When I played LIMBO, I thought it was just okay. There was a ton of hype and praise for that game, but all of that was really only about its visual style and its narrative (or perhaps lack thereof, letting theorists fill the gaps); if it were judged solely by its game-play, it would’ve been forgotten rather quickly. To those of you who haven’t played LIMBO: it pretends to be a puzzle-platformer but is really a gimmick-platformer. It never builds on any of its concepts and instead throws a bunch of different things at you, even dropping all pretense of puzzle-based game-play at times and having pure action sequences (there’s even a part where the game became a runner). Sometimes, it even steps into unfair territory since it’s hard to figure out what is what due to the game’s grey-scale visuals (like this one part where a slight bump equals a switch that crushes you, then one screen later, the switch is right beside the bump, and the bump itself is actually a safe spot). With that in mind, I probably should’ve figured out that this game would’ve been something similar, but I guess I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try it out, and here we are.

• Monochroma
  

  3 hours playtime

  4 of 5 achievements

This game is a gimmick-platformer. As with other gimmick-platformers, the challenge is never in figuring out how to use your surroundings to progress; it’s in figuring out what your surroundings do in the first place; after that, how to use your surroundings to progress quickly becomes apparent (at times, the way forward opening is how you figure out what the things do), and even the act of progressing itself is very easy.

The game’s biggest gimmick is that you have to carry your brother with you through the whole game: while carrying him, you can’t jump as high, so you’ll have to set him down and interact with various objects so that you can progress together. However, you can only set your brother down in spots with a light shining on them, and there are a few segments that revolve around having to create a new light source so you can set him down in a spot that won’t get him killed. Beyond that, the only recurring game-play elements are pulling switches and pushing boxes.

The worst example of the game not telling you how things work is with one of its few achievements: Conscience. The description says “Save robot from crushing under presses,” [sic] but you’ll encounter lots of robots and presses in your play-through. Even if you happen to recognize the part of the game that this achievement is referring to when you make it to said part, you’ll come across two identical, unlabeled switches. The one on the left activates the press and crushes the robot, something you had no idea would happen beforehand (“Oh, did you want that achievement? Too bad; go kill yourself or reload your save.”). The one on the right is the one you need to pull first, as that one opens a door that lets you move the robot to safety. There’s no puzzle there; either you know what will happen in advance, you get lucky, or you go through trial and error.

All of the game’s puzzles are like that, too. One part sticks you in a room with a ladder too high to reach with your brother, so you set him down and jump on the ladder, at which point it suddenly extends down enough so you can progress with your brother; that’s the whole “puzzle” (this type of ladder is only used one other time in the whole game, too). Another part has a pair of wooden crates that act like a scale, and nothing even remotely like them ever show up again after that part. There’s a part where boxes are being dropped onto a conveyor belt, and the only reason you might have to do this part twice is since there’s a very obvious split path at this point: one leads to an optional flower collectible, and the other path leads forward. After that part, there’s only one other segment that involves stacking boxes, then the concept is dropped completely, just like so many others before it. Another part is just an empty maze where you have to hit a switch that removes a barrier leading to another switch, and so on until you can exit the empty maze. That one’s especially bad since there’s no challenge involved in navigating the maze at all (no hazards, no puzzles, nothing); you’re just walking to the next switch, then walking to the next switch, and so on.

On that subject, there are a couple parts where you have to swing on a rope to progress, but if you dare swing on a rope when the game expects you to burn it, the game starts to freak out:

And just like LIMBO before it, there are pure action sequences. These usually involve you being chased by the bad guy and some really easy platforming, with plenty of space between you and the person chasing you. Normally, I’d go into detail to explain what I don’t like about them, but there’s barely anything here: you jump over a pit, you climb a ladder–all really uneventful stuff that wouldn’t make it past World 1 in a Super Mario game (at least the Super Mario game would have enemies along the path instead of just the one chasing you). The only time I died during a chase sequence was when I was getting impatient for a platform to lower itself, so I jumped too soon (I still had plenty of space between me and the bad guy).

Credit where it’s due, though: the story is much more coherent than LIMBO despite using the same silent approach to storytelling. You’re not just going on a grief-fueled sight-seeing tour; you’re on a mission to defeat the antagonist. There was even a part that made me laugh. However, the atmosphere isn’t very well done. The visuals are decent, although which objects are red seems to be almost random (that fire hydrant in the foreground is totally going to be important later! Same with that one shirt in the background). The music is also enjoyable to listen to, but sometimes it doesn’t really fit where it’s used. For example, the track that plays when you’re being chased by the bad guy doesn’t sound very intimidating or blood-pumping, or even that upbeat. When I first heard it, I thought that it sounded more like a smooth jazz or R&B track that had its vocals removed. And you wanna know what’s really crazy? I was RIGHT!

On that subject, the death jingle sounds less like a downer track and more like something you’d hear when you open a secret passageway. I couldn’t find a link for this one by itself, though, so you’ll have to deal with a long-play (I linked to the proper time, though).

Overall, this game is hard to recommend, but then again, I’m not exactly the target audience for this type of game. If you liked the idea of LIMBO, but wish it had an easier-to-follow story, then this is for you. If you liked the fact that LIMBO had a vague story, you’ll probably be disappointed by this. If you’ve never played LIMBO, ask yourself “Will I enjoy a game that’s all style and no substance?” If the answer is no, give this game a pass, and if the answer is yes…start with LIMBO since that game is cheaper.