Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Have you ever played a game that ends where it began? If you haven't, then you must play “Limbo.” Limbo is a single-player, puzzle-platform video game that is completely black and white from beginning to end. Once I got started playing this game, I couldn't put it down.
In Limbo, you are a boy who wakes up in an eerie forest and must find his missing sister. Unlike most games, there is no tutorial and nothing to tell you how to control your character; you are indeed in Limbo. It doesn't take long to figure out that you have only one option and that option is to move to the right. It also doesn't take long to figure out that you are very limited in what you can do; you can basically only walk left/right, jump, and pull or push various objects. However, what makes this game stand out is that you must use the few skills you have to solve puzzles, which keep increasing in difficulty, in order to keep advancing in search of your sister.
An example of the type of puzzles to be solved is a bear-trap that decapitates you as soon as you step on it. You learn that you are supposed to jump over it in order to stay alive. Later, when a gigantic spider blocks your path and there is no way you can progress without becoming food for the spider, you have to use a nearby bear-trap to injure the spider just enough for it to move and let you pass. Eventually, the spider ends up catching you anyway and wrapping you in its spiderweb, then your task is to figure out how to break free from the web.
Although the gameplay is simple (to say the least), the puzzles keep getting more difficult and are also more fun to solve. You eventually get out of the forest and go into other environments, such as a semi-deserted city and an industrial area. Some of the puzzles near the end involve odd concepts, such as magnets and reverse-gravity devices.
Limbo was originally released in July 2010 as an exclusive on Xbox Live Arcade by independent game developer, Playdead. In 2011, it was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and OS X. In 2012, it was made available for Linux as part of the Humble Indie Bundle V. The game has been a success for the most part. In August 2010, shortly after its initial release, video game magazine “Game Informer” gave it a 9 out of 10 rating. Other reviews have been just as favorable.
Currently, Limbo is available for $8.00 through the Ubuntu Software Center. To install it, all you need to do is buy it and let the Software Center do its magic. However, it seems that Limbo runs through a Wine-encapsulated package developed by CodeWeavers, the good folks behind Crossover Linux. When Limbo was ported over to Linux as part of the Humble Indie Bundle V back in 2011, there was some backlash due to the fact that it didn't run natively on Linux. 1
Conclusion
I strongly recommend Limbo to anyone who enjoys either puzzle or platform games. There are more pro's than con's and the game has a high re-play value.
Pros • The lack of instructions, combined with the eerie soundtrack and the black-and-white old movie effect throughout the entire game, all combine to portray to the player a very uneasy feeling of being stuck in some sort of limbo. • Puzzles keep gradually getting harder to solve thus making it very rewarding when you finally solve one, which then keeps you hooked on solving the next puzzle and makes it hard to put down the game. • Easy controls, no fancy movements or complicated key-binding combinations certainly make the game easy to play right from the start. • I am not 100% certain, but I believe that some of the background art was hand-drawn with lead pencil which successfully establishes a very dark mood that the developers were after. • The game is short, it can be completed anywhere between two to five hours. • Limbo currently costs less than $10 which is just right for a game lasting less than 10 hours. • You don't need the latest graphics card or drivers to play this game. • I had no glitches while playing this game and in fact I wasn't even aware that it was using Wine until after I read about it in an article.
Cons • Lack of instructions can be intimidating at first. • The game doesn't yet run natively on Linux. However, the Ubuntu Software Center takes care of Wine and all its related dependencies so that you don't have to worry about anything in order to play the game. • The game isn't free. It's not free as in beer, and it's not free to modify.
Overall, I would definitely recommend Limbo to anyone who wants a game to play. I originally bought the game when it first came out as part of the Humble Indie Bundle V. I had to re-play it in order to write this article and it was as if I were playing it for the first time. I had to make myself stop playing it so that I could actually write this article and tell you how good a game it is and what a high re-play value it has.
Limbo gets five out of five stars. The cons are not substantial enough for me to deduct any stars from its perfect score.
1 Priestman, Chris (2012-06-04). “Linux Users Petition Against 'Humble Bundle V' due to Non-Native Version of 'Limbo'”. Indie Game Magazine.