YMMV / Limbo: The Unknown

• Angst Adversion: Given that this is a *Dark Fic involving an already several abused child is going through even more abuse, torment, and manipulation courtesy of the main villain, with any heartwarming moments or moments of levity few, far between, and often ruined by said main villain's manipulation, people tend to want to avoid it because of how angsty it gets.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: In chapter 6, a sociopathic guard captain kills the blue guard Haze defeated, both managing to set the blue guard on fire and claw and choke Haze without moving. He calls himself a monster, torments Haze but claims he can't kill Haze yet but will do so later, strips off his armor as if it were a disguise, and then leaves. How he is able to harm others without moving or who he even was is not really explained. He could be related to the apparent main villain seen in the last chapter, given that an apparent minion of his who retrieves Kieren from Spyro's house in chapter 9 is a red dragon or even possibly is said main villain in disguise (though the main villain was black and this captain was red, but it could be some sort of magical disguise of his), given his abilities to harm others magically are similar to how the shadowy apparition does, but it's not made clear at all.
• Heartwarming Moments: Despite the above, there are still many adorable and heartwarming moments in the story. Any of the times his foster family is comforting Keiren count.
• Narm: Plenty, despite trying to be dark. It's likely stuff like this are the flaws.
  • While escaping the temple and running from adult guards, Sylvie leaves Haze, who is a small toddler-aged hatchling, alone to hold them off. It's almost comical that Syilve left a toddler alone to fight off adults in the first place, and yet the scene is clearly intended to be played seriously. And yet it gets more ridiculous beyond ridiculous when said toddler actually manages to take down an armored and likely combat-trained adult dragon guard several times Haze's size. Suffice it to say, the scene doesn't land as seriously as the author clearly intended it to be.
  • The entire fic seems dedicated to making Kieran as miserable as possible. But, as detailed on the tropes in the first page, the sure lengths the story goes to make its characters's lives miserable, often with little rhyme or reason, can make it come across as something of a dark comedy through the sheer amount of random angst through the whole story. Where the misery of Kieren seems tragic at first, it can slowly devolve into a Crosses the Line Twice kind of situation by virtue of the ridiculous lengths the story goes to make the misery happen; even giving the Big Bad an overpowered ability like unrestrained mind control just to force Kieren to angst in the most unlikely of times and places.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: A common criticism of this story is that it became way too depressing at times and many of the more heartwarming moments quickly get ruined, in no small part due to the repeated use of Yank the Dog's Chain.
  • To elaborate: Keiren is already suffering from a bunch of leftover mental issues from his abusive family and has very low self-esteem. Not helping matters is the fact that he is routinely preyed on by the shadowy apparition that targets his self-esteem and routinely bruises him whenever he's alone. While there are a number of warmer family moments, many of these get ruined by the apparition seemingly inciting everyone to attack or at least verbally abuse Kieren, in turn greatly straining many of the relationships Keiren is forming with his adoptive families, making it hard for him to connect with others and ruining any happiness he seems to find.
• The Woobie: Keiren. As noted on the main page, he has been abused most of his life and suffered at the hands of his own family and other kids. And now he is tormented by a shadowy figure or shadow dragon who can torment him at anyplace, anytime, even in his dreams. It even mind-controls his adoptive families or those around him to cause Kieren more strife and there is little to nothing he or anyone else can do to truly fight it off. Even the Chronicler could barely keep it at bay.