack (when it isn't ominous) is made up of angelic choirs, lush electronic drones, and downright heavenly ambient swells. "Machine Gun Tranquility" (despite its title) perfectly sets the mood.
• Tear Jerker: The premise of the game: a little boy travels through several dangers to find his sister. When he finally reaches the end, we see the sister picking flowers (or digging) beneath a tree fort with a ladder. She notices her brother, and then the credits roll. When the credits are done, we return to the menu screen, the background of which is the very same tree fort and ladder… except they are broken down and dilapidated, and at the base of the ladder, two corpses are implied to be lying on the ground, swarmed by insects.

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