by Eric Caoili - 10.06.06

Limbo has no release date, announced platform, or anything else beyond its single-page, monotone site. The content on that lone page isn’t even enough to fill half of your computer screen. There is a video teaser, eight links to concept art images, and an address to contact the author, Arnt Jensen.
The game featured in the teaser clip and artwork is just as bare, stripped of graphical detail. The style of gameplay, invisible UI, and ambience of abandonment borrows much from Another World and Flashback: The Quest for Identity. The video ends abruptly without a single word spoken.
With only one man working on the production, it’s hard to believe that Limbo will ever be completed and released. Even with a grant from the Danish Government to fund the indie game’s creation, the day I will be able to explore Limbo’s windswept world seems far beyond the horizon, if not there at all.
But you can see so much potential in Limbo. It’s as if the trailer is telling us, “Look at how much you can convey with just the silhouette of a scene and the dark outline of a young adventurer. Listen to what you can illustrate with the sounds of rumbling machinery in an empty factory and a heavy box sliding into a wall.” One single person working on something he loves can accomplish a lot.
Limbo video trailer and concept art
source: Playthrough











The art direction and animations both look pretty impressive.
JC - 10.06.06 11:47 am
This looks absolutely amazing. I’d take this over a poly-pushing PS3 game any day.
PiratedTVPro - 10.06.06 12:04 pm
It looks amazing. It’s very much a tease. I wonder how complete the game is at this point. The site offers absolutely no information whatsoever.
handofg0d - 10.06.06 12:04 pm
Cool
N Rumas - 10.06.06 12:14 pm
Gorgeous. Wow does that look cool.
…very ambient. Sorta has the feel of “The Dig,” but in black and white.
gravitymachine - 10.06.06 12:34 pm
This very much reminds me of Ico and Shadow of the Collossus. I wonder if this artist had any inspiration from those games. But yeah, this looks incredible!!
Matthew - 10.06.06 12:46 pm
Holy crap!
Duncan - 10.06.06 12:51 pm
This conveys the 2D world that I miss so much. It’s so hard to explain, but 2D games are like reading a book. It still leaves a lot of the interpretation of the world within one’s own mind. It’s very impressive! I really hope to see more of this!!
Nambit - 10.06.06 1:05 pm
this reminds me a lot of sadness in terms of the artistic direction. this looks like it would be one of the most awesome platformers ever if it were released.
lee - 10.06.06 1:08 pm
Um… wow. I can’t wait to hear more about this game. I’d love to give a helping hand somehow…
John B - 10.06.06 1:20 pm
The art direction is outstanding, character design is excellent. It immediately reminds me of games like Ico and Out Of This World. Just now I remembered how much I miss playing those tricky, beautifully hand-crafted platformers of yesteryear. Hopefully this will see a release some day.
Crosswayboy - 10.06.06 1:21 pm
Wow….just, Wow. Looks so cool.
KiddKalen - 10.06.06 1:22 pm
Amazing looking trailer, I luv the quiet slow progression, I don’t know what’s going on but I can’t look away then suddenly, it ends just when it looks like something really intense is about to happen. I wonder if those Xbox tools that are supposed to create a ‘YouTube for games’ would interest the maker of Limbo?
Walter Crespo - 10.06.06 1:37 pm
WAW !!!! OMG , it looks awesome !!! I hope this game will be released somehow !
910do - 10.06.06 1:53 pm
I swear, this game better get released… There must be a publisher, anyone, that can help this designer fully realize his project.
Matthew - 10.06.06 2:10 pm
I immediately wanted the game just based on the pic at the top of your post. It looks amazing. I too had thoughts of Out of This World, Flashback, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. I hope this sees the light of day.
Roger - 10.06.06 2:33 pm
Who said games can’t be art?
It reminds me a lot of the graphic novel Nil: A Land Beyond Belief, and the 2D animated short The Mysterious Geographic Adventures of Jasper Morello. I hope it comes out for the Wii, or even the DSL.
amanaplan - 10.06.06 4:21 pm
The art style is very “Burton-esqe”
I think I would like this game.
lojus - 10.06.06 4:53 pm
Feels Ico-ish, with that same natural puzzle feel (none of that hit the bright pink block to open the pink door stuff)
Harukio - 10.06.06 4:58 pm
Yes, Ico’s sokoban puzzles were much more natural…
Anyway, this looks very cool, but is it in-game those videos, or is it just concept, because that movement was amazingly smooth.
Cyberg-Ares - 10.06.06 6:16 pm
the trailer is full of life, great animations and designs…this guy is making a hard work, but it looks damn good.
nigu - 10.06.06 7:05 pm
Nintendo needs to find small developers like this and help them publish their games. To me, this is a critical part of innovation in gaming. A game like this would be perfect for the Wii, the DS, or even the Virtual Console.
El Hajjish - 10.06.06 8:19 pm
I haven’t even been to the site. Just looking at the snippet above was enough to make me want this game badly.
belgand - 10.07.06 5:45 am
Music is ‘Just like you imagined’ by Nine Inch Nails.
mason - 10.07.06 9:33 am
Oops. ignore that post. it was meant for the 300 trailer.
mason - 10.07.06 9:37 am
Looks like a Wii game to me.
Hurricane Mario - 10.07.06 10:40 am
This game looks amazing it reminds me of Ico in the sense of loneliness. I really hope its on the PS2 or PC.
Joel - 10.17.06 9:44 pm
The face is the index of the mind. Watkin.
Watkin - 10.27.06 3:10 pm